More good progress on Sunday meant that we have now reached the half-way point of our journey.

I’m calling this latest podcast in after another very positive day from 89’31”484N, 130’38”824E – the 31 indicating that we have reached the half-way point.

We woke up this morning to another white-out but we decided to break camp even with the storms raging. That made progress difficult for the first couple of hours. We were faced with jumping and scrambling across a number of levees and areas of thin ice, but nothing too serious.

The sun came out later in the day, treating us once again to the spectacular and dramatic scenery that the Arctic has to offer. The sun is on a very low horizon here and is out for 24 hours a day, meaning that we can take in some superb views, not least of the sculptures created by the rubble around us.

We made just over five miles progress today, helped for the first time by ice drift that has been working in our favour. It seems that the drifting that has carried us around 20 miles back since we started is finally working for us.

The storms, along with the unseasonably low temperatures, have created a greater risk of open water. We have even learnt that the ice station in Barneo, where we started our journey and where we call back every night for safety, has been forced to relocate the because of open water appearing right in the middle of the camp.

Reaching the half way landmark really has kept the team’s spirits high. We’re all ready and eager to get back out on the ice first thing in the morning and really make progress over the next week or so.

We have however decided to conserve battery life on our satellite phones, meaning that I won’t be calling in as often as I had in the early stages of my journey. I’ll keep updating where possible so don’t forget to follow my progress on Twitter, Facebook and, if you are a fan of my podcasts, you can subscribe for free in the iTunes store to get my updates send to your PC, iPod or iPhone.

If you would like to support my charities, your donations are very gratefully received by donating via my JustGiving pages for Riders for Health and BASIC.

To listen to my latest update, click on the play button below.

It’s Saturday evening and we’re back inside the tent – these are the last few hours that we spend together before we sleep.

It has been another good day and we have made some very good progress in the 8½ hours that we have been walking.

The storm that we have been walking against has finally finished which has massively aided our progress. Not only does that make our walking somewhat easier but it also means that the dreaded ice drift that has been dragging us back has slowed considerably. We’re now only drifting around 400m every night as opposed to several kilometres that we were losing at the start of our journey.

The storm has left challenges in our way, with open water and crevasses in the ice. The gaps have ranged from around 0.5m to as much as 10m, meaning that we have been climbing across various pieces of ice rubble to bridge those gaps, but there is great satisfaction amongst the team that we are now getting closer to our goal.

Don’t forget that I’m doing this for two very worthwhile causes, Riders for Health and BASIC, and I would like to thank everybody who has donated.

You can also support my journey at Twitter and Facebook and my podcasts are now to download in the iTunes store. To listen to my latest update, click on the play button below.

It is around 21:15 on Friday and the end of our first full day of walking on the ice. We have had a good but tough day, despite a very early setback.

We woke up from camp only to realise that the ice drift overnight had reached a speed of up to 1kph eastwards, meaning that we were effectively further away from our goal than where we had started yesterday, effectively wiping out half a day of solid walking.

We also awoke to the continuation of the storm that has been raging since we arrived in Barneo, with a complete white-out for the first seven hours of the day.

Despite this however, spirits in the camp are very high. We knew all along that ice drift could be an issue and we knew that the best course of action was to just get out on the ice and start walking.

It was another tough trek, with thick snow, ice rubble to negotiate and open water to negotiate, forcing us to leap across crevasses and gaps in the ice.

Then, rather suddenly and unexpectedly at around 1800 hours, the winds died down, the clouds cleared, the sun shone and we were presented with a beautiful blue sky. As I call this latest update in, we have set up camp against a stunning backdrop of ice sculptures and rubble, with the light gleaming off them.

That seems to have kept everybody’s spirits high ahead of another day of hard walking tomorrow, given that we haven’t really made any progress because of the ice drift, despite walking mile after mile. Nevertheless, we’re ready to get back out onto the ice tomorrow.

Again, I would like to give a huge thank-you to everybody who has donated, no matter how large or small, to my two charities; Riders for Health and BASIC.

