Pole quest postponed

Sea ice conditions mean journey to Northern Pole of Inaccessibility has to be put on hold

Explorer Jim McNeill has announced the postponement of his team's quest to be the first to reach the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility. McNeill has decided that the daring attempt to cross from the northern shores of Canada to the very centre of the Arctic Ocean (a distance of 800 miles) is now considered to be too risky.

"The risks of early failure, of cold injury and of needing to be rescued are too high to justify setting out," McNeill said. "I believe to venture out in the current conditions would be foolhardy and not achieve any of the scientific and adventurous aims we have and could possibly endanger lives unnecessarily."

According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center satellite images of the sea ice at the Arctic Pole is displaying a trend of slower Arctic ice growth. According to the Ice Warrior expedition, this means that the sea ice is still in motion and has not experienced the normal winter freeze.

"While this situation persists the ice has many leads of open water or with thin ice, making them very difficult and sometimes dangerous to cross," said Ice Warrior's lead scientist Bjorn Erlingsson. "Likewise, the warming of the atmosphere associated with the opening of the ice is sustaining this large scale disruption and circulation pattern."

According to Wayne Davidson, Resolute Bay's chief meteorologist, the conditions were awful. "These are the worst conditions since I have been in the Arctic, (going on 30 years, now)," he said. "The entire thing is falling apart; sea ice extent at present is less than 2007 (the worst year ever for the ice)."

The decision has been a bitter blow to the team which has just concluded four weeks of intensive preparations in Svalbard.

"This change of plan is intensely frustrating and can be deeply depressing but when pitching yourselves against Mother Nature we must realise when she has the upper hand and react accordingly," McNeill said. "We are not out there to unnecessarily endanger our lives and that's just what we would be doing. We will re-group, re-plan and become even more determined to deliver the reality of global climate change in the best way we possibly can."

They will make an attempt on the pole again the same time next year. McNeill has attempted to reach the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility on two previous occasions. In 2003, he contracted a life-threatening flesh-eating disease (Necrotising Fasciitis) in his left ankle and was unable to leave base camp in Resolute Bay, Canada. His second attempt in 2006 was thwarted by disintegrating sea ice, some 130 miles into the journey on Day 17.

For more information, read WideWorld's interview with McNeill here