Video: Walking On The Thin Ice

While we're on the theme of polar exploration today, here's a good video that I came across while reading ExWeb this morning. It features clips from various polar expeditions undertaken by Japanese explorer Ogita Yasunaga, who has spent a lot of time in the Arctic and plans another attempt to ski to the Geographic North Pole in 2013.

The video does a good job of showing what it is like to make such a journey, which is very different than going to the South Pole. Not only do the skiers have to contend with sections of open water, but they also face more difficult terrain, negative drift and the occasional polar bear. Down south the skiers never come across another form of life once they leave the coast behind. The clip is also a good indicator of how these polar explorers travel, skiing across the ice while dragging a heavy sled behind. Something that isn't easy to do for ten hours per day.