Expedition
This is how you could visit the North and South poles
The planet’s poles are no longer only restricted to explorers. If you’ve got the cash, you can see these remote icy wilderness regions for yourself. And here’s how you do it.
You don’t have to be an explorer to reach the ends of the Earth. Of course, there’s no denying you need a lot of cash, but if you can raise the funds then anyone can pay their way to the poles, whether it’s a quick fly-over or a full-on expedition.
There are actually four different definitions to what we see as the North and South Pole – the geographic pole, the magnetic pole, the geomagnetic pole and the pole of inaccessibility – but the geographic, where all lines of latitude convene, is the one to visit.
They'll be harsh conditions whatever Pole you go to but there are rewards
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
The North Pole is in the middle of the frozen ocean and while its location is fixed at 90 degrees north, the floating pack ice you travel on is not – so getting there is like walking on a slow treadmill to a moving target.
But that’s not the only challenge. The ice is so thin in places you can fall through it and there are lots of open water channels to get around, too – either by foot, floating on a sled or swimming in a dry-suit.
The terrain is like a frozen stormy sea, with pressure ridges to get over and jumbled two-storey building-sized ice blocks in the way. Then there’s the occasional roaming polar bear to avoid.
You may see a few polar bears if you're lucky
© Martha de Jong
In the south, the pole is fixed on land at 90 degrees south and the immovable ice is thousands of metres thick. But because it’s so vast and permanently frozen, it's the coldest place on Earth – with summer temperatures dipping to -40 degrees Celsius and winter seeing -80.
The other big challenge down there is the altitude. The South Pole is 2,800m above sea level (most of which is the ice thickness) and some areas en-route reach 3,350m – making altitude sickness a big cause of evacuation.
If you think you can overcome all those obstacles, then, how exactly do you go about getting to the Poles?
NORTH POLE
There are only two small windows in the year to go – April or late June. It’s totally dark in winter but as soon as the sun appears the Russians set up a base at Barneo, about 60 miles from the pole, with a runway, tents, supplies and helicopters to get to the pole.
Tourists enjoy a visit to the geographic North Pole
© Christopher Michel/Wikimedia Creative Commons
An Antanov AN-74 flies tourists in from Longyearbyen in Svalbard, Norway, three times a week, but warmer weather quickly melts the ice and the base usually closes after just three weeks.
The melt continues to the peak of summer, when the remaining ice is then thin enough to break through and the pole can be reached by boat. But whatever route you take to get there, it’s never easy, or cheap.
Helicopter
Get dropped in by a helicopter and leave by the same mode of transport
© North Pole Marathon
After flying in to Barneo by plane it’s a further 20- to 40-minute flight in a Mi-8 helicopter to the pole. This trip includes a night at the base and, if you ask nicely and pay enough extra money, you could even do a skydive.
Last-degree ski
More adventurous tourists can get the helicopter to 89-degrees North and ski the last degree. The spectacular journey takes 10 days and makes you feel like a true arctic explorer, crossing open water leads, pressure ridges, sastrugi and ice rubble. It’s demanding, though, travelling 14km a day towing equipment sleds in temperatures as low as -35°C.
Dog sledding
Sled dogs are a traditional mode of transport in the Arctic
© Oliver Pelling
You can grab your own dog team to help with the journey – but it doesn't make it much easier. You’ll spend up to 10 hours a day navigating the pack ice and although the dogs help carry your gear, you’ll mostly be walking or skiing to guide them, not sat comfortably on the back of the sled.
Run
An extreme marathon if there was ever one
© North Pole Marathon
The North Pole Marathon takes place in April and is the only marathon in the world run entirely over water. It’s actually run at Barneo, but competitors are flown to the pole itself after the race. This year’s event is sold out but places are available in 2020. For what it’s worth, the record time is 3hr 36min 10sec, set by Irish runner Thomas Maguire in 2007.
Full distance ski-trek
Sometimes the only way forward is to crawl
© Eric Larsen/Last North Expedition
If all that feels too easy, it's possible – albeit very tough – to walk all the way from the nearest point of land. Treks often start at Ward Hunt Island, just off northern Ellesmere Island, from where it’s 770km to the pole across the Arctic pack ice in the ski tracks left by the legendary Arctic explorers.
Cruise
Go for a cruise, polar style
© Christopher Michel/Wikimedia Creative Commons
In the summer, the Russian nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pebody (‘50 Years of Victory’) cracks its way through the thick multi-year pack ice – although the environmental impact of that is a big question for some. It sets off from Murmansk and takes around five days to get to the pole.
Flightsee
Incredible views from a plane
© Hedwig Storch/Wikimedia Creative Commons
OK, so this flight won’t get you on the pole but you can still say you’ve been to 90-degrees North by flying over it – and once there it circumnavigates the Earth in both directions. The 16-hour, one-off expedition flight, which runs out of Zurich on an Airbus A340 in May, also goes over the Norwegian fjords, Spitzbergen and Greenland – but if it’s cloudy you’ve only got one shot.
SOUTH POLE
US explorer Colin O'Brady at the Geographic South Pole
© Colin O'Brady
This pole is fixed on land, so there's a permanent base – the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station – with a runway right on site. There’s also a rather glossy ceremonial metal sphere to mark the spot – but don’t stop there because it’s actually 300m from the real South Pole, which is marked with a simple rod with a brass head.
South Pole selfie
© Sean Swarner
Extreme conditions mean most visits are made between November and January and usually leave from Punta Arenas in southern Chile, although it can also be reached from South Africa, Australia or New Zealand.
Plane
Fly to the South Pole
© U.S. Department of State/Wikimedia Creative Commons
From the world’s most southerly city, Punta Arenas, it takes around four hours to fly to the tented camp at Union Glacier then it's another four- to six-hour ski-plane flight from there to the pole itself. Most visitors stay at Union a few days to visit Drake Icefall, Elephant’s Head marble buttress, Charles Peak Windscoop and ‘the beach’ at Rossman Cove and to give time for a weather window for the pole flight. For €3.5k extra you can even stay a night at the pole itself.
Last-degree ski
Ski sledding can be quite the physical challenge
© Colin O'Brady
After being flown to 89-degrees South, 111km from the pole, this journey involves skiing eight to 12 hours a day for six days, hauling kit in sleds across the barren Antarctic landscape. It offers the expedition experience without having to do it for months on end.
Coast-to-pole ski
Stefan Glowacz pulls his sled across a crevasse
© Klaus Fengler
There are various start points for a ‘full’ ski trek but wherever you begin, the journey is long. From the ‘technical coast’, where the Antarctic land mass reaches sea level, the Messner Start is closest, 911km from the pole, and takes 50 days to complete, skiing seven to 10 hours a day with a sled of supplies. ‘True coast’ starts, which begin where the ice cap actually meets the sea, are even longer and more expensive. They start at McMurdo Sound, 1,287km from the pole, or Berkner Island or Cape Evans, both 1,448km away.