The Expedition
The expedition set out from Resolute, Nunavut at 1300 on 25 April 2007. The destination for this day was Bathurst Island, an uninhabited island where they would make camp. After leaving Bathurst Island, the team had to rely on satellite navigation to plan their route.
Travel on the first three days was fairly easy, as the ice was smooth and the expedition was able to make good speed. Things got more difficult on 28 April, however, as the terrain became more difficult to cross, with sharp-edged ice covered in thick snow making it difficult to obtain traction, as well as posing a danger to the tyres. At this point, the team were relying on their guides to scout ahead for a safe route, demolishing outcrops of ice with axes when necessary. The terrain became even more perilous further north, with the team having to cross a field of very thin ice. There was a real danger of the ice cracking and the car falling through due to the weight, so the vehicles had to be driven very slowly. At one point, Clarkson & May's vehicle became trapped when it fell partly through the ice, and had to be pulled free by an accompanying vehicle.
On the morning of 2 May 2007 the GPS system confirmed that the team had reached the 1996 location of the magnetic north pole at 78°35.7′N 104°11.9′W / 78.5950°N 104.1983°W / 78.5950; -104.1983 (Magnetic North Pole 1996) (or at least at 78°35′7″N 104°11′9″W / 78.58528°N 104.18583°W / 78.58528; -104.18583, the reading showing on the GPS in the program, which is 0.7 miles SSE of it), making them the first people to reach within a mile of the magnetic north pole location of any year in a motor vehicle. From there, the Top Gear presenters were evacuated by plane, while the team drove on to the disused Isachsen weather station, where they made camp and checked the vehicles to make sure they were in good enough condition to make the return trip to Resolute.
Richard Hammond never made it to the pole, as it "seemed cruel to make him go the extra distance just so Clarkson could gloat".
Read more about this topic: Top Gear: Polar Special
Famous quotes containing the word expedition:
“Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination.”
—Janet Frame (b. 1924)
“It is a sort of ranger service. Arnold’s expedition is a daily experience with these settlers. They can prove that they were out at almost any time; and I think that all the first generation of them deserve a pension more than any that went to the Mexican war.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)