Track Alan & Peter On The Ice
Here you can see the route taken by Alan and Peter on their trek across Greenland. The information about their progress was updated regularly as they send us precise data on their location as gathered by their satellite navigation system. You can see all the maps in date order in the ‘Track the Route‘ in the News section.
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7 comments so far
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Hi Peter and Alan,
Bethany & I go to Holy Trinity. We went to your speech at Bishop Douglas. We both agree it was fantastic! The pictures you took & put on your website where really intresting! What are those lights in the sky called?
We have a few questions to ask. Here they are: How did you get your job of an explorer? How do you manage carrying all that stuff without any husky dogs? That must be HEAVY! Do you get bored with eating all the same food!? Do you drink hot, warm or cold drinks? And what are they? Are you still cold under all those layers?
From Bethany and Lizzie
Bethany and Lizzie
thanks for the questions - sorry we are a bit late in responsing - we have been busy recently as Alan and Peter are leaving for Greenland soon - on 28th April and plan to be on the ice by the 1st May.
If you mean the lights in the sky which you saw in the images of earth from satellites - this showed how all the lights which are switched on in big cities such as London - can be seen from as far away at satellites. How far away are the salellites: Most communications satellites are located in the Geostationary Orbit (GSO) at an altitude of approximately 35,786 kilometres above the equator.
This gives you an idea of how serious the issue of energy waste - it - we presume you swiith your lights off when you are out of your room or house or classroom?!
However you may be asking about the lights in the sky on the horizon from picture taken in Greenland or on the North Pole - here is what happens in terms of the light when you are on the North Pole -
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/
The North Pole spends half the year in darkness and half in light. As the Earth orbits the sun, its axis stays constant. That means for half the orbit the Earth’s axis is tilted toward the sun and for the other half the axis is tilted away from the sun.
Sunrise at the North Pole occurs on the spring equinox—around March 21. The sun then climbs higher each day until the summer solstice on about June 21. Sunlight is continuous throughout the summer, but after the solstice the sun slowly sinks to the horizon until it drops below on the autumn equinox (around September 21). Twilight then prevails until early October, and then full darkness endures until the spring sunrise.
• The famous northern lights appear as bands, clouds and rays of green, red, and blue lights in the night sky. The aurora borealis (Latin for “northern dawn”) occurs in an oval around the north magnetic pole.
The aurora is caused when charged electrons and protons from the sun reach Earth and collide with atoms and molecules (like oxygen and nitrogen) in the upper atmosphere near the pole. Some of the energy released by these collisions becomes visual light—and treats onlookers to a spectacular sky show.
Getting a job as an explorer: Alan joined the Royal Marines ages 16 - he learnt the skills of survival in extreme places and did expeditions to the North Pole, Norway and Iceland. He had to learn also by going and living with the Inuits and seeing how they managed to survive and how the ‘read the ice’ - that is learning which ice is safe to walk in, which is thin and dangerous. For Peter he has worked in the area of survival, scouting and helps guide young people with for instance the Duke of Edinburgh award.
Yes they do get bored but it does mean that they can get away from the pressures of modern life and it means lots of time to think about yourself. Sometimes they say it helps the ‘clear thier hard drive’ a bit like a computer - they clear their mind and come back refreshed, but of course very tired.
Carrying equipment is a challenge but if the ice is good then the sledge will glide well and on the flat surfaces it means it is easier to drag a heavy load. However when they reach a hill, or a crevasse it is very tought to move the sledge. So the aim has always to be to minimise the weight of the sledge.
They have a few different menus in dried food that they have to add hot water to. Alan likes the Chicken Korma curry! They do melt lots of ice each evening using a heater that Peter has invented - he’s really good at design and technology type work so invented equipment which is espaecially for expeditions.
Thye have hot porridge each morning - Ready Brek have given them lots of packs to take with them.
They can get cold but if they are walking several hours in a day the risk is that they get too hot in their body under the layers and sweat - if they sweat then the sweat may freeze later and then causes discomfort and may be dangerous.
Hope this helps… keep watching the website - we will be adding more on the expedition soon
Richard and the team.
hi
i read your last letter to bethany and lizzie i no how scary it must be soo all the people at Ottery St Mary will be supporting you and specially your daughther bye for now GOOD LUCK
From Lara
Just a couple of questions…
How do you go to the toilet? What will you take with you? How will you protect yourselves from danger, like the polar bears and seals?
Will you be living in igloos or tents?
Will you be living in snow shelters?
Thanks
Kieran
Good questions… Alan and Peter will be living in a tent - they have taken 2 tents. They will build shelters around the tents because the wind is so strong that if they didn’t then they would be blown away. This means hard work digging the snow and ice each night after a whole day walking - they will send back some pictures we will put up on the website to show you the tents and the shelters.
Thye have to make their own toliet area a few metres away from the living area of the tent and shelter… and have to go to the toilet very quickly becaise it is so cold!
Richard
hi it is harrison how do we see your position on the map
from harrison
Hi Harrison
good question… on Tuesday this week Sandra is going to update the map so you can see where Alan and Peter are - so keep looking.
Also you can see in the Ice Logs each evening the co-ordinates - there are the numbers which Alan and Peter report to me as soon as they phone me to tell me where they are. These are written as a series of numbers which relate to
Longitude (how far north or south in the world they are) and
Latitude (how far West or East they are)
Now without me explaining it all here you might want to talk to your teacher or Ms Pritchard about how this works and I will be setting some challenges for school children to look at questions like this - these will be posted on the website later this week.
Alan and Peter are giving me the information about where they are by reading it from their GPS (Global Positioning System)which locates them in a very precise way by a link to a satellite.
Keep looking at the website and delighted you made it to the send off at Bristol Airport — hope you enjoyed it and like the photographs on the website with you in!
Richard