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page...Last updated: June 22, 1998
Transpolar Autonomous Ski Expedition'98 News
Well, the expedition is over... Please keep trek of some expedition results and our nearest events on this WEB-site!
In the afternoon, the ski team reached the final point of its longest trek. There are an appropriate landing ground and two unattended barracks. Explorers found some food from previous expeditions into them and, thus, greatly supported them. At 20:40 GMT the team arrived Resolute...
16GMT: 83/16/29 N, 74/33/41 W
"Today, at 14:30 GMT, we reached the northern coast of the Ward Hunt Island (83/07/25 N, 74/10/30 W). The way was extremely hard... Tomorrow, June 21, at 1:00 GMT we will go to the point available for airplane landing (83/05N, 69/05W). It will take about 4-5 hours. It's very desirable to meet an airplane as soon as possible... Please send us some chocolate, juice, food and soap..."
16GMT: 83/16/29 N, 74/33/41 W
"The way becomes worse. There is an ice-hummocking. It's hard to pass through... A lot of cracks and open water. Today we trekked 14 hours... feel a great tiredness. We continue to save the food and oil... Expecting time of arrival to Ward Hunt Island is June 21, about 16-18 GMT..."
16GMT: 83/16/29 N, 74/33/41 W
The ski team is dragged again to Ward Hunt Island by heavy drift.
16GMT: 83/41/21 N, 73/04/25 W
"Today we saw the land for the first time! There is a lot of water on the ice. The way is better than yesterday."
16GMT: 83/52/07 N, 73/31/03 W
"The way is the same as previous: an open water, cracks, many crossings..."
16GMT: 84/05/52 N, 72/54/43 W
"Today is a very hard day... Everything is rashly melted. There is a lot of open water. It's humid snowing. Water is under snow. There are many cracks and crossings. It's cloudily... the temperature is over 0 deg C. We are on the trek during 13 h. Today, we get into trouble -- we floated on the piece of drifting ice more than an hour and managed to get out into the "coast". We also became to save food and oil..."
16GMT: 84/16/05 N, 72/40/15 W
"It's warm, as usual. There are cracks, open water and ice-hummocking zones. We were 13h on the trek today."
16GMT: 84/26/01 N, 72/25 W
It's a pity but it's became warmer again...sunny...the wind calms down, it's thrawing. Tomorrow we'll "swim" again..."
16GMT: 84/37/16 N, 71/56/59 W
"Today is not bad day...It's frizzed, the movement became better. There are ice-hummocking zones, cracks and open water along the trek. Thanks to god to keep such a way. We decided to wake up earlier in order to increase the movement time. The visibility also became better."
16GMT: 84/47/29 N, 75/10/43 W
"The way is really hard... the temperature is higher than 0 deg C..."
16GMT: 84/56/25 N, 70/53/23 W
The ski team corrected the direction and moves to Columbia Cape. The temperature is -3 deg C. "The way became a little bit better... A lot of open water, ice-hummocking and so on as usual. We spend so much time to overcome that obstacles..."
16GMT: 84/59/48 N, 70/44/24 W
"We are all right."
16GMT: 85/09/12 N, 70/44/00 W
"Water, water is around us... It's the hardest trek. It became warm. We are lucky when meet an ice-hummocking area...The team is OK."
16GMT: 85/14/12 N, 70/58/31 W
"The way is hard with lots of open water, ice-hummocking zones. It became better only 0,5h before the evening rest. Everything is OK, we continue to move..."
16GMT: 85/19/44 N, 71/23/09 W
"The trek is covered by wet snow...The way is extremely hard. Met some ice-hummocking zones. Saw some icebergs as well. Lakes of open water are spread over 200-300 m with drifting ice. A lot of cracks and thin-ice zones.." The wind is warm and humid. The temperature is higher than 0 deg C.
16GMT: 85/25/21 N, 71/28/52 W
The weather is good. A lot of open water...
