73 Days, 270 Miles, -90F - Hadow Team Picked Up, Ending Ice-Thickness Mission - AFP

Three British scientists on a ski trek to the North Pole abruptly ended their mission to map out thinning Arctic sea ice Wednesday, fearing an early summer ice melt. The trip, part of a global warming study, was "ending slightly ahead of schedule to ensure a safe pick up" by two twin Otter aircraft before the "annual summer break-up and thaw of the ice, which we are keen to avoid," operations director Simon Harris-Ward said.

The expedition surveyed 434 kilometers (270 miles) across the surface of the frozen Arctic Ocean over 73 days, amid treacherous snow conditions and temperatures dropping below minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit) with a wind chill. The three explorers Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley had to undertake survey work manually after the team's equipment failed to stand up to the hostile Arctic conditions.

Bad weather repeatedly prevented supply planes from reaching them, occasionally leaving them with half-rations as they battled brutal elements, while Hartley also got frostbite in his right big toe. The trio finally stopped 490 kilometers (304 miles) from the North Pole, said the Caitlan Arctic Survey website.

Yet they still managed to collect thousands of measurements of snow and ice depth and density by drilling and physically measuring as well as making comprehensive observations, they said. The latest ice report on the expedition's website said the survey pointed to "an unexpected lack of thicker multi-year ice," indicating very little Arctic sea ice remained at the end of the last summer melt.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/North_Pole_trek_mapping_Arctic_sea_ice_ends_early_999.html

in a Pop Science at the Doctors waiting room.
It was before the expedition and it detailed the
equipment they would be using.
Now I can see how it turned out!!
Thanks for the timely link.