Alex Henney is off to the North Pole again

Although hovercraft have and continue to be used by the emergency services, the military and other government organisations in coastal areas where ice is present for at least part of the year, no trip has ever been undertaken of the duration and through the expected ice conditions that is expected will be encountered.

The team plans to depart the UK the weekend of 18th/19th April 2009. A week of training & acclimatisation will then be undertaken, before departing on the challenge the weekend of the 24th/25th April. The team aims to return to Resolute on approximately May 9th.

There are many advantages of travelling during this period. Primarily the weather conditions will not be as harsh. Temperatures will still be close to the -40 degrees, but the team will hopefully avoid the ferocious winter storms that lash that area of the Polar archipelago.

In order to navigate a path through the Polar rubble, the team will use GPS, and the latest high resolution satellite images to find their way through the particularly hostile environment. Though the distance from Resolute to the position of the magnetic North Pole is something close to 350 miles, the team are preparing to travel something closer to 500 miles to avoid the vicious rubble that the hovercraft will not be able to clear.