Also don’t forget that you can follow me online at Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe to my updates in the iTunes store.

It is around 20:00 on Thursday evening and it has been a very good day as we have broken from the base camp in Barneo and started the challenge to the Geographic North Pole.

The storms were expected to rage on for a few more days but they subsided in the morning which meant that we could get going just after noon. The helicopters were flying out of Barneo although the plane was still grounded. Nevertheless, we were able to get out on the ice by around 12:05 which is a big relief for all of us.

We undertook a solid seven hour walk once we eventually got out onto the ice, climbing across various pieces of ice rubble and ice pans.

One thing that has struck us whilst we have been walking is just how mild conditions are at the moment. Temperatures are currently hovering between -10° and -3° – unheard of in this part of the world at this time of year. Rune our leader has never known it to be this mild.

The mildness does however leave us open to the risk of open water and we encountered that for the first time just 3 hours outside of Barneo. We eventually made our way around this after finding a snow bridge that was long enough to cover the gap.

We are now at camp, out on the Arctic ice pans surrounded by ice rubble, with the team firing up the heater for this evening’s supper.

Overall, after 7 hours of solid walking, it can be quite disheartening to realise that we’ve made just 4km net progress. There is a notable ice drift towards the east which means that we are only at 89° 19′ 34”. To put that in perspective, we were at 89’27”00 when we first landed in Barneo, giving us a real challenge over the next eight days or so.

It is likely to be another few days before I call in my next podcast so I would like to make a special mention to my daughter Chloe who celebrates her 16^th birthday on Friday. I’m really sorry I won’t be there to celebrate with you Chloe but rest assured that I’ll be thinking about you, I hope you have a great day and I’ll see you when I get back.

I again have to say a big thank-you to everybody who has donated to my two charities so far and if you would like to donate to either cause, please visit my JustGiving pages at: http://www.justgiving.com/DavidNewmanNorthPoleRiders and http://www.justgiving.com/DavidNewmanNorthPoleBASIC

To listen to my podcast, simply click the play button at the bottom of this post. You can now also listen and subscribe to my updates via the iTunes Store, meaning that my updates can be downloaded straight to your PC, iPod and iPhone.

We have arrived at the Russian Ice Camp in Barneo, around 40 miles from the pole, and already the setbacks seem to be mounting already.

We flew in on an Antonov 74 aircraft which is a combined passenger / cargo aircraft that is designed to take off and land on small runways, just like the temporary ice runway that is constructed at the camp every year.

The plane landed into an unusually fierce gale-force snow storm which has already caused delays to our final push towards the pole. At the moment, there is little that we or any of the other expeditions can do other than to simply sit out the storm and check the weather forecasts for regular updates. We’re expecting to be stuck here for a couple of days however.

Our expedition isn’t helped by the fact that the ice station is also expected to drift away from the pole in the coming days. At the moment, we’re at 89° 22′ 00″ but the ice that the camp sits on is constantly shifting. It had previously drifted towards the pole but in the coming days, it is fully expected to drift east, taking us further from our ultimate goal.

Nevertheless, the team are in high spirits. There is a communal area at the ice camp, which we are on the edge of, and we are getting on well with the other expedition teams. One of the groups is a BBC film crew with Sir David Attenborough whilst the other is a team of around 20 super-fit marathon runners. They have come from all over the world to take part in the annual North Pole marathon. The idea of running a marathon in these conditions all seems extremely surreal but I’m told that some runners can complete the event in around four hours (although some can take as much as 12 hours).

For the time being, it is simply a case of trying to kill time and re-evaluate the weather situation to see when we can finally start the big push. The weather forecast for the coming days is promising, so here’s hoping that we can start making some real progress.

I have to say a big thank-you to everybody who has donated to my two charities so far and if you would like to donate to either cause, please visit my JustGiving pages at:

http://www.justgiving.com/DavidNewmanNorthPoleRiders

http://www.justgiving.com/DavidNewmanNorthPoleBASIC

Don’t forget that you can also follow my progress on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. To listen to my podcast, simply click the play button at the bottom of this post. You can also subscribe at Podomatic.

