Making art with Emilia Von Telese

Icelandic/Italian artist, Emilia Von Telese has been conducting a 'mini-residency' on Vigur Island

Making etchings in waste milk-cartons, using ink containing the soil of Vigur and sediment from Icelandic glaciers as well as artisan paper from Italy and techniques from the renaissance, she created a makeshift printing press from items found around the island.

The resulting prints are mesmerising and completely unique.

I was given the special honour of making marks on one of the etchings using sharp points of expedition tools. I have to admit to feeling completely out of my depth and just a bit intimidated - but the results were spectacular! I tried to make marks that represented something of travel, of making the path as you go and leaving behind the imprint of pole and ski or spike and edge - I was also thinking of the maps of old and the other ways of understanding landscape beyond simple ink and paper.

What I hadn’t been expecting was a print that - for me - recalls the universe and cosmic wayfinding of the future, finding our path through time as well as space…

Once we get the prints framed you'll be able to see these very special artworks on a visit to Vigur.

Thank you Emilia for such a unique and truly special experience x

On Vigur with Groundtruth

June is the month of the eiderdown harvest on Vigur, the island I call home in the north west of Iceland. Collecting eiderdown is extremely labour intensive so any and all are welcome to join us and help out with the work and we are very grateful for the company as well as the help.

This year we were joined by Sophia Scott of Groundtruth Global along with her family. Sophia is making a film about the Arctic and came to film something of the traditional eiderdown harvest on Vigur. It is hard work but rather addictive. There’s something about spending your days getting to know the ducks, surrounded by puffins and the peaceful chaos of nature up here on the Arctic Circle.

The filming was successful, as was the harvest, collecting well over 300kg of down from common eider nesting across the island. Now all we have to do is clean it…but that is another story…

Meeting the James Caird

I was very excited to be offered a special opportunity to visit the James Caird in its dedicated exhibition space at Dulwich College. The James Caird is the humble wooden lifeboat that carried Shackleton and 5 of his men from Elephant Island to South Georgia in one of the most epic feats of survival in the history of exploration.

Among a story stuffed full of incredible feats, memorable episodes and near miracles - the survival of the James Caird as an artifact is among them. Pulled ashore by Shackleton and his men as they escaped across South Georgia, three of the party used it as a makeshift shelter while they waited for salvation. Once the men were rescued, Norwegian whalers returned to rescue the vessel because they thought otherwise no one would believe the story, or at least would not appreciate the scale of the nautical feat.

The boat was eventually returned to England as used as a prop as Shackleton toured the country giving lectures until it was gifted to one of the expedition sponsors. The boat was put on show temporarily on the roof of Selfridges, the department store in central London, before the owner finally presented the boat to his alma mater, where he had been a school friend of Shackleton - this is how the James Caird came to be at Dulwich College.

It spent some time at the National Maritime Museum, where it was fully restored and I was taken by all the patches and repairs visible on the hull - the story of the expedition written in its timbers...

Back in Svalbard...briefly

In April 2022 the B.I.G. team collected snow, ice and water samples from two fjords in Svalbard during a ski expedition from Barentsburg to Longyearbyen. I returned with Laura and Julie from the B.I.G. team a year later to try and collect the samples samples from the same two fjords this year. This would not only give us more data points in these fjords but also allow us to see if there was any difference in the samples from year to year. We didn’t have enough time to make the data collection by ski so this time we were to travel by snowmobile.

Unfortunately there was no ice in one of the two fjords we were intending to visit, so our attentioned turned to Van Mijenfjorden only. It was a fabulous journey out to the fjord and we were very grateful for the generous help of Ida and Ryan, especially for keeping an eye out for polar bears while we sampled, as we would later see plenty of tracks out on the ice! Thank fully, there was no sign of those who had made the footprints…

It was very satisfying to deposit the samples we collected in storage at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, where they will wait to be analysed in the coming year.

