Arctic Ocean Expedition: March-April, 2007

[Redline]

I agree with Ursidae69, that tightly framed photo from the rear of the Expeditions West Tacoma is cool!!

Your wheels?

I was considering American Racing teflon coated wheels but was concerned about the finish being fragile compared to other surfaces or plain aluminum. Are they chipping/scratching from your hard use?

redLine/James

 

[Scott Brady]

I would not consider the Teflon wheels to be a good choice for trail use... I plan to get another set of wheels and tires for the trail.

They look cool and clean easy though rngartis

 

[desertgirl66]

What a good looking group of rugged guys! Well done, with lots of great write ups, photos and inspiring stories.

Thnak to Scott, Chris and Pasquale for taking the time to write, blog, post and share with all of us. We got to share an amazing adventure (and mighty cold looking one) through your eyes. Excellent job guys !!

 

[Desertdude]

Through the eyes of the HDV viewfinder

I remember my post to Scott when he proposed this Expedition here on the Portal. " I'll be watching this trip from my hammock on Kauai" I typed. I also remember my thoughts after Kristina and I came back from the Yukon. " You never really can say you have been up there until you go in the dead of winter" Be careful what you ask for, never ever say never...

I really had no intention of going out on this expedition with Scott and Chris. As amatter of fact, when Scott called me with the exciting news to invite me along to capture the trip on HDV, I tried my best to talk myself out of it. Heck that is why I left the North East coast winters 20 years ago, for the warmth of the Southwest... But I could not resist, I had to go. Opportunity knocks only once right?
I had a week to get it together for this trip. Life now travels at the speed of light so, no problem thanks to Kristina, Fed Ex, B&H Photo, many other vendors and highspeed internet.

I was asking and hoping for a stealth trip. I wanted to remain anonymous during this expedition, while staying focus on the Arctic, Scott, Chris, and the Tacoma. As a filmmaker, I like the idea of not revealing too much, of how its accomplished. Next time I will travel with a second unit to capture how it is done I appreciate Scott and Chris mentioning to everyone that I came along on this trip. I now have my work cut out. We are sorting through 26 hours of HDV footage. All I can say is the footage looks amazing. The Arctic Ocean Expedition 2007 DVD will Rock!
I would like to thank everyone on the Expedition Portal for their support and encouragement during this expedition. It means so much when you are remote. I would like to especially thank Scott Brady and Chris Marzonie for inviting me on this expedition. They were incredibly patient during filming, which gave me the opportunity to capture their journey through the eyes of my HDV camera.
A very special thank you to Kristina Hall for keeping the light on at base-camp, always ready to edit my writings, her dedication to adventure expedition travel, and for always being my number one.

Onward...

 

[Willman]

Overland Hardware will have them for sale very soon as a production solution, with matched keyed locks, etc. All of my locks are the same now, which is very nice. Trailer lid, nosebox, shovel/axe bracket, rear swingout, and both secondary door locks.

I would love to see a picture of the lock setup on the rear swingout if you got a chance....

 

[haven]

video at 40 below

Thanks Chip, I have read and re-read through all the docs on the discovery channel site - I sent the link to Scott as well. I have spoken to many other film makers on the subject of submissions and what is accepted format wise, and what they are looking for in content. They have tight requirements, but not impossible.

Good idea, Lets get into this in another thread over in photography



Sleep? what's that...

 

[pwc]

Next time I will travel with a second unit to capture how it is done

That reminds me, I have a few photos of both of you guys taking shots that I need to forward on. I've got another project to wrap up this week, and then I need some sleep, but if I haven't sent them by the end of next week, bug me.

 

[flywgn]

I've now managed to catch up on the whole trip. What a grand adventure!

Pasquale, I've enjoyed your work before and can only add that I don't envy your editing duties. I imagine that it will be a difficult process to make those "what-to-leave-on-the-cutting-room-floor" decisions. Nevertheless, I look forward to the end result.

Scott, Chis, well done. Marvelous trip and documentation. :clapsmile

Hope to see you guys soon.

Meanwhile, taxes are done. Fly reels are oiled. Waders are patched. We're outta here. :safari-rig:

Allen R

PS Scott, isn't there a way of adding a little Adventure trailer to that Smilie?

