Link: What is the Magnetic North Pole
Link: Long Tem Drift of Magnetic North Pole

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Here are just a few polar bear facts…

The world’s largest predator, the polar bear can weigh up to 680kg and measure up to 3m in length (with females around half that size). However the largest recorded bear, shot in Alaska in 1960, weighed in at 1,002kg. Christina, on the other hand, will only weigh one tenth of an average polar bear even after gaining all the weight she intends to and will only stand half as tall.

The polar bear’s feet are huge, measuring an incredible 12” across, allowing them to distribute their weight evenly on ice and propel them through the water when swimming. You may have heard that ‘all polar bears are left handed’ – this has never been proved.

Kept warm by 10cm of blubber, polar bears would overheat at temperatures higher than 10C. Their dense underfur is covered by transparent guard hairs which appear a white colour. So effective is this insulation that a polar bear cannot be seen on an infrared camera.

While they may be known for their plodding walk, polar bears can in fact run at speeds of up to 30mph while their swimming abilities make Michael Phelps look lazy. Known to swim as far as 200m from land they can swim at around 6mph.

Setting off on her expedition in March, Christina will be leaving the den at the very same time as new polar bear families. Mothers give birth, normally to two cubs, in January and hibernate for around two to three months. During her entire time in the maternity den a mother won’t eat or drink – when she leaves she’ll be very, very hungry and on the lookout for seals…and to a polar bear who has probably never encountered humans Christina will look exactly like a seal when she is in the water, making her extremely vulnerable to attack in the water.

Polar bears will feed on their mother’s milk for around twenty months. During this time males ready to mate will attack and kill cubs believing that the mother won’t go in to heat while caring for her young.

From a distance Christina will only recognise an approaching polar bear by its black nose against the snow – despite popular belief the bears don’t cover their noses when hunting (thank goodness).

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The search for the best and lightest equipment is what plagues all adventurers. It will take you to dusty corners of the Internet, to the workshops of the cleverest engineers and to long tea sessions with every explorer you can find to discuss, argue and sometimes agree on the benefit of a particular bit of kit.

I have a running spreadsheet where every bit of kit that has finally been approved and committed to gets weighed and entered. Currently it totals 20.987kg without food and fuel, but new kit has arrived just now in the post and I am bringing out the digital scale….

Before being approved to the final kit list every item has been scrutinized for possible weight shaving and for increased efficiency. In this process the engineers at Lotus have been invaluable. These are CAD renderings of the bindings Kieron has made for me out of Titanium. He has even run a stress test on the boots I wore to the Magnetic North Pole to see exactly how I walk and where the strain is on my bindings. WOW!

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No one lives at Ward Hunt Island , it is the last bit of coast before stepping onto the Arctic sea ice. The first 20 days will be a gauntlet of ice blocks sometimes as high as a two-story building. The principle to how these amazing mountains of ice rubble are created is very much the same as what creates mountains on land only it is not earth crust but frozen sea plates that collide. Pen Hadow said in his book “Solo” that they sounded like a foundry when they were happening. The proximity to the coast and the natural shelter these structures create make a great home for polar bears and Christina will have to be extra vigilant.

Once the rubble is cleared the terrain flattens but the new threat of open water replaces it. Christina will carry a dry suit that fits over all her clothes and her sled floats allowing her to slip into the water and swim across to the other side. This will make her vulnerable to icy-cold water as well as making her look like a seal to any polar bear, so she will only do this if there is really no way around the water at all.

Every night she will put up a tent and melt water to re-hydrate freeze dried food. Modern technology will enable her to tap out a blog and send it through an Iridium phone straight trough to this web site so check in during the expedition to hear all about what she experiences and sees. Once her GPS guides her to the North Pole she will be collected by the Russians who set up a temporary camp in April 1 degree from the pole and flown home through Norway.

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