Drangajokull, Iceland

Drangajokull is the northernmost glacier in Iceland. It sits on a remote, almost uninhabited peninsula that protrudes into the Greenland Sea from the top of the Westfjords. It is the only glacier in Iceland that is entirely under 1000m above sea level which we might expect to mean that it is very unstable - but in fact it is showing less mass loss than most other glaciers across the country. This is probably because it receives a lot of precipitation - as we were to discover for ourselves.

The B.I.G. North Pole Expedition team travelled to northwest Iceland early in April to make a ski traverse of Drangajokull while gathering snow samples and other data for several science studies. I had accessed the glacier the year before but too much snow had made it difficult while bad weather had cut my visit short. so we were delighted to arrive and find the route to the glacier accessible this year…..but our relief was short lived. Not only was the valley that would lead us to Drangajokull accessible, it was almost empty of any snow at all. The contrast between one year and the next would be shocking if it wasn’t already such a familiar story from accross the Arctic region and beyond. For decades less predictable environmental patterns have been forecast and now we are seeing that reality.

We were faced with 20km or more of grass, heath, rivers and stones between us and unbroken snow cover. The images of us portaging sledges and skis from one snow patch to another serve as a graphic illustration of the future we should all be expecting.

With a little help we reached the glacier and in the following days made a complete return traverse of the glacier on skis, collecting snow samples for back carbon, microplastic and heavy metal content analysis in five different locations. We collected additional snow samples in 13 different locations - and by turning our tents into makeshift labs, we were able to melt and filter these samples. These filters will be sent to our scientific collaborator and advisor, Dr Ulyana Horodyskyj at the University of Colorado.

Throughout the journey, cloud cover was recorded along with snow depth, snow density and albedo - valuable data points for a range of long-term studies - and in the evening we carried out the psychology tasks for a research project at the University of Durham.

Most importantly we, the team, worked really well together, overcoming bad weather and logistical challenges alike with positivity and humour making it a thoroughly awesome expedition that we all enjoyed and felt proud of on return. Huge thanks to the team, as well as our fabulous sponsors, partners and supporters for rallying to our new plan and for the continued confidence in the project and its aims.

You can still hear our reports from the field on the amazing tracking map created for us by @zerosixzero available on the B.I.G. Expedition website.

Disappointed but not surprised

It’s been a very busy week un-making one set of plans and re-building another.

We received news on 18th March that the plane that was to fly my B.I.G. North Pole Expedition team to the Arctic Ocean has been denied its certification by the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority. At such late notice, the operators feel there is no time for an alternative solution to be put in place before the limited window of opportunity in April to travel safely on high latitude Arctic Ocean sea ice closes. This means that no one at all will be able to travel to the North Pole in 2023, including us.

It is a shock - both we and the plane operators were given every assurance since the new year that everything was in place for the 2023 season, so we feel particularly sorry to have passed this confidence on to our sponsors, supporters and partners in the B.I.G. project. As badly let down as we feel ourselves, it is worse to now have the job of letting down others.

We still intend to complete the B.I.G. project on the Arctic Ocean - perhaps via an alternative route - but there is sadly no time to obtain the necessary research permits for this year, so we will need to wait until April 2024. The B.I.G. North Pole Expedition was all about using our last opportunities to access the Arctic Ocean to collect vital sea ice data – and sadly, it seems that our fears were well-founded.

We remain extremely grateful for all the support many have generously extended to the B.I.G. project and continue to do so as we navigate such difficult challenges.

In the meantime, the B.I.G. expedition team will be heading out to Drangajokull, the northernmost glacier in Iceland, to further develop the research that the team started back in 2021. Combining data from Iceland and Svalbard with the data we intend to collect from the Arctic Ocean next year, the B.I.G. North Pole project will be able to deliver a pan-Arctic insight that is far more ambitious in its scope than we would ever have dared plan from the outset – this latest setback only serves to illustrate further how vital it is.

On a very comfortable training mission

It's amazing what you can pack into 24 hours!

Last weekend the B.I.G. North Pole Expedition team gathered from Ireland, France and across the UK at a country hotel off the M40 - they were kind enough to loan us their honeymoon suite for us to spread out with all our expedition equipment in preparation for our April departure for the North Pole.

