Konyukhov’s Arctic expedition afraid of being drifted in Greenland Sea

The Arctic expedition of Fyodor Konyukhov and Viktor Simonov is afraid again of being drifted in the Greenland Sea. “The cracks in the ice, which we meet on our way, are turning south-eastwards, the farer we are going eastwards, the stronger the drift is and there is a danger of being drifted in the Greenland Sea,” Fyodor Konyukhov said during a communication session with the Moscow headquarters of the expedition. The traveller added that the expedition is crossing the cracks south-westwards, is getting closer to Canada, but is going farer from Greenland. Fyodor and Viktor with a sled of 12 Karelian sledge dogs started from the North Pole on April 6 to reach the southern coast of Greenland. But now the travellers decided that when crossing the 84th degree of northern latitude they will take a final decision on what coast to finish. Fyodor Konyukhov also said that the expedition is still going in the area of thick clouds, the sun is not seen already for a week. “One solar battery went out of order, the second one, which we are keeping with care and are unfolding with special precaution, remained operational. There is little sunshine, it is just enough to charge the batteries of the satellite telephone for a communication session,” Fyodor noted. At the moment the news report was wired the expedition was at 84 degrees 31 minutes of northern latitude and 67 degrees 42 minutes of western longitude. “If the sun had been shining, we would have passed 3-5 kilometres more, but now we have to go in the darkness,” Konyukhov said with regret. He also noted that the expedition makes six crossings daily with several intervals for taking some rest, “It is not efficient to work more, the strength of the dogs can be broken.” The Moscow headquarters of the expedition reported that the area, where Fyodor Konyukhov and Viktor Simonov are going, is covered with thick clouds, for the last five days, according to the photos from the outer space. Modern technologies cannot help the travellers at all, they have to work in the actual weather and to take decisions for further movement to the finish on the basis of the previous experience of the crossings over the Arctic Ocean.