It’s in Arabic, so here’s the Link:

Wadih Abd El Nour writes about Maxime Chaya’s North Pole Quest – LINK

William Mougayar alerted me to the North Pole expedition of his friend Maxime Chaya who is one of only 17 people in the world who have done the 3 poles (North, South & Everest).

So, I asked William if he could ask the team the technology they were taking along and Angie Aggens of Polar Explorers which helped outfit the expedition responded:

Motorola 9505a satellite phones that use the Iridium network.
Ipaq PDA’s with software from Human Edge Tech
Fastfind Plus Personal Locator Beacon made by McMurdo
Brunton solar charger will go in at the resupply when there is more sunlight.
Icom handheld ground to air VHF radio
several Garmin GPS units, iPods and MP3 players

Surely all the equipment is ruggedized?

“Nothing special to make them rugged other than keeping them warm and avoiding condensation whenever possible. This usually means sleeping with the items or at the very least wearing them for a little while in your inner pockets before you use them so the battery gets warm.

Remember, they started the expedition at -45 to -50 F and even the stoves were having a hard time working! All communication devices are kept in rugged waterproof containers, even though most of them claim to be waterproof. They are carried in separate sleds for redundant safety (ie. in case one sled is lost they will still have coms). Furthermore, only one phone is used unless there is a problem to reduce wear and tear on the phones. Several of the items have special batteries rated to cold temperatures, or at the very least external battery packs that can be run off AA lithium batteries.”

And then this understatement : “All in all the expedition is relatively low-tech.”

Low-tech or not, when Maxime is back, I would love for him to contribute to the Technology and my Hobby series.

Lonnie Dupre wasn’t planning to go to the North Pole this spring. Then, about a month ago, his cell phone rang.

The call came from an adventure travel agent in Chicago. A couple of serious world travelers, one from Lebanon and one from Texas, wanted to make a North Pole expedition. They needed a companion who knew the ropes.

“I said I wasn’t really planning on going to the pole,” Dupre said. “But I chatted with these guys and, lo and behold, they have tons of experience.”

An instant expedition was in the works: Just add ice.

Dupre and his companions will leave March 1 from the northern tip of Arctic Canada for a 600-mile ski trek to the pole. They’re calling their trip the Peary Centennial North Pole Expedition.

For Dupre, it’s an all-expenses-paid outing. His companions have enough sponsorship or personal finances to float the expedition over the sea ice. Total cost is about $225,000, Dupre said.

Dupre, 47, is the kind of person you’d want to hire if you needed a North Pole guide. He and companion Eric Larsen of Grand Marais used skis and canoes to make the first-ever summer trek to the North Pole in 2006. In addition to numerous other Arctic expeditions, Dupre circumnavigated Greenland by dog team and kayak from 1997 to 2001.

He had hoped to do a North Pole trip this year to commemorate Adm. Robert Peary’s 1909 expedition to the pole. But while he wanted to go north, the economy went south, and Dupre couldn’t land a sponsorship.

Now he’s scrambling to put this expedition together on short notice. His partners, Stuart Smith of Waco, Texas, and Maxime Edgard Chaya of Beirut, Lebanon, will join him in Grand Marais on Feb. 8 for a shakedown winter camping trip. They’re calling their expedition the Peary Centennial North Pole Expedition.

Smith, 49, and Chaya, 47, come with impressive credentials. Each has made the summit of Mount Everest and has climbed the “Seven Summits” — the highest peaks on seven continents. They also have made 600-mile treks to the South Pole without resupply.

“That’s 600 miles as flat and white as a dinner plate,” Dupre said. “If you can get through that mentally, you can probably get to the [North] Pole. The only thing we have to fight off is the extreme cold in the first days off Ellesmere.”

The two men have done some previous expeditions together and many separately, Dupre said.

Distance to the North Pole from Ellesmere, or, more precisely, tiny Ward Hunt Island, is 437 miles, Dupre said. But the team will more likely travel 600 miles, zig-zagging around leads of open water and pressure ridges.

“We’ll be carrying dry-suits, swimming the leads,” Dupre said. “We’re expecting a pretty good [ice] year. It’s been cold on this side of the hemisphere. We’re hoping we don’t have to swim too much.”

Rather than trying to make the trek without outside resupply, the team will be resupplied at least once en route.

“I decided not to go unsupported because the ice is so unpredictable now,” Dupre said. “And we don’t want to be stopped.”

The men won’t see sun for the first week of the expedition, when temperatures could reach 60 below zero. To stay in shape, Dupre has been skiing a lot this winter, often hauling a pack filled with two bags of road salt. He also has done weight training with kettlebells, a system developed by Russians.

They will have to reach the pole by April 26 or 27 to ensure a pickup by helicopter from the Russian Ice Island Borneo, a research base that drifts in the Arctic Ocean each winter, Dupre said. From there, they’ll be flown to Norway for the trip home.

Story from ExWeb: www.thepoles.com

ExWeb interview with Max Chaya: “How much outcome is won or lost in the mind rather in the body…”

Max about the NP: “The cold, especially in the early stages will be tough to handle. Add to that the cramped humid conditions inside the tent, and outside. The numerous pressure ridges and open leads we will have to overcome – not to mention the thread of polar bears.”

“Stuart Smith has climbed the Seven Summits (actually all 8 of them–both Carstensz and Australia), Ama Dablam in Nepal and Huascaran in Peru. Additionally he has climbed Lhotse, Cho Oyu, and Gasherbrum II. He has run 14 marathons including four 50-mile ultra-marathons. He has skied to the South Pole from Hercules Inlet in Nov/Dec 2004, and completed a North Pole last degree expedition in 2004.”

“During an Arctic career spanning 20 years, Lonnie Dupre has travelled over 14,000 miles throughout the high Arctic by dog team, ski and kayak. His path has often followed in the footsteps of the great Arctic explorers of the last century and like them, Dupre has lived and travelled with the Polar Inuit, learning from these hardy people and developing a deep appreciation for their culture and way of life. Lonnie has earned many prestigious awards over his tenure in the Arctic.”

09:20 am CST Mar 03, 2009
(ThePoles.com) Guide Lonnie Dupre together with Max Chaya and Stuart Smith are currently waiting at Resolute Bay to start their ski expedition from Canada to the North Pole. Both Stuart and Max climbed Everest and skied to the South Pole from Hercules Inlet. They will attempt their ‘Third Pole’, the North Pole. Last week ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer caught up with Max in Beirut while eating cookies and chocolates, trying to gain much needed weight.

Continue reading Explorers Web (ExWeb) Interviews the Team