We thoroughly made ourselves at home and worked through our 'to do' lists making good use of the countryside that surrounds the hotel. Our GPS navigation exercise handily led us to the most perfect English country pub....

It's been one of the most enjoyable expedition training meets - just goes to show that you don't always have to suffer to be productive!

In a clean lab...

As part of the research project I am undertaking at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, I’ve started analysing the snow, ice and water samples collected during the B.I.G. North Pole Expedition training journeys in Iceland and Svalbard.

I will be looking for tiny particles of microplastic in the samples which might have been deposited from the atmosphere. Because the particles are so tiny, the work has to be done in a laboratory space that is as ‘clean’ and free from dust, dirt and other contamination as possible. Everyone entering the lab I am working in must wear protective clothing and the work is carried out in protective hoods through which filtered air is circulated.

Even so, the biggest part of the work at the moment is working out the best methods to use in both collection and analysis of the samples to make sure we get the best results.

The clean lab at the NOC in Southampton where I am starting to look at the snow, ice and water samples collected by the B.I.G. North Pole team in Svalbard and Iceland.

Naming a ship

Almost exactly 22 years to the day ago I sailed through the Lemaire Channel for the first time - one of the most spectacular stretches along the Antarctic Peninsula. Never did I imagine back then, that two decades later I would be in the same channel, with the honour of naming a ship and becoming its Godmother.

The naming of a ship is riven with all sorts of tradition and ceremony. Standing next to the Captain, and so commanded, I cut the ribbon that sent an ice-sculpted magnum smashing onto the hull, pronouncing ‘I name the ship Silver Endeavour. Bless her and all who sail on her.’

It was a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience and I very much look forward to a long and happy association with the Silver Endeavour as her Godmother!

Thanks to all those at Silversea, as well as fellow guests, who made the event so memorable…

On the big screen at a film festival near you!

Holly Morris is the film maker who documented our 2018 Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition. The feature-length film about the expedition - called ‘Exposure’ - has been doing the rounds at film festivals across the US and has been scooping up numerous awards. This month the film makes its international debut with screenings scheduled in the UK and across Europe in the coming weeks.

A full schedule of showings at various festivals worldwide can be found on the film website at www.exposure-film.com

Protesting the destruction of a precious fjord

The pink areas are the planned fish farm arrays. They are VAST. To date there has been a dozen of so pens near Isafjordur and just two pens close to Sudavik. This proposal is an abrupt and colossal introduction of a very dangerous industry in the fjord. What chance does nature stand if it is treated like this?

I would be so grateful if you were able to donate ten minutes of your day to submit an online message to the Icelandic authorities giving your opinion on the proposed plans to fill a wild and special fjord full of whales, seals, puffins and other birdlife with industrial open water fish farms - the type that are known to cause serious ecological harm.

The first line of fish pens installed off the coast of Vigur - there are now two lines of pens with a two-story barge moored between them. A larger array is proposed even closer to the northern shore of Vigur (to the right of the island in the picture). The visual impact alone is devastating but the impact on the wildlife and environment is catastrophic. Vigur is a rare and valuable hotspot for wildlife, particularly birds but all the hard work invested here on nature and the environment has been wiped out by the careless introduction of these industrial fish farms.

One large fish farm array has already been put in place in the middle of an important navigation channel for whales and extremely close to the shore of Vigur - an island of international importance as a seabird habitat and dense birdlife including one of Iceland's few remaining puffin colonies that has a stable population. But this is just the start, the authorities plan to install vast fish farm arrays right the way across the entire fjord.

The current public consultation is a rare chance to stop something terrible from happening, we just need to raise our voices. The issue may be geographically located in Iceland but the threat to precious wildlife such as whales, puffins, dolphins and seals make it an international issue on which everyone has a right to comment.

