Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul Page #4

...at the end of the day,

it's a personal journey.

And what do you expect to get out

of it, as a personal journey?

Um, well, hopefully

not frostbite anywhere.

But some... peace, l think.

What l especially like about those

long solitary days walking,..

...is the meditation. Just to be in

a mental space that's just your own.

ln communion with nature and

feeding your soul in that process...

...with seeking to soak up,

everything that surrounds you,..

...the beauty and the uniqueness

of that situation.

And by virtue of that, l think

one feels pretty unique...

...in that moment as well.

That's the idea.

-You're go tomorrow?

-Go tomorrow, yeah.

-How many hour?

-Seven.

-Seven o'clock.

-Yeah, we leave at seven.

Our six AM weather report

comes in negative.

Our team on the ice

reports low vis,..

...and we are back to bed

until an eight AM update.

Beautiful downtown Resolute.

This is the South Camp lnn.

You're giving us a

send off, huh?

At nine thirty Steve at Ken Borek

calls asking if we are ready to go.

Like two bats out of purgatory,

Keith and l are on the go.

Here we are, in the van,

first in the process.

Getting out to the airport.

Reality sets in on the way,..

...and we both contemplate

our impending experience.

Our friends at the South Camp lnn

give us a solemn blessing--

And we ride in silence

to the airport.

Good place for some thinking.

l love the space up here;..

...will go back to UK with ideas

and plan for the next year.

March 24th, 2009. Troy, our pilot,

greets us by the hangar.

Just had a little conversation

with Troy.

The weather has been steadily

improving throughout the day.

Wind shifted around the southwest,

blowing a front that kept us from...

...flying away yesterday

up north over the pole.

So, it's good news,

yeah, we're going.

lt's all loaded up,

there's nothing in there.

l just did a double check of all

our equipment in the corner there.

lt's not on the plane;

l don't know where it is.

-ls it ready?

-Yeah, all ready.

Alright mate, l'll see you

on the other side.

There's a safety card in the back.

lt'll tell you about no smoking.

And...

...about two and a half

hours to Eureka.

Are you excited?

Always, a little bit of

nervous energy on the start...

...of something like this, but

excited to be moving out there.

We are landing down, man.

Two and a half hours and we

land in Eureka for refueling.

Here we are. Eureka.

Here we come. One more stop.

Stepping out of the plane,

-43C temperature is...

...a stern reminder of

what lies ahead!

A slight breeze, and that air

stings like a fist of needles.

A seam on the fuel pump malfunctions

and Keith and l, both giddy and...

...cold, run around the

runway to keep warm.

How many missions have you flown

to the North Pole, Troy?

You know, l would say

about a half a dozen.

What do you like about this region?

Actually, this is probably

the best part of the planet.

Yeah, it's unspoiled, picturesque

and yeah, totally remote.

We're not going today so we gotta

run off a little steam to stay warm.

Possible frustration there, but hey,

we'll have plenty of time on the ice.

The weather closed in on the ice.

So we're in Eureka.

We were about to take off

and now will have to wait...

...a couple of hours,

and see what happens.

Perhaps overnight here,

which could spell trouble.

Sometimes you overnight, then

it becomes two nights and then...

...over three nights,

then over four nights.

The weather went out

at the re-supply point.

Basically fogged in, so we can

all hold out for a few hours.

We'll be out of duty day by then.

Then we'll have to wait for

tomorrow. So possibly, we'll be...

...overnighting here, without

having to go back to Resolute.

The last bastion of civility before

heading to the ice, Eureka is a...

...station battered by the merciless

lashings of the great north.

The vehicles that make it there

know they have reached the...

...end of the line and are resolved

to finish here without ceremony.

The men who drive them

have stern faces shaped by...

...their pioneering spirit. As

with frontier towns of the past,..

...people here are lured by

opportunity.

But as the lines on their faces

deepen, they all seem to...

...soften internally, moved by

the power of this harsh desert,..

...and surprised by the answers

that come to them...

...from questions they

had not sought to ask.

Eventually it"d seem, everyone is

forced to ponder the same question:

"Who am l, and why am l here?"

ln the white stark vastness

of the great north,..

...answers come easier, because

there aren"t as many places to hide.

Out of the cold, dinner is served.

At our table, much of the talk is

about how multi year ice has...

...become fleeting, systematically

being replaced by new ice.

This confirms the scientific data

l know all too well, but it is...

...interesting and refreshing

to hear their point of view.

ln fact, Arctic multi-year ice,

ice that is ten years old or more...

...went from 80% 20 years ago

to 3% today.

New ice accounts for the fragile

conditions of the sea ice,..

...and how rapidly the Arctic summer

ice can simply break entirely.

lt also factors why in

a short matter of time,..

...explorers will likely no longer

have a window to...

...reach the pole, as

we are attempting to.

We will spend the night here

tonight, and pray for...

...our marching orders in the

morning. Next update is at 7 AM.

Hopefully, Sedna, the lnuit goddess

of the ice, will be on our side.

l think that's finally it, leaving

Eureka and dropping to the ice.

ln about two hours we should be

on the packed ice,..

...on our way to

the North Pole.

This is our approach. We're about

to get dropped off on the ice.

Troy is trying to get us on

some nice ice to land on.

Not easy around here because

it's filled with rubble ice...

...and pressure ridges.

That's what l call

a rock n' roll landing.

There's no getting the seat

in the upright position...

...and making sure your seat belt

is fastened on these planes.

This thing has landed on

this really rough ice.

Troy is an ace pilot.

He got us down here on the ice.

We are officially on the Arctic Sea

ice about to begin our journey.

lt's pretty exciting.

l guess l'd like to say

welcome to nowhere.

This is it! lt's like

stepping on the moon.

We're here, 85th degree.

About three hundred and some

nautical miles from the North Pole.

We got about 34 days ahead of

us. And the journey begins.

That was an awesome flight, Troy.

Thank you so much.

Well, best of luck, you know.

Best of luck, getting to the Pole.

These are the luxury accommodations

here at the Polar inn.

We're a little short on

amenities though.

We called in for a shoeshine

but nobody picked up, so.

There's no late night snack.

-Yeah there is.

-Oh yeah, where is it?

-Leftover dinner.

Yeah, frozen.

-No microwave.

-No microwave.

After a day on the trail, virtually

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