North Pole 2010—Day 05—Set to Jet

We are locked and loaded for our flight to the beginning of our ski expedition in the morning. The last day was spent preparing ourselves and our gear for the trip. The weather here in Norway has been spectacular until this afternoon, when some clouds rolled in and the wind picked up to about 15 mph. Our flight is at 9 a.m.  and I anticipate the weather to be fine. We will be traveling by chartered Russian jet to the Barneo ice base operated by Russians during the month of April. The base is a collection of tents and an ice runway plowed on the Arctic Ocean and currently floating around 89º 29' N and 88º 47' W. It has not been drifting much, so it will be near there tomorrow. Our team will fly in an Antonov 74 jet. This is a cargo jet that is specifically modified for extremely cold operation and excels at short takeoff and landing. We will spend an hour or so at the base organizing our fuel and then fly to 89º N by MI-8 helicopter where we will start skiing to the Pole. We will be audio blogging by satellite phone for the duration of the trip at http://polarexplorers.com/blogs/#tyl where our trip is called "2010 NP - Test Your Limits Ski Expedition" Upon returning, I'll get some images up on this blog of our time on the ice. See you soon, and wish us luck.