How to submit a protest:

Go to https://www.hafskipulag.is/um/senda-athugasemd/

Fill out the form with your name (nafn) and email address (netfang) - the form is in Icelandic but you can submit comments in English and you do not have to be Icelandic to protest.

The next line asks for 'Skjal sem gerð er athugasemd við' (document code) - here write 'Strandsvæðisskipulag Vestfjaða 2022' or in English characters Strandsvaeðisskipulag Vestfjada 2022.

The last box is for writing your comment (Fyrirspurn).

The opportunity to submit comments ends on September 15th 2022.

If your comment is received you will be sent an acknowledgement by email (which will be in Icelandic). The message says that your comment will be addressed after 15th September if it has prompted an alteration to the proposed plan.

Together we CAN make a difference. Please help us let the authorities know how we feel about this careless and foolhardy destruction of the environment and the wildlife we love.

More information at Save The Djúp

#savethedjup

Enjoying the latest book!

It finally arrived! After what feels like a lifetime trying to get this book over the finish line, it was a real moment to actually hold it in my hands as a real physical object!

To get this far has taken huge effort not just by me but by my co-authors - the members of the Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition team - each of whom have written their own story within the book, and of course, our long-suffering publisher Kevin Stevens at Imagine! who had to organise our jumble of content into one engaging narrative.

The book will be released in the US in November and is already available for pre-order on the online sites of all the major book sellers and some independent ones too.

Here’s what the jacket blurb says:

This inspiring account of a diverse all-women's expedition to the North Pole reveals the highs and lows of record-breaking, modern-day exploration.

"A wonderful collaboration both on the Arctic ice and onto the page. Each team members voice arises to offer a view beyond the physical giving us the essence of a unique adventure." - Ann Bancroft, first woman to reach the North Pole.

When British Explorer Felicity Aston put out an open call for women with little to no experience willing to brave the elements on an expedition to the North Pole, she was stunned to have over 1000 applicants. After narrowing it down to ten women from ten different countries--some of whom had never seen snow before--the team spent the next two years training for this unique opportunity. Each member of the team tells part of the story in her own words, chronicling their grueling preparation in Iceland and Oman, the anticipation for the journey, and the terrifying conditions of the Arctic. Set against a backdrop of Arctic pack ice that is thinner, newer, and less stable than ever before due to climate change--the team face the realities of hungry polar bears, extreme temperatures, and the possibility that anything and everything could go wrong at any moment. Aston beautifully weaves each woman's account into the greater expedition narrative, reminding readers of the teamwork needed to complete such a feat. Over 60 stunning photographs illustrate the journey, illuminating the breathtaking landscape along with the joy, pain, and determination of these ten women. Polar Exposure is a powerful celebration of the perseverance of women in science, sports, and exploration that sheds light on all that it takes to reach the top of the world.

Alaska

I was invited as a guest aboard the Queen Elizabeth for a journey from Vancouver along the coast of Alaska as far as the Hubbard Glacier and back.

It included a call into Skagway which I last visited when filming Operation Gold Rush several years ago. Back then we followed the Chilkoot trail retracing the steps of the 100,000 people that stampeded into the Yukon during the goldrush of 1898 and spent some time digging for gold outside Dawson City just as they had done in the Klondike a century before (albeit with a large production team to help!).

It was wonderful to tell the story of that adventure again and brought back lots of very good memories - although I was grateful that this journey involved far more cake and cocktails than the previous visit…

Harvesting eiderdown on Vigur

June is THE month on Vigur. The eiderducks that nest in their thousands all across the island have been sitting on eggs for weeks and the first begin to hatch at the beginning of June. We spotted our first ducklings on 3rd June and soon after, the harvest of the eiderdown began.

The eider sheds its down as it starts to sit on its eggs and uses the down to line the next and keep the eggs warm. But as soon as the eggs hatch, the ducklings don’t need that warmth anymore and that is when we can collect in the eiderdown - but we must time it perfectly. If we take the down too early, we risk the eggs, leave it too late and the down is already lost on the wind and to the sea.

