Jo & Rob on the Plane to Resolute

I am writing this email on a very small plane from Deer Bay, back to Resolute Bay. We have had a very challenging week or 2! You should have got my update for leg two, as I was leaving Check Point 3, where things all started to go a bit wrong!!

Due to various reasons, (The storm, delayed planes, and slow progress by the other team), we were facing time constraints to finish the race in the remaining time available. The length of leg three was increased from 75 miles to 90 miles, if progress was slow, people would be flown from CP3 to the pole …..

Polar Slugs team moral dropped a little, but we rose to the challenge, and put in some long days, doing circa 20nm most days (on 5 hrs sleep). Our final day into CP3 was storm conditions again, and we were blown along at quite a pace. Luckily the 40 knot gusts were on our back! We reached the CP3 in good time (by 5.20pm), and after a challenging hour or so managed to get the tent up securely (We have some seriously bent tent poles!)

In the morning, we had to phone for an update on the Internationals progress, only to find we were not at CP3 …. the co-ordinates in our GPS were incorrect! We had also been verbally given the co-ordinates (The correct ones), but when asking the chap who had entered them, if they were the same, he said yes ……

We had to ski 4.75nm to the correct CP3, and our arrival time of 12.20pm was taken. The Internationals, had arrived at 2.00am, so this put them ahead of us again – very frustrating, but at the end of the day, it was ultimately out fault for not checking the verbal co-ordinates, with those in the GPS!

The final leg the Magnetic North Pole was 38 miles. The race was restarted at 2.30pm (no rest day!). We completed 11nm. We decided the only strategy to possibly win the race was to go for the final 27nm in one go ….

The next morning the weather was semi white out, so going was slow. We were walking by 7.30am …. another short night! The first 10nm took us to the mountains, which we then had to cross! The big ups & downs were very challenging, dragging the pulk. But I really enjoyed this section, and felt very strong. Eventually we found a valley going down the mountain and into Deer Bay – the location on the MNP! When we reached the edge of the bay, we had 5nm to our destination. It was the longest 5nm of my life; we were all very tired by this stage, having been on our feet for 14 hours. We eventually reached the MNP at 2.00am. It is 24hrs daylight in the high Arctic now, and there was a beautiful golden glow as we reached the end of our journey.

After a celebratory hug, we put the tent up and cooked supper. It was 18 hours since we had started & we were all shattered. Just as we baffled down into our sleeping bags, we heard the Internationals arrive; they had obviously found a shorter route over the mountains than us, and our lead on getting to the Pole was not enough to make up for the error at CP3!

We had a social day at the Pole, catching up with the other team; Steve & Neil, arrived late afternoon (The Check Point Team, who had completed this leg, rather than flying in!) We had a relatively early night, the plane was due to pick us up the next day …….

This morning, we got up and prepared a run way for the plane. We were told it would be in around 2.00pm. so were very surprised when a plane circled, and attempted to land just after noon, we hadn’t even packed up the tents! News came through that the run way, was not good enough, and we had to try and make it better! (less bumps!) After a couple of hour’s work of digging & stomping, we got a message that the plane was not prepared to land on that
site & the only option was to walk 12.8nm to a ‘fixed’ site across the bay. The plane would wait until 7.30pm, but would then be out of hours.

That was a huge ask … 12.8nm, in an unrealistic time scale, but we had no option but to go for it! We re-dressed in our skiing gear, packed the pulks, and set off. I was determined I was going to get this plane, one way or another, so I walked as fast as I could, with Rob and Ryan from the other team, doing nearly 3 miles/hour, which is an amazing speed pulling a pulk, and going over some long rubble fields. My moisture management was terrible!

I was just under 2nm away, when I saw the plane leave; I was gutted, but caught up with Rob and pushed on. Apparently Catlin was doing some research in that area of the Bay, and had a heated tent, and a cook!

As we approached our destination, we heard the plane; it had been on a recce flight to see where we all were. I was so pleased to see it land again, and very, very thankful! Only Rob and I had made it, and the two person crew, said it would only wait 20 mins, before it had to leave….. Ryan arrived just in time, but unfortunately, the other 3 Racers and the two check point team did not. It felt very wrong leaving them behind, but there was no way I was not getting on that plane – our scheduled flights back to Ottawa leave at 6.00am tomorrow.

I am not sure what will happen to the others, and it is not a great way to finish the event; but I am very pleased to be on my way back to civilisation. I am desperate for a shower (Annie would be a-shamed of my very greasy hair), and some clean clothes.

We are due to land in Resolute at 11.30pm, so I am sure this will be another night of little sleep, by the time I get clean, eat some normal food, and pack all my gear.

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