Thursday, May 29, 2014

Sea Women snorkeling the Northwest Passage

Roal Amundsen's Gjoa established
the Northwest Passage 1903 - 1906.
Ten women plan to swim the Northwest Passage.  As sport it makes sense to me.  Why not? Firsts are getting hard to come by.  But dressing it up as a scientific expedition to study the sea ice reminds me of An Empire of Ice.  Scott froze on a glacier taking magnetic measurements while Amundsen made a bee line to the South Pole,and got back without injury to claim the prize and tell the tale.  Amundsen was first to sail the Northwest Passage, establishing the route.  The Norwegians have preserved and restored the Gjoa.  It can be seen at the Fram Museum near Oslo.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I just read this rather extraordinarily researched and well written book and recommend it to those interested in the Northwest Passage. "The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search For the Northwest Passage" by Anthony Brandt. I don't know George, just how to think of this tag team of a women's relay race intending to cover 3,000 kilometers of arctic waters to set some sort of record? To let us know something that we can't figure out any other way than by dint of their efforts? Those who seemed to have fared best in arctic exploration adapted the Inuit ways and travelled light. Those who did worst packed heavy, went like Europeans, and fell prey to the devastatingly harsh land. I dare say that thinking you can (or should) try to scuba your way through 3,000 miles of arctic sea is a fool's errand at best. Do the ladies of the deep believe that global warming has made the arctic climate only warmer and more comfy? A surely soon to be seen docudrama extolling the adventure on a cable tv channel near you. More power to them suppose. People have tried crazier things, and will continue to do so.


The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage by
Anthony Brandt