3/17/06

Hello everyone,

We are taking off from Wales in about 1 hour, planning to walk a few 
miles North along the US coast to be on the Northern side of the cape before 
taking on to the sea in a Northwestern direction, aiming North of the 
Diomede islands, towards Russia.

I am including in this email some pictures we took while flying back 
into Wales a few days ago.  
You can see what "our world" looks like from the sky and why we are 
going to have to do some walking and swimming in the open leads.

Amongst other modifications, here are three that we have made to our 
gear in the last few days:
- we have decided not to take our kite/webcam system which would have 
allowed us to have an aerial view of the icepans. After having worked 
with it over the last few days, we have decided that in the weather 
conditions we were faced with (temperature and especially local wind speed, this 
could be more of a liability than anything else. We experienced for example how 
quickly the wind here can tear a pretty study winch and else in seconds.

- we are leaving behind the seal oil but are still taking the muktut 
for additional nutritional value in cold weather. The seal oil is so potent 
that I was told by a local hunter to OPEN IT ONLY IF WE REALLY HAD TO.... 
Polar bears primarily eat seals and can track the smell of seal oil from 
miles...
No need to add additional risks here. The less attention we will get 
from the polar bears, the better !

- we have fabricated a grapnel hook with a rope, after having received 
feedback from the local native hunters, which will help us potentially 
pull ourselves through the  type of slush snow where it is hard to either 
swim or impossible to walk.

Now, while in Fairbanks and Nome, we also collected as many Russian 
contacts as we could for the Chukotka province which is after Chechnya, the most 
sensitive part of Russia, somewhat of a remnant of the Cold War. Some 
of the contacts might be able to help us if we end up in a "pinch" with local 
officials once we make it to the other side. I will let you all imagine 
what this could entail.

On the Russian side, our  goal would be to make it along the Chukotka 
coast and proceed South East approximatively 280 miles through the villages 
of Uelen, Lavrentiya, Lorino, Yanrakinnot and
finally Providenya where we will be able to fly out, if we are not 
stopped before.

Hopefully you won't hear from us for quite some time, which  would be a 
good sign, the one that we are able to make progress successfully from one 
ice pan to the next.

Here is an ice map, if you care to see: 
http://www.arh.noaa.gov/arhdata/sat/hrpt/latest/4f2f.jpg
weather report: 1-800-472-0391 (options 1-2-6)

Keep in mind, that the odds are against us, considering the fact that 
no one has made a successfull crossing in the past in the winter from the US 
to Russia.
As someone stated to me: "if it was possible, it would have been done 
before..."
Well, we are going to give it our best.

So long everyone, and  have a great weekend wherever you might be.
My apologies if I did not yet respond to all of your emails.

Dimitri
Goliath expedition
goliath.mail2web.com
www.dimitrikieffer.com

(note from the webmattress - The pictures Dim Sum sent did not come through, so I was unable to post them.)