Today we’re getting ready to leave Longyearbyen and, for the next few weeks, dry land. This podcast comes to you from a hanger at Longyearbyen Airport where we’re waiting for an Antonov 74 to take us to the Russian Ice Station at Barneo. (more…)

We have arrived in Longyearbyen on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. At this point we are at 78 degrees latitude, well inside the Arctic Circle, and on our last bit of dry land before we head out onto the Arctic Sea ice.

It has been a stressful afternoon, making sure that everybody has all of the equipment that we’ll need for our time in the Arctic. There is a huge amount of equipment that we’ll need to keep us going for a couple of weeks, with everything from sledges, food, tents through to gas, double sleeping bags, mattresses and ammunition.

As I call in this, it’s early evening and the weather is pleasant. As I look out I can enjoy beautiful views of the frozen sea and a fantastic mountain scape that are covered in a blanket of snow and ice.

We’re preparing for Tuesday’s flight to the Russian Ice Station in Barneo but we have been warned of a severe Arctic storm blowing, so that might cause a delay. If anything, that reinforces the importance of some of the drills that we will be running through whilst we are here in Longyearbyen, particularly the challenge of putting up a tent quickly and safely in the Arctic winds.

The enormity of the situation hits home now. This is a hostile environment, I’m a day away from the nearest hospital and no longer top of the food chain.

This podcast will be my last call made by mobile phone, meaning that I’m largely cut-off from this point on. Now, we’re reliant on the satellite phone to keep us in contact. I’ve put my expedition clothes on for the first time and the feeling now is one of excitement but also of apprehension.

What will certainly keep me going is the prospect of raising money for two very worthwhile charities in the form of Riders for Health and BASIC. I have to say a huge thank-you to everybody who has donated so far and if you would like to make a donation to either charity, you can do so by following the following links:

http://www.justgiving.com/DavidNewmanNorthPoleRiders
http://www.justgiving.com/DavidNewmanNorthPoleBASIC

I’ll be keeping you posted as much as I can, hoping that the technology doesn’t let me down. To listen to how we’re getting on, simply click the grey “Play” button at the bottom of this blog post. You can also make sure that you continue to follow at twitter.com/cn_northpole and at facebook.com/charitynorthpole.

It’s around 7:00am on a rainy Easter Sunday morning I’m at a hotel outside Heathrow and I’m getting ready to begin the long journey to the North Pole. (more…)

So April is upon us and my departure for the Arctic is now just a few days away. My mood is a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Excitement because this is a once-in-lifetime opportunity to experience nature at its most challenging and extreme – and apprehension, well, for exactly the same reason!

We had our final pre-departure meeting which gave me the chance to get to know all five members of our team. Sharing the same tent, the same deprivations and the same brutal climate we’ll all know each other a whole lot better in a few weeks time. We also met with some similarly adventurous Brits who are taking on different challenges at the same time as us. One group is looking to climb Newtontoppen, a 5,620 foot mountain on Spitsbergen’s north eastern tip. It’s the largest and highest mountain on the Svalbard islands and no small climbing challenge. The third group is doing a short trek on Spitsbergen.

In terms of practical preparations I’m nearly there with my last remaining bits of kit due to arrive today. Now is not the time to get one of those cards saying “We called but you were out”! Physically I’m as prepared as I’m ever likely to be having trained long and hard and harder still for this attempt. After all it’s not as if I’m likely to enjoy a second chance to take on such an immense personal challenge. Mentally – well all I can say is I’m up for it.

To get me in the mood and for some final words of support from friends we toasted to the success of the expedition at the belowzero ice bar in London. Pardon the feeble pun but this a really cool place where everything from the chair you sit on to the glass you drink from is made of ice. Mind you at a mere minus 5oC it will seem positively toasty compared to the truly icy extremes of the Arctic!