We search the island, section by section, visiting each and every nest - sometimes twice or more! - until the time is perfect. The harvest means long days and a lot of walking up and down in tall grass, scrambling up hillsides and even the odd cliff - but to return home with bulging bags and to see the empty barn slowly fill is very rewarding.

Very grateful to everyone who helps us on Vigur during the harvest - we couldn’t do it without you x

Drangajokull

As a continuation of the snow, ice and water samples gathered in Svalbard last month, this week I went to the northernmost glacier in Iceland - Drangajokull - to collect some complimentary data.

Drangajokull is remote even by Icelandic standards and very seldom visited. We found that the known access route, such as it is, was blocked by snow. Luckily I had the best team with me who were able to find a route up onto the summit of the glacier. It was a long day with weather closing in - but time enough for me to collect a full set of snow and ice samples at two different locations. One happy scientist!

The next day, bad weather prevented us returning to the summit of the glacier but we were able to get into Kaldalon instead, a deep valley that continues into and almost under the glacier above. It was an intimidating place but a real adventure to be able to sample the melt water running through the valley directly from the glacier.

Svalbard

The invasion of Ukraine ended our hopes of being able to ski to the North Pole this year (the logistics needed in order to reach the high latitude Arctic Ocean that we ski on are all operated out of northern Russia and the Ukraine…) so we scrambled to put together a challenging and meaningful last-minute ski expedition in Svalbard that met both our scientific and expedition objectives and fitted within the limitations of having already missed most of the permission deadlines.

Slightly miraculously we pulled off a really great expedition. We skied from Barentsburg to Longyearbyen, experiencing a range of conditions along the way and gathering a really good haul of scientific data including over 80kg of snow, ice and water samples which will be analysed for black carbon by Dr Ulyana Horodyskyj in the US and for microplastics and heavy metals by me at the National Oceanography Centre and University of Southampton in the UK.

Most importantly, we had a really enjoyable time and having visited Svalbard many times over the years, I was extremely grateful to finally have the opportunity to do some skiing at last!

Cairngorm

They've started calling it 'my' curse ... every training big or small I've undertaken for a number of years now has started off with a big storm. Our training trip to Scotland last weekend was no exception. With 70mph gusts predicted, we anchored ourselves well and marvelled at our little tent as it flexed in the wind but stayed miraculously intact. Next morning brought a new problem - all the snow had disappeared! Unwilling to go higher when tougher winds were on the way, we struggled off the mountain dragging our sledges from snow patch to snow patch finding our way across rivers which had become noticeably more significant since the day before with all the melt water....ah well, all good training.

The 'Before It's Gone' North Pole Expedition

Just back from Antarctica

A wonderful trip to the South Shetland Islands, through the Antarctic Sound to the Danger Islands and south along the Antarctic Peninsula as far as Peterman Island onboard National Geographic Explorer speaking for Lindblad Expeditions. We had several days of the most glorious weather during which it was hard to tear myself away from my favourite spots on deck taking photographs - sleep felt like a poor reason to miss out on drinking in such spectacle!

Feeling thankful

So delighted that the B.I.G. North Pole Expedition due to take place in April 2022 has earned the prestigious support of Rolex. The association adds enormously to the credibility of both the scientific and exploration ambitions of our project and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

Training on an Icelandic Glacier

A wild and stormy week of training with the B.I.G. North Pole Expedition team on Vatnajokull in Iceland - Europe’s largest glacier. We spent three of our five days tentbound in high winds but made good use of the time. We managed to complete our planned science training under the guidance of Dr Ulyana Horodyskyj who joined us, as well as preparing tent and travel routines for the expedition across the Arctic Ocean due to take place next April.

Vatnajokull was truly stunning - what a priviledge to be out there at this time of year - and as we were collected from the glacier at the end of our week the vehicles took us to the summit at Grimsvotn for a real treat…a dreamy view accross the Grimsvotn caldera. Complete bliss.

Huge thanks to everyone who helped and supported us throughout the week. If you’d like to see how we got on, you can follow our progress at www.bignorthpole.com