David Stonehouse News

Stranded trekker plucked from ice

'He's in safe hands now' says brother of adventurer rescued off Pole

By David Stonehouse

British adventurer Pen Hadow was plucked from a drifting ice floe off the North Pole early yesterday when a small twin-engine plane attempting a supply drop took advantage of a momentary clearing in the weather to swoop in.

Mr. Hadow, stranded on the drifting ice for a week, was in good health and buoyant spirits as the pilot ferried him to the Eureka weather station on Ellesmere Island.

Henry Hadow, the trekker's brother, was overjoyed when the Citizen told him about the rescue yesterday.

"It's a huge relief to everyone here. He's in safe hands now, and he can enjoy a good night's sleep and a decent meal," he said from his home in Britain.

The polar adventurer, who on May 19 became the first person to reach the North Pole from Canada unaided, was left marooned and running short on food after low cloud and fog thwarted two attempts to pick him up by plane.

With just a half-day's rations left early yesterday morning, Mr. Hadow set his emergency beacon to signal he was in urgent need of resupply.

Within hours, two charter aircraft were stocked and en route to the Pole with the intention of dropping provisions to the 41-year- old veteran polar explorer. One landed on ice about halfway into the journey in a bid to save fuel should the first plane not make it.

The lead plane came within 50 kilometres of Mr. Hadow when bad weather closed in over the Pole. Instead of turning back, the pilot held his position hoping the weather would clear. After about two hours, the pilot moved in to pluck the explorer.

"He was on the Russian side of the Pole, the way the ice was taking him. He was about 10 miles away," said Bill Gawletz, a manager in Resolute Bay with the charter service that pulled off the rescue, Kenn Borek Air.

The adventurer immediately called his wife, Mary, who has been trying to explain his prolonged absence to their four-year-old son, Wilf. "Hello, it's me. Are you all right?" he said when she picked up the phone.

"It was so lovely to hear his voice," she told the Times of London. "I just burst into tears."

It was a daring rescue for the solo pilot. With the onset of spring, the ice breakup was well under way. Mr. Hadow had plunged through the ice on his record 765-kilometre trip and lost a ski. He walked the rest of the way. When he came to open water, he pulled on a wetsuit and swam the Arctic waters rather than find a way around. He reached the Pole in 64 days, one day short of his goal.

He came under criticism yesterday for ending his adventure as he did.

"I wish it hadn't taken place at this time of year. This is the latest we have ever done a pickup," said Steve Penikett, the general manager of the Calgary air charter company, which specializes in flying to the Far North and Antarctica.

"It's not the issue of him running out of food," Mr. Penikett told Britain's Sky News. "It's the issue of going to the Pole at this time of year is just a bit stupid, and you are putting a lot of people's lives at risk doing it."

Joseph Frey, an explorer and researcher from Toronto, says polar flying can be volatile.

"It is a very, very challenging area environment to fly in, even at the best of times. Storms can blow up within minutes," said Mr. Frey, chairman of the Canadian chapter of the Explorers Club. "You have got to make sure that if you go out that the plane has got enough fuel to go out and get back, or can touch down and take off quickly and not get caught in a storm."

The private group that is chief sponsor of the Hadow expedition, The Omega Foundation, is expected to pick up the tab for the rescue.

Rebecca Seeley Harris, a member of the expedition support team in Britain, spoke to Mr. Hadow by phone as he flew to Eureka. He had some frozen toes and fingers when he was picked up but otherwise is in good health. "He sounds very happy, so we're all very pleased," said Ms. Seeley Harris, who met Mr. Hadow at a pub just three weeks before he began his journey and immediately agreed to help. "It's been a long wait and quite nerve-racking."

He is expected to fly on to Britain later this week. Initial plans had him taking another flight yesterday from Eureka to Resolute Bay, Nunavut, but it was unclear whether he was up for it or would demand some rest first.

His trek began March 17 from Ward Hunt Island, just north of Eureka -- the world's northernmost inhabited settlement. Since late last week, he had been cut off of communication when his satellite phone gave out. In recent days, his food stocks were down to bits of chocolate, nuts and dried fruit.

It was his third attempt to make the trip to the Pole from Canada. On a previous try, he was stranded without rations for more than a week. He now has more than 20 polar expeditions under his belt.

But in her interview with the Times, his wife cast doubt on whether he'll ever have another go.

"He said he will never do anything like this again."

(Also appeared in: The Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province, Saskatoon Star-Pheonix, Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Windsor Star)