Travel Reference
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top of th e wo rld— dropp ed a t the nort h Pol e.
The Arctic is a humungous floating ice block, shifting this way
and that. The landscape reminds me of the deserts of Egypt: both the
tundra and the snow are fashioned by the wind. At the North Pole, the
wind reigns above all elements. It pushes tonnes of ice across the ocean
surface as if the ice sections are as light as pawns on a chessboard. The
wind is the victor, and the ice bows before it and crumbles. We can hear
constantly the groaning of ice rubbing on ice as the ice cap moves.
There are pressure ridges everywhere—huge piles of ice formed when
the wind and currents smash ice plates against each other, forcing them
upwards, which are then snowed on and welded into place. There are
also many leads—or splits—in the ice, and a lot of water.
Our first destination as we start the trek south is the edge of the north-
ern ice cap. From there we fly to Ward Hunt Island, a snow-encased
island 6.5 kilometres long and 3.3 kilometres wide off the north coast
of Ellesmere Island, at the most northern tip of Canada. Ward Hunt is
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