North Pole 2009: Christina is in Resolute Bay

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As the calendar approaches March, the Arctic season begins to ramp up, with teams putting the final touches on their preparation. The Baffin Babes intend to head off to Baffin Island in early March, where they’ll be spending 80 days out on the ice exploring the remote region of Canada. I mentioned yesterday that Pen Hadow and his team were finishing their packing and preparing to get underway late this week, and his team was joined by another arctic explorer in Canada this morning.

In her latest blog post, Christina Franco reports that she has reached Resolute Bay after 12 hours of travel and three flights from Ottawa. She was greeted with the kind of weather that she can expect for the foreseeable future as well, with -32º temperatures, and high winds pushing it to 50 below wind chills.

Christina reports that the area is “abuzz with activity” right now, with a number of teams preparing to get underway. Her gear and supplies are in place and she’ll be organizing them over the next few days as she makes final preparations before setting out as well. Her post doesn’t mention when she expects to leave, but I would imagine she hopes to get underway this by this weekend or early next week at the latest.

Her expedition will be a solo attempt on the North Pole, with a scheduled resupply somewhere en route. If successful, she’ll become the first woman to make such a journey, and she’ll be one of the people I’ll be following closely in the weeks ahead. Good luck Christina!

Kraig Becker

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