16GMT: 85/32/29 N, 72/00/00 W
"The way is bad, it's slush with warm weather. We trek on puddles. Found a "lake" of 1 km in diameter..."
16GMT: 85/42/11 N, 71/34/31 W
"It's wet snowing during the whole day. The weather is the same as yesterday... a lot of open water. There are many cracks of 10-20 m width..."
16GMT: 85/48/52 N, 71/14/46 W
The temperature is -(1-2) deg C. It's cloudy with wet snow. The way is very hard. There is a wind of 10-12 m/s from Canadian side... A lot of open water. Unrecognized airplane flow under the tent in midnight.
16GMT: 85/57/19 N, 71/23/25 W
"There is still a big ice-hummocking... it exhausts..."
16GMT: 86/01/23 N, 72/41/43 W
"It's a very hard day... A lot of cracks, open water, crossings from one ice-floe to another... There is a big ice-hummocking as well. But we continue to move forward to the coast. Health and mood is OK... "Hi" to everybody..."
16GMT: 86/05/27 N, 72/41/43 W
The temperature is 0, -2 deg C. Everybody is healthy.
16GMT: 86/37/11 N, 75/21/48 W
16GMT: 86/48/17 N, 75/75/32 W
The temperature is -7 deg C.
16GMT: 86/59/13 N, 75/24/14 W
Today is a warm cloudy weather. There was a lot of open water.
16GMT: 87/10/42 N, 75/17/17 W
It became warmer in evening. The temperature is about 0 deg C. The visibility is bad. Explorers met a lot of cracks, ice-hummocking fields and so on as usual...
16GMT: 87/23/14 N, 75/40/00 W
16GMT: 87/32/58 N, 75/51/43 W
16GMT: 87/58/54 N, 77/45/20 W
There was a cold wind of 5m/s. The way is rather hard with cracks and ice-hummocking.
16GMT: 88/10/46 N, 78/34/22 W
16GMT: 88/25 N, 78/34 W
Everything is OK....
16GMT: 88/40 N, 79/45 W
It's a thin ice. The wind from Chukotka side built ice-hummocking areas. "Today, 4-propeller American aircraft saluted us with wings tossing and rocket salute."
16GMT: 89/11 N, 74/13 W
16GMT: 89/21 N, 69/01 W
The temperature is - 20 deg C. "There are many cracks and ice-hummocking... It was vary warm on May 8-9. We trekked in T-shirts!..."
In the 8th of May, 8:10 MSK, the team crossed the North Pole and continued its movement to the Canadian Archipelago.
It's the rest day. The team stays at the camp. Some sledge were fixed. The temperature is -7 deg C.
16GMT: 88/52 N, 118/15 E
16:00 GMT: 88/56 N, 115/13 E
16:00 GMT: 88/46 N
It's cloudy. The wind is N-E. The weather is not bad before the lunch. "We trekked better than yesterday. Found a lot of fresh ice. In evening we organized a little ceremony dinner. Everything is OK"
16:00 GMT: 87/30/10 N, 96/33/31 E
The weather is cloudy with E/N-E wind. There is a snow and ice-hummocking. Explorers met the fresh ice areas of 700-800 m of good route.
16:00 GMT: 87/25/10 N, 97/23/00 E
"It's cloudy before lunch and clean after it. The weather is rather good. The movement is slow because of ice-hummocking. Everything is OK."
16:00 GMT: 87/17/23 N, 97/41/00 E
16:00 GMT: 87/07/33 N, 98/27/16 E
16:00 GMT: 86/58/00 N, 98/36/54 E
16:00 GMT: 86/45/41 N, 96/21/58 E
16:00 GMT: 86/33/43 N, 95/23/06 E
16:00 GMT: 86/21/03 N, 94/20/25 E
16:00 GMT: 86/09/50 N, 93/48/47 E
16:00 GMT: 86/00/41 N, 93/55/02 E
16:00 GMT: 85/51/45 N, 93/45/52 E
16:00 GMT: 85/41/11 N, 93/45/52 E
16:00 GMT: 85/31/02 N, 93/46/45 E
16:00 GMT: 85/16/30 N, 94/09/05 E
The 85th parallel was passed!
