Questions and Answers
Questions and Answers
We’ve added a new page to post some of the great questions we are getting from kids and grownups who are following the expedition. Please email us, or post your questions in the guest book. We’ll do our best to answer them if we can!
How did it feel to accomplish your goal?
When we made our goal of skiing to the north pole we really felt fantastic. We were especially pleased to be able to come back and tell all the children of our community a great story. Because we encountered such difficult conditions along the way we were thrilled to make it.
What keeps you going?
It is so critical to keep yourself focused. But first and foremost you have to be prepared for the challenge. If you are prepared mentally and physically you have the confidence to make your goal.
How’s the food?
The food is typically nuts and chocolate as snacks, soup and freeze dried meals for dinner which may be something like a chicken risotto. Overall the food is not bad. The goal is to keep yourself well-fed so that you have the strength to keep skiing.
Have you caught a glimpse of Santa?
When we were at the north pole we did not see Santa but we did see sleigh tracks.
What kinds of fish have you eaten so far?
Currently we are in Punta Arenas, Chile and we have eaten alot of Chilean sea bass.
Have you traveled anywhere other than the North/South pole?
If you mean traveling to extreme locations then the answer is yes. Several of us have gone helicopter skiing in some remote places in western Canada. Our North Pole teammate, Paul Hubner, went to the south pole in January 2008 and then turned around and went to the north pole in April 2008 with his two sons. Some of us have gone shark diving in the Caribbean. Generally we all like to travel and experience the world as well as meet people of different cultures.
Did you discover anything unusual in the North or South pole?
We found the north pole to be a very rugged landscape of jagged ice flows separated by a lot of open water. We were surprised at just how much of the ice is melting every month. For example; the north pole ice cap shrunk by 50% from 1979 to 2005. Since 2005 it has shrunk by another 50%. The pace of the melting is astonishing.
The south pole area however is in fact growing larger while the ice shelfs around the continent are quickly shrinking. The antarctic continent is covered by ice everywhere. At the actual pole the ice is over 3 km thick. The ice covering the continent is one big glacier that also has extending ice shelfs that go from the continent over the sea. The ones that we will be flying over are near the antarctic peninsula such as the Wendell Ice Shelf and the Larrsen Ice Shelf. These ice shelfs are melting at a very fast rate. As the ocean around the continent gets warmer and closer to the continent it creates more moisture and precipitation which blows into the interior and builds on top of the continents existing snow thereby creating a greater continental mass. The fact is that the ice shelfs are disappearing faster than the continent is building up more snow.
What animals have you seen?
In the north pole we did not see any animals. The only wildlife we could have seen would have been Polar Bears, seals or beluga whales. We were glad to not have seen the polar bears since they would hunt us for food.
We are currently in Punta Arenas, Chile waiting for a storm to pass through Antarctica and have spent alot of time touring this most southern tip of South America. We have seen a lot of wildlife here. If you go onto the website we have transferred several pictures of Magellan Penguins, Guanaco ( kind of a Llama) puma, emu, wild horses and a lot of ranch animals.
When we get to the Antarctic we won’t see any wildlife. We are going to be in the Antarctic interior and there is absolutely nothing that lives there. However as you go to the peninsula there is an abundance of Leopard seals, adelie and emperor penguins, killer whale and so much more if you look at the website and connect to some of the educational websites on the antarctic for children there is a lot more information that you can find on this topic.
Does anyone live at the South Pole?
Answer from Coolantarctica.com : No-one lives in Antarctica permanently or even for a long period of time. Most people do a “summer only” that’s about November to April, with a lesser number staying over the Antarctic winter (when any chance of transport in or out is virtually impossible), some stay for two winters and three summers, this is the longest time any one stays there. Some people have had an “enforced” winter. This is when ice conditions mean the ship that should have come to get them couldn’t get through and had to go home without them until next year. The result is a wait from April until October / November or later when the ship can get through again. This means three summers and three winters in a row!
The only “settlements” are scientific bases. These vary in size, but typically have 50 people there in the summer and 15-20 in the winter (Antarctica is never really talked about as having spring or autumn/fall), summer lasts from October/November to March/April, the rest of the year is considered to be winter. There is a US base at McMurdo sound that has up to 1000 personnel at the peak time, this is the nearest there is to a town. With such rapid turn-over of people, Antarctic bases are more like oil-rigs or military bases than towns.
