On 14th March 1895, two explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen left their icebound ship Fram and set out on skies for the North Pole. They didn’t make it to the pole, but their journey became one of the most epics, what polar history has ever seen. After latitude 86°14′ North they abandoned the attempt and retreat southwards, eventually reaching Franz Josef Land. Yet, the one of the initial plans was to reach land north of Svalbard, somewhere to the Seven Islands (Sjuøyane). This would have become better choice if these two would have make it to the pole.

“But let’s say, return trip takes 50 days. If everything has gone well, we set the course to Seven Islands, north of Spitsbergen...”

Fridtjof Nansen

Two friends, Audun Tholfsen and Timo Palo, now have a dream to take this scenario number two - if...these two brave men would have tried to return back to the Spitsbergen. After being air dropped at the geographical North Pole, we will face to south and have to get back home. Like Nansen and his so called “burning bridges” strategy would have said: there is no way back, but only forward (Fram)! We hope to make it to the first land within 50 days. On the land of Nordaustlandet (northeast island of the archipelago) we have placed out depot, after what we will continue towards the south until to Longyearbyen (the biggest settlement in Svalbard). We prepare for about 1400 kilometers before seeing home, but ice drift and weather can unpredictably change it.

22nd of April at 9am in local time Antonov-74 flight takes Timo and Audun up to the Barneo ice camp. The long march back home starts soon after that!

SCIENTIFIC PROJECT

The expedition will carry out some scientific observations during on their way south across the ice. In-situ measurements are sparse in the Arctic Ocean and therefore valuable in many aspects. We will take a light set of instruments with us. Daily observations will include snow pits, snow and ice thickness measurements. Small temperature recording device called i-buttons will be mounted on the way to record temperature profile in snow pack and in the surface layer of the air. GPS measurements will help us to capture drift of the local ice floes. Regular meteorological and visual observations will be done. We will estimate for instance sea ice concentration, age and type, but also cloud cover.