Polar Ring 2011

Another week of the expedition is over. A lot of things happened these days. Here they are in order.

The International Women’s Day had been celebrated according to our circumstances – with hard work. To fulfill transportation of our equipment to the island Sredny by airplanes we had to significantly disassemble vehicles and trailers. Wheels, suspension and much of the attached implements had been dismounted. The performed above the Arctic Circle reversal assembly process takes many times more efforts and time. Even if it takes place in a sheltered box. After all thorough preparations in middle latitudes the final outfit packing, load layout on trailers and the “road-trains” run in should be executed in the environment of real exploitation with low temperatures and on challenging terrain.

In the evening we’ve joined the party that the frontier guards organized to celebrate the fair sex representatives. Well there are women at this world’s end too. As wives of the ‘Decembrists’ they followed husbands to share the polar night that now is being fast replaced with the polar day.

In a day the first all-terrain vehicle runs out of the box and passes a test route to the nearest “barrels” and back. Here we go! We concentrate efforts on the second vehicle. More work here. During the transportation some manufacturing defects had been revealed. They have to be repaired fast. By now the most serious - a small crack in the weld seam of the aluminium fuel tank. And it is the cause of rather intensive spill of diesel fuel. In our conditions common at-hand methods to fix this problem (like soap, rubber patch etc.) do not work.

It’s necessary to mention that island Sredny as many other “inhabited” northern islands look like an outdoor museum-dump for any kind of vehicles and metal parts. Most of them are covered with snow but many stick out from beneath of the snowdrifts and look out from the black eye-sockets of the half-ruined constructions. Short search in the dusk of the polar evening was success – two large fuel tanks that sometimes were new but had never been used had been found. One of them found place at the tail of a vehicle and another joined wagon train as a spare part.
Soon the second all-terrain vehicle leaves the garage to be replaced with the trailers.

Weather significantly worsens. Pressure and temperature raise fast. For almost three days a strong low snow is blowing, visibility is several dozens of meters, further everything disappears in the milk of snow blasts. Trips from beds to the box and back turn into special endeavors.

Work on the trailers comes to finish. Only small things that had not been done in Moscow remain. Suddenly a serious trouble happens: a middle half-axle of a vehicle breaks when it rolls over a not high snow-drift site.
The breakage seems to be standard even for jeeps and we have spare half-axles. However close analysis revealed that the reason is a manufacturing defect for the whole batch of these parts. That's why “health” of all other half-axles turned into a serious concern.
This unit had been designed taking into account minimal weight. So it was not possible to solve the problem in the field. Upon some consideration we found temporary solution – to weld reinforcing bars of the proper diameter into the hollow axles. It’s very hard to find and process the necessary metal-roll on an island. And here we’ve got invaluable help from the mechanics of the frontier post and staff of the polar station at the island Golomjany - Igor Lutchenko and Anatoly Omelchenko.

Capacity for work of Dima Kutalo and Sasha Borisevich is just amazing. Hour after hour, day after day they bend, saw and weld iron, tune mechanical units, perform losing fight with cold and lack of sophisticated fasteners. Actually for such expedition mechanic is a really indispensable person. Along with them is Serguei Fenev who with competence undertakes any work with ‘iron’ and executes it up to a logical end. The long experience of living in the northern areas shows itself.

However our troubles are not over but on the opposite – just start. We’ve infuriated The Snow Queen with something and she starts to set traps on our way to the goal with devilish smile. Suddenly both inverters 12/220 burn out despite the fact that they’ve been tested and worked well In Moscow. The third one that had been assembled from remains of the first two suffered slightly longer but eventually followed them. No doubt that low temperatures and flaming aurora are strong factors but they are not the main reason. It is the unconcealed hack-work that turned the inverters into one-time use electrical equipment. To find oneself without electric tools on a route is not deadly (there are hand tools) but extremely unpleasant incident.

Next problem strengthens our negative opinion on the quality of the modern electric equipment. One after another the battery disconnect switches break on the both all-terrain vehicles. We have 4 of them per vehicle and 3 in spare parts. Autopsy revealed that for these "dummies” even 3-4 successful turns on is a big success. Way out is at the same arctic outdoor "museum" of machinery. Cabins of the decomposed towing vehicles and other double-purpose machinery contain perfect battery disconnect switches, made in 70-80s, with reliable silver-plated studs that can work for not a single dozen of years. However today, in the 21-st century, they forgot how to make it.

In this situation the fact that our doctor and intendant Mke Glan boiled the purest rectified alcohol seems funny.
Plastic bottles with water and the “medicine” happened to stay close to each other at lunch time. The closest one, not with water, had been chosen to pour water into a teakettle. The liquid that boiled up surprisingly fast had been poured into a thermos and the teakettle had been refilled. Fortunately the liquid has not been used to cook noodles as the newcomers who had no chronic running nose smelled specific odor and stopped this expensive and dangerous process. However Mike fulfils duties of a “regimental doctor” excellently. He distributes pills, removes scale from a grinder from an eye and even bandages broken fingers of the locals.

On the evening of March 13 the hard drive of the main vehicle-borne computer that is used for navigation, automatic positioning and communication with the continent ‘died”. It worked perfectly during the last two expeditions and now passed over after kick of the same northern lady (see above). Another time we state that it is not a deadly situation as we have a reserve computer. Despite the fast that it belongs to another class itt can fulfill the main tasks. In addition before explorers managed without such “extravagancies”.

On March 14 we've been ready to start from the Sredny. Plan was to reach the Golomjany island in the format of road-trains, to finish the repair works and to visit a bath-house there. In the morning we went to a remarkable place that is dear to a heart of not only every real polar explorer but anyone who is interested in history of the Russian Arctic - house-museum of the Ushakov expedition. Among the devastation around this island of the past in a special way inspires hope for best.

The plans did not come true and we've made the God laugh again. When one of the road-trains started moving another breakage occurred. At one of the intensive operating modes console of the intermediate reducer bended and the chain started to slip over the gear. Type of this defect (manufacturing or design) is still to be analyzed but the day today, March 15, is devoted to the repair of this unit on the both vehicles to avoid next breakage.

Meanwhile for several days we get unfavorable information about the ice condition to the north and north-east of the island Komsomolets. A coastal flaw lead ranges along the whole northern and eastern coast of the island and its width is up to 3-5 miles. The situation is very tense. Some day soon aviation starts to establish the pole base "Barneo".
In a couple of weeks the goods that we need on the way from the pole to Canada are planned to be dropped off. And we are still on the Sredny.