05 May 2009

The Catlin Arctic Survey Ice Team currently surveying the thickness of the floating sea ice on the Arctic  Ocean are this morning heading northwards again after a successful re-supply flight finally reached the increasingly hungry team who had been waiting for eleven days at an ice landing strip high in the Arctic Ocean.

The team, Pen Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels has been forced to  wait far longer than expected after the flight was consistently grounded by  bad weather. Although they had rations to last, they were relying on 90 grams of food a day (1,000 calories) which had begun to affect their morale.

(more…)

Thursday 30th April 2009

Business leaders across the country will hear polar explorer Pen Hadow speaking live from the high Arctic on Friday May 1st, at Business in the Community’s Prince’s May Day Summit on climate change.

Hadow will be telling the business conference attended by HRH The Prince of Wales about his experience of the region which is known to be highly vulnerable to global warming. (more…)

By David Ljunggren, 17 April 2009

The head of a British team walking to the North Pole on a mission to gauge how fast Arctic ice sheets are melting said on Friday he was surprised by how little permanent ice he had found so far.

Pen Hadow and two other adventurers set off in early March on a 1,000-km (620-mile) trek from Canada’s Arctic to the North Pole. The team was set down in an area where scientists had been sure there would be permanent multiyear ice. (more…)

The BBC posted a website article recently (see link at the footer of this article), stating that two of the core technological innovations currently being used within the Catlin Arctic Survey were proving to be very unreliable.

This is far from the case, as Simon Harris-Ward, Director of Operations for Catlin Arctic survey, highlights below:

“Given the very extreme conditions they are operating in during the Arctic winter we were always going to face potential difficulties with the array of advanced technology despite our robust testing programme.” (more…)

The Catlin Arctic Survey are trekking 700 miles to the North Pole to measure the thickness of the shrinking Arctic icecap.

However due to the proximity to magnetic north the compasses are “going haywire”. The freezing conditions also mean the latest global positioning satellite or GPS equipment will not work . . . that’s where the knickers come in very handy!!!! (more…)

If you want to get a feel for how cold it is where the CAS Team currently are, then watch the following video footage featuring Martin Hartley (just click on the image to go straight to the BBC website):

Friday 20th March 2009

After a successful first re-supply of food and equipment, the Catlin Arctic Survey Team of Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley have set off again on their estimated 85 day journey toward the North Pole. 

 The team endured an anxious three day wait, rationing emergency supplies of their food, as bad weather repeatedly prevented the supply plane from landing alongside them. (more…)

Three British Explorers were tonight finally resupplied with food, fuel and vital equipment after a Twin Otter plane landed on the Arctic Ocean floating sea ice where the team had been waiting for three days. (more…)

Polar explorers Pen Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels are surviving on half rations as attempts to resupply them were abandoned for the third  day running by the Catlin Arctic Survey.

The team, who have been battling in what they describe as ‘brutal’ conditions are currently surviving on their last food supplies after bad weather forced one resupply mission to turn back and grounded two other planned flights. The explorers now have only a day’s food remaining.  Temperatures have been consistently down at minus 40 degrees Celsius with strong winds making things even worse. (more…)

Take a quick visit (via the link below) to the BBC website for a quick update from Pen on how everything is going:

Pen Hadow: Catlin Arctic Survey - Day 12 update