"We was late for the traffic because decided to trek more... The weather is good. Today we trekked about 6 hours."
18:00 MSK: 85/06/23 N, 94/48/23 E
17:00 MSK: 84/57/01 N, 94/47/05 E
There is a sunny weather with southern drift and northern wind.
17:00 MSK: 84/50/57 N, 94/46/57 E
"There is a front wind of 5-7 m/s. The visibility is bad and the way is really disgusting..."
17:00 MSK: 84/43/33 N, 94/48/23 E
"It's the 38th day of the journey. The wind of 5-10 m/s blows whole day. The visibility is quite bad, there is a snowstorm and a lot of cracks. In evening we met a plenty of ice-free water. And now, when we stopped for the rest, there is a big gap in 150m behind us. It became warmer: -9 deg C. The drift is rather noticeable to E/S-E."
17:00 MSK: 84/37/10 N, 94/51/48 E
The temperature is -26 deg C. The wind is 3-5 m/s with S-E drift.
17:00 MSK: 84/31/33 N, 94/02/23 E
"The weather is fine for trekking. It's a beautiful around... Ice crystals blaze on the background of sunset. There is a friable snow from time to time..." The temperature is -28 deg C, the wind is 2-3 m/s.
17:00 MSK: 84/26/38 N, 92/49/43 E
17:00 MSK: 84/10/13 N, 90/45/09 E
The 84th parallel was passed!
"It was not so bad day, indeed. We met only one crack..." The temperature is -30 deg C.
Sergei Gordienko (Ukraine) was evacuated from the trek by helicopter. Explorers remain four.
17:00 MSK: 84/01/46 N, 89/58/59 E
"The weather today is really fine! It's sunny with a little wind of 2-3 m/s..." The temperature is -33-36 deg C. The way is flat without any cracks.
17:00 MSK: 83/53/58 N, 89/31/43 E
"The tireless northern wind of 3-5 m/s gave us no rest during the whole day. There are a contrary drift and bad visibility..." The temperature is -24-27 deg C. "Anyway, we trekked not bad today..."
17:00 MSK: 83/46/40 N, 89/31/42 E
It was a strong contrary wind from early morning. After an hour of movement explorers came to a wide cracking zone and battle against it during the whole day. In the afternoon guys met a huge patch of ice-free water and overcame it at 5 p.m. only. Finally the team managed to get out from such a zone and stopped for the rest.
17:00 MSK: 83/32/32 N, 90/49/03 E
There was an ice-breaking in the evening. "We are "lucky" as usual: we finally met a big water.. There is a strong contrary drift with the north facing wind. We are tired today..."
17:00 MSK: 83/31/44 N, 91/24/19 E
Today the team had about 9 hours of moving. It's still cloudily with low visibility. The wind is W/S-W. Sun appeared and the temperature dropped to -36 deg C in the second part of the day. Cracks are quickly covered by ice, so, the way is much better than previously. Clothes became frozen due to a high humidity.
17:00 MSK: 83/28/25 N, 92/13/19 E
Guys were late to the traffic time because they were bypassing a big crack of 100 m. The weather is rather bad, low visibility, white mist, the temperature is -8 deg C.
17:00 MSK: 83/19/06 N, 93/53/44 E
Today is a pretty warm weather: -12-15 deg C. Soft snow and windless, it's hot to trek, indeed. There are many cracks as usual, they are invisible because of the fresh snow. Explorers have to bypass them and move with a very careful manner. Skiers also have some repair work with their sledges.
17:00 MSK: 83/12/14 N, 93/09/39 E
The 83 parallel was passed!
That's the first day when skiers pulled only one sledges for each explorer. The "shuttle time" seems to be over. It's cloudy. The temperature is -11-12 deg C. There are still many cracks and bypasses, especially before afternoon. In the evening, the team met a big patch of ice-free water of 120-150 m wide. There is a thin ice, which can be thicker tomorrow morning.
