Have you ever wanted to join a major arctic expedition making a journey to remote and unexplored place? Then you're in luck, as polar veteran Jim McNeill is planning to travel to the North Pole of Inaccessibility, and he's looking for partners to join him on that mission.
For those that aren't aware, the North Pole of Inaccessibility is defined as the furthest point from any coastlines, or essentially the very middle of the Arctic Ocean. According to the latest calculations, that point falls at the coordinates of: 85.78 North, 176.15 East, and has never been visited by explorers traveling on foot.
In the spring of 2012, Jim and his hand picked team will attempt to make that journey. Starting in February of next year, he and the other polar explorers will begin an 800-mile long, 80 day quest to reach the Pole of Inaccessibility. That journey will be broken into four legs, with each leg lasting 20 days each. McNeill is looking to find team members to join him on each of those legs.
If you're interested in joining the expedition, you'll want to attend the Ice Warrior Induction Weekend, scheduled to be held July 8th - 10th in a remote location in the U.K. That weekend will serve as an introduction of what the expedition will be like and offer would be polar explorers the opportunity to meet one another and work as a team. After that, full blown training weekends and a week-long training expedition will prepare the team for the challenges they'll face out on the Arctic Ocean. Interested parties will have to pay for their training and gear, as well as help with fund raising, but they'll also get the opportunity to take part in an expedition that very well may be the "last true world first in polar regions."
You may recall that this expedition was originally set to take place last year, but the team was forced to post-pone the attempt due to unstable conditions on the ice. Hopefully they'll get their opportunity in 2012.
For more information, go to Ice-Warrior.com.