A final task before I set off is to check on how fast the sponsorship monies are flowing. I must mention in despatches David McMillan at Aviva, Carl O’Sullivan of Arthur Cox Solicitors and Axa Assistance’s Jesus Carmona for their kind corporate pledges. Thanks too to Charley Boorman who gave the expedition a plug via Twitter and his Facebook page. No mean explorer himself  Charley is a big supporter of Riders for Health and a good friend of Carole Nash and his support has really helped raise profile with the biking community.

You can read messages from friends, family and colleagues who have already supported this event on the two Justgiving pages I’ve set up for BASIC and Riders For Health. Of course don’t forget to click the “Donate Now” button whilst you’re at it! These are two great, great causes which are so deserving of your support, so please give as generously as you can. For many of you it will be on or around pay day so surely there’s no time like now to dig into your pocket?

That’s it for my UK despatches. My next update will be from deep inside the Arctic Circle where I’ll be acclimatising and training ready for this amazing adventure. I can’t wait!

Best wishes,

David.

As you might expect of someone who works in the insurance industry, I’ve been doing my own risk assessments. If you’re set to trek 60 odd miles across Arctic ice in temperatures as low as minus 40^oC, it’s best to have a think about what you’re letting yourself in for – and plan for it.

By far the biggest danger I face is open water. Tumble into that and I’m in trouble because in such extreme conditions it’s very difficult to get the body warm enough again to survive. The only mitigation is that if the worst comes to the worst, our sleds are designed to float so I can clamber aboard to escape the water. We’ll need to try and avoid open water channels, known as “leads.” These are open channels of water which run through the ice and we’ll be really dependent upon the experience and expertise of our Team Leader, Rune, to steer clear of them.  Polar skis are also among our risk management armoury. Of course our polar skis will help to spread our human load on any thin ice we encounter – they’re wider than normal skis and are designed for cross-country trekking rather than for winning the downhill slalom.

An obvious and ever-present danger is the cold. We will never be warm.  Even when in our tent we can expect temperatures of between minus 25^oC to minus 35^oC which is more than cold enough to freeze human flesh, especially extremities such as fingers and toes. That’s why I’ve spent so long researching and shopping for specialist clothing and equipment such as the three layers of gloves which will protect my hands (see the previous blog entry for more on the kit I’m taking with me).

Next on the danger list are polar bears. If you’re a fan of a particular brand of mint (or for older readers, a particular brand of frothy soft drink) you might think these beasts are lovable, cuddly things. Trust me they are far from it. They are in fact highly effective killing machines, combining great speed and strength with precisely no fear of humans. We’ll be constantly aware of the menace they present and will be armed with flares and pepper spray to deter any interest they may show in our expedition. Ultimately, should we come under attack we can protect ourselves with heavy calibre rifles loaded with specialist high-energy ammunition – but to wield these, our survival would really have to be threatened.

Our isolation is the final major concern. Should any of our small party fall ill, it could take up to four days for medical assistance to arrive. We will take our own medical supplies but these will necessarily be limited to what we can pull and freeze. Practising what I preach I am of course insured to cover the cost of emergency repatriation should this be required.

By chance I was able to discuss what I might expect with a couple of fellow members of the Explorer’s Club. I last week attended a meeting of the British Chapter at which Dr. Don Walsh gave a lecture on his record breaking deep sea dive down seven miles. His inspiring talk, which marked the 50^th anniversary of a feat which remains unbeaten, was followed by a dinner over which I was able to chew the ear of other members who have successfully completed polar expeditions. It reminded me of the extreme nature of this challenge and why I must remember that this something I’m attempting, not something I can guarantee achieving.

Of course I’ll be giving it my all, not least because my chosen charities, Riders for Health and BASIC are set to benefit. This brings me to my usual reminder that there’s no better time than now to donate. Please do give as generously as you can by clicking on the links below.

http://www.justgiving.com/DavidNewmanNorthPoleRiders
http://www.justgiving.com/DavidNewmanNorthPoleBASIC

Please support me by visiting his Facebook or Twitter page and becoming a fan!

To join the Facebook fan page go to this link – http://www.facebook.com/charitynorthpole.

To follow the Twitter page, see my tweets here – http://twitter.com/cn_northpole

Best wishes,

David.