The Norwegian coast guard vessel KV Svalbard reached the North Pole:
Sailing with tourists to the North Pole, the nuclear-powered icebreaker «50 let Pobedy» has been to the top of the world five times this summer.
I knew it, I knew it. The tourists and sightseers were there before the Norwegian Coast Guard.
As it says in the article the KV Svalbard used the path cleared by the “50 let Pobedy”. Why wast fuel and time to go through virgin ice when somebody else has “plowed” the road already.
BTW; I don’t think the point was to compete with the Russians, or anybody, nor to make a territorial claim on behalf of the Kingdom of Norway. They were on a scientific expedition to study the changes in the ice conditions and water temperature etc. Nothing sinister for anybody to worry about,
Norwegians have been in the Arctic Ocean for a long time. Fridtjof Nansen tried to reach the North Pole by letting his ship Fram freeze into the ice and drift across the Arctic Ocean already in 1893. It took 3 years and they never actually got to the North Pole:
https://frammuseum.no/polar_history/explorers/fridtjof_nansen__1861-1930
KV Svalbard is the least powerful icebreaking vessel ever to make it to the North Pole unaccompanied (old channel or not). Also the first one with Azipod propulsion units to that far north.
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I expect to see within short that people in wheelchairs will make rounds around the North Pole totem pole. That reminds me of a buddy of mine climbing the Snowdon mountain, the highest in Britain.
Near the top he happened to look up and saw a crowd, including people in wheelchairs, standing at the highest point. He was flabbergasted, thought he was hallucinating due to lack of oxygen although that was hard to imagine.
What he didnot know was that on the other side of the mountain a railway coach brought people almost to the top of the mountain…
Some years ago a Spanish fellow was stopped at Ny-Aalesund in Svalbard before he could start an attempt to ride a motorcycle to the North Pole. He claimed he was well prepared, having trained on a frozen lake in the Pyrenees.
Why did they stop him?
I presume to avoid an expensive rescue operation in very difficult conditions and totally unnecessary. There are enough problems with people getting into trouble in the Arctic, without allowing somebody to risk the life of others by attempting stunts that is doomed to fail.
Pressure reaches and open leads doesn’t lend itself easy to riding bikes across the Arctic Ocean:
PS> Polar bears may get to him before any rescuers could. (They don’t mind a juicy meal though)
All the more reason to let him have his dream. Who says Norway has to go look for the fool?
It might be nice of Norway to point out the risks, tell him he’s on his own and wish him well … end of involvement.
Interesting blog post (in Russian) about KV Svalbard’s voyage to the North Pole with a comment from Captain Dmitry Lobusov of 50 Let Pobedy and a photograph of the nuclear-powered icebreaker encountering the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel (whose crew was apparently very interested in the Arctic behemoth). The vessels were travelling to opposite directions with 50 Let Pobedy reportedly clocking nearly 19 knots on its way to Franz Josef Land.