1st part of the expedition : the ICEFLOE

The expedition will alternate ski progression and diving from drop off in North Pole March 20 to arrival June 8 in Ward Hunt. The diving sites will be chosen functions of needs, waits and « coups de cœur ». On the one side organizing diving under icefloe by -40°C is long and tedious and on the other side it’s necessary to come closer to the coast while pulling heavy pulkas : this is why we chose to progress 3 days skiing for one day dedicated to diving.

The expedition on the sea ice will last 80 days (plus 5 safety margin days). This will allow 65 days of progression (that is 15km per day considering an average drift equal to zero from the icefloe to the coast) and 15 days of diving (45 dives in total). We will take advantage of bad weather conditions to dive. Each of the 8 team members will pull a 120 to 140kg pulka and they will get two times food and fuel supplies from Twin Otter planes. Depending on tiredness and eventual negative drift, we will plan days of diving and sharing out of the weight in pulkas.

Program of one day progressing on ski :

10 hours walking for 15km. Remaining time being dedicated to put up the camp, preparing meals and taking some rest.
Two hot meals per day (breakfast and dinner) and browsing of energetic food and hot drinks during the day.

Program of a diving day :

During the day of diving we won’t worried about the camp installation which will have be put up the day before. In the morning, there will be a first dive. After a hot meal, we will dive again two times in the afternoon on a different site. At the end of the day we will tide the material in order to be ready for the following day.

2nd part of the expedition : ELLESMERE ISLAND

Once arrived on the coast, we won’t have anymore the drift problem. The 7th team member (who was in Resolute Bay) will join us with the last supply. We will stay one month between June 8 and July 8on Ellesmere island. We will put up camps in different places on the coast, on an island or in a fjord. Thus we will be more efficient and we’ll save precious time between two dives. We will devote ourselves to diving, and days will be organized in a quite similar way as on the icefloe.