Slashdot Mirror

true. actually, if you fall into the water without the immersion suit, you're most likely dead. the water will freeze on contact with air, so you'd become an instant popsicle the minute you step out.
the immersion suit is much like a diving dry-suit, but bright yellow and more 'plasticky'. you put it on, step into the water, wade to the other side, pull your sled across by rope, and you're out.
when you get out, you crack the ice off the suit, and then take it off.
immersion suit training in Minnesota

3/4 way through the expedition, i had lost most of my body fat. i was eating through my own muscle tissue, and became severely ill and weak. i had to increase my calorie intake to 10000 calories in order to start moving again, which was a risk i had to take (increase intake and risk finishing all the food before making it to our destination).
one thing i hadn't done for the south pole expedition was to gain weight. you're supposed to go up to 25% fat in body mass. i was down at around 10%. that extra 15% would have given me the extra energy reserves that i needed.
this time around i managed to get myself up to 15% but i got too nauseous to take on more...
this is what i looked like before i became ill

some photos of what we ate during the South Pole expedition

If you want to collect data from all over the Ice (which is all floating on the Arctic Ocean), you have to use skis and floating sleds...
Some things, like climbing mountains, and crossing arctic circles, require the versatility of the human body.
There's no machine that comes even close to doing the number of things we can do, from climbing, to skiing, to swimming, to recharging with a good night's sleep.

There's no hogwash here, just a reality that we are all too willing to dismiss from the comfort of our homes.

--Maxime Chaya blogging live from the North Pole.

It's actually quite possible, since you're pulling not carrying. In Antarctica, during my South Pole expedition, I was pulling over 100 KGs uphill for over 600 nautical miles. Daily energy consumption is around 9000 calories. It's all about pace, not speed. --Maxime Chaya www.TheThreePoles.com

The ice is not consistently thick enough to support machines of any sort, and open leads in ice (open water cracks) require full submersion of self (in an immersion suit) to cross. This is not a Top Gear episode, this is a real adventure like back in the day, when there were hardened explorers.


--Maxime Chaya blogging live from the North Pole--

I'm on my way to the North Pole on a similar expedition, which is starting today. We're taking a twin otter to Eureka, refueling, and then flying out to Ward Hunt Island. We should be on the Ice tonight. The trek (on skis) is about 60 days, the first 10-20 of which are in relative darkness 24/7. We will be towing 160KG sleds that house all our equipment and food for 30 days. The sleds float as the ice oftentimes cracks, and we have to swim across open leads. Last year, I did the same with the South Pole, starting at Hercules Inlet and skiing all the way up to the South Pole. I blogged live from there, and am blogging live on this journey. This will be the last of my 3 poles challenge (Everest, South, North), and is by far the most difficult and dangerous. If we don't contact anyone in 72 hours, planes are sent out to find us - if ever. Check it out at: www.TheThreePoles.com --Maxime Chaya-- Lebanese Seven Summiteer