VINTER DOCUMENTATION OF MAUD

24 November 2012 » Uncategorized | respond

The Maud Returns Home team is now back in Cambridge Bay for a long waited winter documentation of the old Polar Ship. Its cold here but so incredibly beautiful. The polar night is light and bright. The moon is growing, the snow is brilliant white and the sky is blue and pink and read, and we are enjoying a surreal experience surrounding the Maud with our doings.

After two summers of surveying and documenting the old ship it feels really good to be here now when the whole scenery draws us into the feeling of being back in time when the ship was drifting in the icepack for several years up in the arctic icy desert.

Now the ship has rested in for more than 80 years in Cambridge Bay, frozen into the ice the major part of the year. How we see her now really feels relevant and representative and it makes a great impression how she pushes parts of her body up through the ice with a great force. Its seems incredible that the ship has withstood the forces of the ice during all this years without being ripped totally apart.
We have now spent two days in CB and we are trying to adapt to the change in time as well as temperature.

Our main ambition is to document the ship both over and under the ice-cap and we are already well into the preparations. Main challenges are the cold temperature as well as the dark. When overcoming this we will be well rewarded.

Today we have also prepared an access through the ice to dive down under the and meet the old ship in in her own element. As Amundsen said, ” y o u a r e m a d e f o r t h e i c e “.




walking into the..
photo by jw




..void
photo by jw




Early winter tide changes sets the ice picture around Maud.
photo by jw




Looks like she want to break free.
photo by jw




The cairn is still standing.
photo by jw