Stealth Expedition
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The closest friends and family learned of the plans for a complete crossing of the continent only a few months before the trip began, without a real sense of what this entailed. Jorunn Sønneland imagined a short, downhill run from the South Pole base down to McMurdo. In reality, the most dangerous part would then lie ahead, the trip down the Axel-Heiberg glacier.
The transport out from McMurdo was Rolf’s responsibility, and something which he had to arrange from the Troll base. With much assistance from Sjur Mødre, NAE had organized this with Quark Expeditions, who arrange tourist cruises with the Kaptain Khlebnikov to McMurdo at this time of year. The agreement was made via e-mail, and was to cost the boys no more than the promise of a lecture following the expedition as well as $2000 per person, which is a very reasonable price for a ticket out of Antarctica. The only condition was that the boys reach McMurdo in time—the ship would leave the 31st of January, and would not wait.
The South Pole in the Mediterranean
At home in Tannanger, Eirik’s mother Jorunn had decided to escape when her son began his trip. She and her friends went on a health trip to Greece. It did, of course, offer no help whatsoever. The day her son left the Troll base, she lay and wept in a hotel room on a small Greek island. That evening she experienced one of those strange coincidences which make one wonder if fate really does exist.
I really cracked. Luckily for me, I had a good friend beside me. We went for a walk out in the streets, everything was closed and dark. I closed my eyes. All I could see were huge crevasses and unfamiliar terrain. I prepared myself mentally for the fact that I had now lost Eirik. Then we saw a shop with the lights on, the only one which appeared to be open. It turned out to be a children's shop, and as a new grandmother I was drawn in. In the window stood two mannequins: one with boys' clothes and one with girls'. The boy doll was wearing a jacket with the emblem “Antarctic Expedition”. Embroidered on it was also a picture of two men pulling fully loaded sleds.
Jorunn’s friend grabbed the chance while she could:
Jorunn, she said, this is a sign: buy the jacket, give it to Jakob and make sure he has it on the day his uncle returns from Antarctica.Jorunn did as her friend said, and felt a rush of calm sweep over her. From that moment onwards, she was sure of the safe return of Rolf and Eirik. The other mannequin had a white, woolen, hooded cape, which she bought for her granddaughter, Emma, who Uncle Eirik had not yet met. Jorunn Sønneland is not particularly religious, neither is she a believer in such supernatural signs, but she asks herself:
Why was that jacket displayed on exactly that day when I was wandering on that small Greek island and had lost all hope?
An Antarctic motif in the middle of the Mediterranean? Jorunn had calmed down. She remained calm until the day the antenna broke. Rolf’s mother had an easier time with the boy’s departure from the safety of the Troll base. As a teacher, Sidsel Bae made a story out of the skip trip for her pupils. With an Antarctic map in her classroom, Sidsel began each day by marking how far the polar explorers had gone.
Low budget, low profile
Since the Iridium company went bankrupt, the boys had no satellite phone. The only communication method was the three Orbcomm transmitters, two of which could send and receive text messages, and the other was only a position transmitter. The two main transmitters were unreliable from the outset, partly due to the cold, and partly due to their inability to communicate with the satellites, which only passed at certain times. Later on, Rolf and Eirik would be heavily criticized for their lack of communication, something which they felt was unjustified. They had nothing to do with the bankruptcy of Iridium, and they spent a lot of the trip trying to get the Orbcomm transmitters to work.
Frode had mounted the final so-called KX with its own antenna and battery. This sent only positional information from time to time. The satellite coverage was not optimal so far south, and was only activated when required. The emergency beacons were loaned to the boys by the Polar Institute, and were tested before departure together with the Norwegian Rescue Headquarters at Sola, Stavanger in southwest Norway.
An emergency beacon is nice to have, but if you are really in trouble in Antarctica, a rescue party will take a very long time to reach you, possibly several days. If you are trapped in a crevasse, you are in big trouble. If you have burned a hole in the tent, and the wind has ripped the flysheet, you are again in big trouble. If in addition to this the weather is poor, or the terrain hostile, then there is a good chance that a rescue party could not reach you at all.
Therefore, the safety of a polar explorer depends largely on what he or she has in the sled behind them, as well as their ability to traverse the terrain and tackle dangerous situations. Polar history shows that, in general, Norwegians have always managed these things admirably. Thorough preparation and absolute self-sufficiency have been priorities since the days of Nansen and Admundsen. There is little use for a satellite telephone if you cannot assess a glacier. Being online with your PC is of no assistance if you get frostbite setting it up. Antarctica is perhaps the place on earth which best demonstrates the false sense of security given by modern technology.
Espen Askeladd was a happy man. To have all that you need in life in a rucksack or a sled is extremely satisfying. You are free to go where you want. It is fascinating how little human beings can manage with, as long as one is focused on what one really needs. When people move house, they realize how many useless things they collect through life’s journey. There is a proverb that says "If you own more that seven things, then the things own you". Rolf and Eirik had what they needed in their sleds. Every item was valuable, irreplaceable.
Uncomfortably unavailable
On the trip, NAE was practically unavailable. They had communication equipment that was only one-way and worked only occasionally. This created uncertainty for those who watched over private expeditions to Antarctica. Where exactly were they? Where were they going? Rolf and Eirik’s expedition still had an aura of uncertainty to it. Only a select few knew of their intention to cross to McMurdo, and their press coverage was very subdued compared to that of Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft.
This was, however, very comfortable for Eirik and Rolf, who only had themselves to concentrate on. Having worried mothers on the telephone every other day would have been a major disturbance. Antarctica is best enjoyed in peace.
In Tasmania, Martin Betts sat and scratched his head. The experienced Antarctic veteran was responsible for writing the ANAN reports which are regularly published on the internet, and which cover all private activity in Antarctica. NAE stood out from other ventures with its low budget, low coverage and—in his eyes—poor communications. This worried the state-employed journalist. On August 2nd, 2000, he wrote an article and stated: "No details are currently available as to just how the pair will travel from the Pole after their arrival."
Were Rolf and Eirik still too humble? They had consciously decided not to mention any goal for the trip to dampen any expectations. It was all about risk. Not risk of cold, suffering and distance, but the risk of realizing a dream. This dream was alive, even though it was only they who knew of it.
Humor is an important quality to survive in critical situations. The book “Cato to the South Pole” has to be a good example of how much fun one can have, even in the icy wastelands. One of Antarctic-history’s funniest situations resulted when very hungry, armless polar explorer Cato Zahl Pedersen began dreaming of the cake which lay in his sled. His two companions were ruthless in their humor. They threatened to screw off his artificial arms before putting him in his sleeping bag. They then took out the cake and joked, "No arms, no cake!"