News

Grand Marais men plan another Arctic trek

 

KARE, MN

February 13th, 2006

 

Lonnie Dupre and Eric Larsen had to call for a Russian helicopter to pluck them off the thin, broken ice on the Arctic Ocean last June.

 

But the men from Grand Marais, Minn., plan to make another attempt this year to become the first ever to cross the polar ice in the summer.

 

The dangers will include polar bears, canoeing in the open ocean, pulling hundreds of pounds of equipment over unstable ice ridges up to three stories tall -- all so they can draw attention to the impact of global warming on the ocean's ice.

Dupre, 44, expects that the Arctic Ocean crossing might take up to 120 days.

 

They plan to depart April 30 from Cape Arctichesky, a peninsula on the Siberian coast, and arrive at the North Pole around the Fourth of July. They then would push south to Cape Morris Jesup, the northernmost point of Greenland, by late August.

The distance is 1,000 miles as the crow flies.

 

"But we can't travel in a straight line all the time, due to open water" and currents, Dupre told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for a story published Sunday. "So we estimate the trip will be 1,240 miles with deviations."

 

Dogsled and ski teams have made winter crossings, but a summer crossing over a combination of open water and shifting ice floes would be a first.

 

The two explorers believe the best way they can bring attention to global warming is "to put a face on it, to show people close-up the process of ice melting on the Arctic," Dupre said.

 

They had to abandon their last attempt after battling the elements for 23 days, It snowed heavily more than two-thirds of the time, they said. But they're confident because they know a lot more than they did last year about pack ice conditions and near-shore ocean currents.

 

By starting on the east side of Cape Arctichesky, about 25 miles east of their departure point last year, Dupre said, they think they'll avoid a circular drift of currents that kept dragging them south toward land last year. At the time, they described it as an Arctic treadmill.

 

The current on the peninsula's east side pushes north toward the pole, he said.

 

They also adjusted their final destination to the east, from Ward Hunt Island, Canada, to the tip of Greenland to ensure more stable ice conditions in late summer.

 

The Arctic ice cap in summer has shrunk 15 percent in the last 30 years, according to the Arctic Council, a group of scientists from the U.S. and Russia. The National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado forecasts that summer ice on the Arctic Ocean will disappear by 2060. A recent NASA study suggests that a shrinking ice cover on the Arctic Ocean in summer could change ocean currents and salinity levels, prompting other long-term climate changes.

 

But scientists disagree on the cause. Some blame a greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide from power plants and vehicle emissions. Others say the trend could be nothing more than natural climate cycles or variability.

 

Larsen, 34, believes human activity is the cause of the shrinking ice cap. He said he hopes the expedition will spur the public to take action.

 

Images of explorers swimming in dry suits or paddling canoes in the middle of the Arctic Ocean should get attention, Larsen said.

 

But he acknowledged there will be perils in a return trip.

 

"Last June, I told Lonnie that it was too dangerous to come back," Larsen recalled. "But time hides our worst memories. I now remember gaining confidence as we traveled in our first couple of weeks on the ice last year.

 

"We had trained for all the dangers of the Arctic -- swimming in leads of open water and climbing over ice shoves.

"We are training for them again, and this year, we have a new style of dry suit that we'll be able to pull on over all of our clothing and boots. This will help us deal with the hardships," he said.

 

Most of their equipment will be the same as a year ago. Each will have cross-country skis, snowshoes and a canoe with special runners to help them pull it across the ice. Each canoe will be packed with 270 pounds of food, clothing and equipment -- about 80 pounds lighter than last year. They decided they don't need to bring as much food as they brought in 2005.

They'll also be prepared for polar bears, which stalked them several times last year. They'll pack 30 to 40 flares, pepper spray, a .44-caliber pistol and a .30-06 rifle.

 

Dupre is still raising funds. They spent most of the money collected in 2005, including a $100,000 grant from watchmaker Rolex. He is negotiating grants this year from Rolex; Greenpeace, an environmental organization; the American Honda Motor Co.; Cascade Designs, maker of outdoor equipment; and several other organizations.

 

His budget goal is a minimum of $340,000, Dupre said. It will cost more than $102,000 just to get from Moscow to the edge of the Arctic Ocean, and they'll need to keep another $102,000 or more in reserve in case they need to call for a helicopter again.

 

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)