17:00 MSK: 83/04/56 N, 93/11/54 E
From morning till evening explorers have trekked over cracks and patches of ice-free water.
17:00 MSK: 82/54/00 N, 93/28/54 E
The snowstorm raged the whole day. There are still many cracks, patches of ice-free water. The visibility is bad. A contrary drift makes great difficulties.
Wind: 12 - 15 m/s. Temp: -9 deg C.
17:00 MSK: 82/51/46 N, 93/21/43 E
There was a big snow-fall recently. The road is rather hard. There are a crumbly snow, big humidity and many cracks. The team managed to find a proper place for the rest after one hour of the search. The wind is the W/S-W, 4-5 m/s, the temperature is -27 deg C.
17:00 MSK: 82/47/32 N, 92/32/14 E
The team managed to find the proper way out of the huge ice-hummocking zone and covered a good distance. By now, skiers completed 140 km of their way to the North Pole.
17:00 MSK: 82/41/10 N, 91/53/23 E
There is unpleasant northern wind in the morning. Disgusting visibility... Consequently, we covered not so much. The weather became better in the afternoon, but ice-hummocking zone is really huge. It was extremely difficult to find out the proper place for our tent in evening.
16:00 MSK: 82/36/09 N, 91/35/54 E
Today we tried to have a rest at the afternoon. We stopped at 14:00 MSK for dinner because the polar day became much more longer. The temperature is -33 deg C.
16:00 MSK: 82/31/50 N, 91/11/02 E
Today is the 15th day of the journey. There is a strong wind. So, travelers covered not so much as expected... "A little bit sadly..." The temperature is -24 deg C.
16:00 MSK: 82/16/10 N, 91/03/58 E
There is a strong Eastern-North wind and according ice drift. The temperature is -29 deg C with a strong condensate inside team tent.
16:00 MSK: 82/13/40 N, 91/38/54 E
The way is still very hard. A lot of broken ice, the temp is approx. -42 deg C. In the 2nd of March the team met an open water and overcame such a "river" next day.
March 3, 1998, 16:00 MSK: 81/45/34 N, 94/36/15 E, 65 km from the start point.
First week of the trek... It's probably, the hardest part of the way. There was a huge ice-hummocking zone during first kilometers. Members had to move by a "shuttle" style - back and forward, back and forward... .Feb. 24 - the temp is -47 deg C, wild wind. Feb. 26 -- Very slow movement, no water. "We saw the sun for the first time... Met a white bear, it's seriously corrected our way..."
Feb. 28. The trek team coordinates are 81/25/18 N, 95/47/07 E, temp is -43 deg C, a white bear continues to bother explorers.
The ski team started in Feb. 23, 1998 at 10:00 MSK from Arctichesky Cape.
The team arrived to Sredny Island, Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago. This is the last preparation before main trek. Start was scheduled to Feb. 23, 1998 from Arctichesky Cape. Expedition base radio operators (R0DJG, R0DAT, R3CA/0) will be on the air nearest hours...
The flight from Moscow is scheduled to Feb. 6, 1998. Moscow -- Khatanga (airplane), Khatanga -- Sredny Isl. (helicopter).
Expected traffic schedule: 14292 kHz, 10:00 MSK (RARES).
Ivan Kuzhelivsky came to Moscow. Peter Valushiyak, Vasily Kokhanov, Sergei Gordienko are waited for around Feb. 2-3.
The trek team was determined: Vladimir Chukov, Ivan Kuzhelivsky, Peter Valushiyak, Vasily Kokhanov, Sergei Gordienko.
The flight from Moscow is scheduled to Feb. 6, 1998.
Base camp support team (Sredny Isl.): Nick Myasnikov (UA3DJG), Sergei Kuzkin (UA3DAT) -- up to April, Nick Myasnikov (UA3DJG) and Valery Kublyakov (UA3ADR) -- from April to May.