Dispatch #12 - North Pole Exped

North Pole Exped

Dispatches

Apr 17

#12:
in love with the ocean

Published at 18:08

What's not to love about the Arctic Ocean? All day we were spotting shapes in the rubble, like cloud gazing. A robot, a dog, a battleship, something phallic! And the moods created by clouds are fantastic - austere, dazzling, monochromatic, dappled, ashen. Then the faces of my team, expressions that are commonplace here - dismay, frustration, surprise, satisfaction, annoyance, happiness. And who would think that this world could be so colourful - white, grey, blue, brown, yellow, red, pink, purple, hardly a colour escapes us as we go about our daily business. And as for sounds, they are both real - swishing, clanking, grinding, breathing, talking, singing, groaning, trickling, simmering - and imagined - bears creeping, ice breaking, wind approaching, people calling. And finally our daily engagement with the world beyond - Kindles for reading, iPhones for music, cameras for recording, sat phones for talking, blogs for informing.

What's not to love when every day on the Arctic Ocean is full of that.

Pic of Petter on a ridge next to our camp

Eric

Name: Day 5
Elevation: 1 m
Latitude: 89° 13’ 5” North
Longitude: 137° 31’ 18” East