Primal Journey | Tarka L'Herpiniere and Katie-Jane Cooper » Survey

The Dungeons of the North

Tarka — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:08:35 +0000

Two days ago we arrived at 82ºN 115ºW to our own 4km² ice pan that we now call home. Still can’t quite get my head round the fact that we are living on the ocean and not on land, but a floating ice pan is our garden, truly a stunning garden at that. We had the most perfect weather for our arrival, stunning blue skies and next to no wind. After a 5 hour journey via twin otter (2hrs to Isachsen, a 40 min re-fuel and the final 2hr 20min flight) we were down and got straight to preparing the run way for the second aircraft. The second aircraft was due an hour later loaded with our fuel. As for the cold, the flight was pretty nippy, and I was head to toe in everything I possessed, which left me a little apprehensive to how i would cope as we flew ever more north. Miraculously from the moment I left the plane I was snug as a bug as we worked away erecting tents, filling fuel containers, laying the tarpaulin floor etc. Before we knew it, it was 8.30pm, time for supper and bed, but it was only a few hours later that for the first time that day the misery that I had expected on stepping off the plane, finally hit. Laid in our sleeping bags, only an hour or so after the stove and heater flickered out we were hit with the perishing arctic cold. The following morning I was selfishly relieved to find, that whilst I had suffered silently all night shivering and shacking in my bag, Charlie and Tark’s had been equally as cold and not one of us had gained a wink of sleep. Tark’s then drew the short straw and braved the darkness and the bitter winds that had picked up to re- fill the kerosene heater lamp, within 30 minutes, life, blood flow and even a smile had returned to us all. The day was spent continuing with camp…everything takes a very long time up here and so I think it will be the best bit of a week before everything is organised properly and we have settled into a routine. The priority for the day yesterday was the toilet, as we all wanted to avoid frostbite where possible, and so we are now proud owners of an ice-loo. Camp currently consists of 2 tents, the mess tent and the dorm tent. Both are adequate in space and height, we would even say they feel quite homely if it wasn’t for the problem that is turning camp into ‘the dungeon of the North’. When we come in from working outside we need to put on the heater lamps to defrost and general prevent us from becoming a permanent ice block. The tents are too large for the 3 of us to create any form of heat just through our presence. The lamps however, just on their lowest setting are causing a serious amount of black soot to line the tents and prevent the small amount of day light there is, in. Not to mention the bigger concern, that we are breathing in all these fumes and soot and are slightly worried about our health to say the least! Other than have a soar throat from the fumes and being black from head to toe I am in high spirits. Poor Tark’s however, picked up some rash the day before we left Resolute Bay and it has festered nicely in to a hell of a scabby mess all over his face and just to add insult to injury his eyes have swollen up quite a lot!

As for the Ice Team, we know very little on their progress, other than the small bar of ‘Hotel Chocolate’ I bought Pen for his birthday, thinking I was being very thoughtful and organised to plan for such things back in England, has today caused him to chip his tooth…opps!!

Resolute Bay

Katie-Jane — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:05:49 +0000

After a mammoth four flights, in planes that got smaller and smaller, our last being a 12 seater prop, we have made it to Resolute Bay! Our journey took us from London to Ottowa, then onto Iqaluit, from here to Nanismk and then to Canada most northerly town, Resolute Bay.

Charlie Paton and I arrived last night to a pleasant -47, whilst the Ice Team, Pen Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels have stayed on in Ottowa, along with Ian Wesley (kit boy) and Tarka. They are staying down a few extra days for some scheduled press conferences and have collared Tarks as their french speaking translator.

We will spend the next week here in Resolute sorting and preparing kit, going through weather reading and prediction, working with the pilots to understand exactly what they require from the runways we must build and maintain and finally repeat training exercises such as falling through the sea ice and polar bear safety.

The Inuit town of Resolute is little more than the size of a hamlet back home in the UK, maybe a small village at a push, with a population of approximately 230 people, the facilities of a school, small supermarket, hotel and its lifeline - the airport!

We are still waiting for the freight to arrive, so for now I am furiously working away at eating all Randy (the cook) can throw at me…his chocolate brownies are amazing!!

The Packing is Over!

Katie-Jane — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:37:42 +0000

A very quick update to say that finally, after 2 weeks of manic ordering, purchasing, sorting and packing, the final pieces of kit have been sent by freight to Canada and Tarka after a very stressful few days has finally got the communication’s (satellite phones and laptops etc.) working!! Why is it, no matter how organised we are we still end up doing major preparations right to the last minute? Anyway it is now 6pm and we can finally relax and get excited about the adventure ahead. We are off to have supper with friends, a few glasses of my mothers choice wine (below) and a relatively early night. We are ready to fly out from Heathrow tomorrow morning and will update you when we get there.