Just realised that it's 45 years ago today that the Plaisted Polar Expedition reached the North Pole using their Omega Speedmasters to help them navigate and finally prove their position.

Apologies for the "laziness" of this post. I originally posted on TZ-UK in 2010 and on Watchuseek in 2011 so many of you may have seen this already as it is mainly a cut and paste of those posts.
Every now and then the "Have you seen the $100,000 Speedmaster on eBay?" posts pop up on various forums but hopefully some of you may enjoy a bit more detail.

Or not

I've only managed to add a couple of things to my collection over the past two years. I'll try and add them to this thread over the weekend.

Hopefully there are a few others on Omega Forums who are interested in this expedition and that can add to this. I'm always interested to hear about other links or things to collect.





I only learnt of this expedition from the Omega Speedmaster 50th Anniversary book which I only picked up late 2009. It's developed into another little interest/hobby/collection.
Here is the link to Omega's online version of the book
http://www.omegawatches.com/minisites/speedmaster/generic/minisite.html
Click on the little button that looks like this:


Here is Ralph at the Speedmaster 50th Anniversary Exhibition in Singapore in 2007


On 19th April 1968 Ralph Plaisted, Walt Pederson, Jean-Luc Bombardier and Gerald (Jerry) Pitzl were confirmed to have reached the geographic North Pole by an American Airforce plane flying overhead. They had travelled across the ice for over 43 days on Ski-Doo Olympique snowmobiles.
There is still debate (on the internet at least, that vast fountain of truths) whether they are in fact the first to reach the North Pole overland. The pole had already been flown over by airship, reached by plane and under the ice conquered by submarines. Cook and Peary had also made claims that they had reached the Pole on foot and there was massive debate/court battle between the two over their own proof of this. Wikipedia also has claims that Wally Herbert should be considered the first with his 68-69 British Trans-Arctic Expedition. This is all up on the web if you are interested but it is not the focus of my interest.

I don't think that "being first" was Ralph's original motivation. It simply stemmed from a bar room 'challenge'.

The full story of the '68 expedition still hasn't been published in book form yet, though Keith Pickering had picked it up after a previous author was killed in a car accident. [2013 Edit: I've just purchased First To The Pole by C.J. Ramstad & Keith Pickering. Strangely the name 'Plaisted' doesn't feature on the front cover or in any of their advertising, that I've seen, so I missed this one for quite a while. I'll try to get around to reading it this week.]

Here is a Popular Science magazine article from Sept 68 with a write up by Ralph from page 55.



How I Reached the North Pole on a Snowmobile

By RALPH PLAISTED
Photos by Dr ARTHUR AUFDERHEIDE

Popular Science, September 1968, page 55.

The amazing first-person story by the leader of a gallant band of do-it-yourselfers who rode to the top of the world on four ski scooters.

Overhead, the big plane crisscrossed over us, circling and then cutting the circle into precise wedges. We stood around our snowmobiles below while the two navigators in the four-engine Air Force weather plane above verified our position. It was Saturday, April 20, 1968.

9:30 a.m. EST: Our radio blared a message from the pilot: "Everywhere from where you are now is South!"

We had made it to 90 degrees North - the first persons in history who could prove scientifically that they had reached the North Pole by trekking over the ice.

What's more, we were a group of amateur explorers and we had come on little scooters just like those used by hundreds of thousands of snow-loving enthusiasts in the U.S. and Canada.

Actually, we weren't novices; not in the strictest sense. We had tried to drive to the Pole on snowmobiles last year. Although that attempt failed, we leamed some valuable lessons on that expedition that convinced us we could do it.

First of all, we decided to go with a smaller group in '68. And we chose more powerful snowmobiles. In 1967, we used Bombardier Ski·Doos, powered by 250-cc., 10-hp. Rotax engines. This was done to keep the machines light and use less gas. But we learned that often the extra power is needed and worth the extra gas.

This year, we used four stock Super-Olympique Ski·Doos, with 300-cc., 16-hp. Rotax engines. Our master mechanic, Walt Pederson, a former snowmobile racing driver, made some minor modifications, and these few changes really helped us to make it.