 

[teotwaki]

........

It is us frail humans that need all the high tech gear

Personal gear and camping equipment is so critical. We would get so cold that our hands would lose range of motion and we would lose all feeling in our toes. -20 TNF boots were not enough.

I use Koflach mountaineering double boots and Outdoor Research Alti Mitts and would layer a set of insulated pants over my regular outfit.

The Kodiak boots are a great idea and would be a lot more comfortable than my mountaineering boots.

Looks like you might have had Mountain Hardwear Sub Zero Parkas? Their Absolute Zero Parkas would have been much warmer (800 fill down versus 650). The warmer your body core is the more warm blood available to be pumped to your extremities.

 

[LUISJG]

man what a trip, how did you guys kept posting ? did you have somekind of
celular internet service or something like that?

 

[kcowyo]

The final blog entries are finished...

Great, great stuff fellas. :clapsmile

Kudos for taking the rest of us along for the ride.

 

[BajaTaco]

I want to send you each a shirt from the Ontario Firefighters.

Thank you all for taking the time to stop. I hope we meet again!

Edit: (Sorry Chris, I am terrible with names!)

I got my shirt! THANK YOU so much! It's very cool. No sweat on the name thing, I am the same way. At least I remembered that your name wasn't really "henry" hehehe. Hopefully we'll get to do an overland trip together someday.

Awesome trip blog you guys have!:drool:

How did you guys like the Northern Lights?

Were you guys able to take any pictures of the lights?...From your gear list...looks like you had some good camera equ.!!!

I spent 2 years up in Alberta, Cananda...Up in the north around Ft. McMurray...The Northern lights where HUGE!!!! The lights flooded the nights sky!!

:Astrologist:

Yes! We got video and pics of the northern lights. It was a dream come true for me. What a light show!

Looks like you might have had Mountain Hardwear Sub Zero Parkas? Their Absolute Zero Parkas would have been much warmer (800 fill down versus 650). The warmer your body core is the more warm blood available to be pumped to your extremities.

I can't recall which one Scott had. Mine is one of their original models, not sure of the name. I think it is 550 or 600 fill power, but quite a lot of it. It worked great.

man what a trip, how did you guys kept posting ? did you have somekind of
celular internet service or something like that?

Yes, if you read through the posts and blogs, you'll see lots of mention of the Verizon wireless card we had. A highly useful piece of gadgetry.

Thanks again to all who have posted the compliments and well wishes here. We really appreciate your interest and support!

And K.C. thanks for reminding me during the arctic trip... of drinking Sol cerveza in a dusty bar down in WARM southern Baja... that was awesome.

 

[HenryJ]

I got my shirt! THANK YOU so much! It's very cool. No sweat on the name thing, I am the same way. At least I remembered that your name wasn't really "henry" hehehe. Hopefully we'll get to do an overland trip together someday...

Glad you like the shirt! I did the design and had a local company silk screen them for me. Six screen prints and 400 shirts was beyond what I wanted to do myself.
One of these days I need to explore Arizona, and make a trip to Baja. I definitely want to share stories over a campfire where there is some time to sit and relax.

 

[p1michaud]

Tire chains on your front wheels...

Ok, one more pic...

Scott,
From this picture it looks like you did not have your 1.25" spacers on for this trip. How did you get the chains to clear on your front two wheels? With 11.5" wide tires, it must have been awful close to the upper A arms. You mentionned that you would put together a write up on how to clear snow chains at some point, if that is the case I'll wait for your write up as long as it comes before September 2007! That's when I'll be starting to think about using tire chains again...:sombrero:

Cheers,
P

 

[shawkins]

Scott,
From this picture it looks like you did not have your 1.25" spacers on for this trip. How did you get the chains to clear on your front two wheels? With 11.5" wide tires, it must have been awful close to the upper A arms. You mentionned that you would put together a write up on how to clear snow chains at some point, if that is the case I'll wait for your write up as long as it comes before September 2007! That's when I'll be starting to think about using tire chains again...:sombrero:

Cheers,
P

Did he install shaved upper A-arms?