Polar attack

by Weber, Richard

In 1995, Richard Weber and Mikhail Malakhov set out on skis from Ward Hunt Island in the permanent night of an Arctic February. They carried with them, in sleds and in backpacks, all the food and equipment they would require for four months of lonely travel, determined to be the first in history to complete the 1,500-kilometre unsupported journey from land to the North Pole and back. They had tried it before, with a third man, an American, on the team, and their brave expedition made international news as a spectacular failure. Now, unable to call it quits, they headed out into the total darkness with renewed determination, defying the experts who claimed that such a journey was simply impossible. Out on the frozen Arctic Ocean, they would encounter the most severe weather conditions imaginable: repeated blizzards, jagged and shifting ice, treacherous open water, and temperatures as low as -58° C (-72° F). With the aid of new navigation technology, Weber and Malakhov were able to confi