We installed an extra throttle on each machine so that we could accelerate with either hand. We beefed up the suspension with an additional leaf spring on each ski and reinforced the skis with a little rib of angle iron. Since we usually ride on our knees, instead of seated, we chopped off the back half of the seats to make the kneeling position more comfortable.

In extreme Arctic cold, the standard plastic fuel lines are brittle. Walt replaced them with mylar lines, which are softer. He mounted speedometers. and degreased almost every part, outside of the engine, that would ordinarily be lubricated. The snowmobile tracks were studded with golf·shoe cleats to give more traction.

But most importantly, Walt designed an auxiliary tank that doubled our fuel capacity, and he installed a fuel filter with an element of 40-micron porosity that kept our fuel clean and avoided engine problems.

We did most of this work at our base camp on Ward Hunt Island, just off N. EIlesmere Island, at the edge of the sea ice over which we would travel to the Pole.



Our support group of four – John Moriarity, George Cavouris, Wes Cook, and Andy Horton – were at Tanquary Fjord, many miles to the south where the bulk of our fuel was. (Temporarily with them was Jerry Pitzl, who would join us later). They were busy pumping fuel from large barrels into smaller ones that could be flown to us on the ice.


Takeoff time. Walt and the rest of us worked on the machines right up to the minute of our departure from base camp at 1:30 p.m. on March 7. It was minus 62 degrees when we left Ward Hunt Island. We were 474 miles south of the Pole. Actually we would have to travel many extra miles because we drove over the sea ice, which drifted constantly from west to east.

lt was so cold that Walt had to light a piece of rag dipped in gas to warm the carburetors and get the machines started. We threw away the air cleaners so the torch could be held right under the carburetors.

Going was so rough the first day that we managed only 4½ hours of travel. The problem was ridges. The ice keeps jamming together, building up pressure ridges as high as 40 feet and 125 feet wide. It’s worst just offshore.

We had to chop through many of these ridges, virtually cutting roads through the ice, with axes and long ice chisels. Then we'd have to fill in the holes to level the ice for the snowmobiles to run through.

The team. Six of us started out: Jean Luc Bombardier. our scout; Walt Pederson, who brought up the rear so nobody would be left behind because of a broken machine; Dr. Arthur Aufderheide, our photographer and temporary navigator; Don Powellek, deputy leader and our electronics expert. Ernst Michael, a movie cameraman, and I were the others. Two of the party rode in snowmobile-towed sleds.


Four who made it all the way were (clockwise from upper left): expedition leader Ralph Plaisted, Walt Pederson, Jerry Pitzl, and Jean Luc Bombardier. Their backgrounds are completely varied. Plaisted is an insurance salesman, Pederson is a former snowmobile dealer, Bombardier a public-relations man, and Pitzl a schoolteacher. But they meshed into an excellent team that functioned almost as one in their epic ride.

Settling In. We made camp at six p.m. This consisted of two tents pitched inside a square formed by our machines and sleds. We tied the tent ropes to the snowmobiles so they wouldn't be blown away.

Our first meal was prepared from the special rations developed for us by the Pillsbury Co. – cartons conlaining breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It took 45 minutes to prepare a meal, since we had to melt snow to make water to mix with the dehydrated food.



The food rations contained about 5,000 calories a day per man. We all took vitamin tablets. Three of the four men who went all the way to the Pole, including myself, lost about 10 pounds during the trip. Walt Pederson somehow gained 10 pounds.

Progress was slow. After three days, we ran out of gas and radioed our pilot, Weldy Phipps, to fly some out. He dropped three 10-gallon bartels, but one broke – the one with white gas we desperately needed for our stove and heaters. So we went without heaters in the minus 50-degree night, using what little white gas we had for cooking. Doc, Walt and I slept in one sleeping bag to keep warm. That was the way it was for three days.

On our eighth day, one of the machines burned out an ignition coil. The disabled vehicle was towed onto a large pan of ice where we made camp for the night.

While setting up camp, one of the tents got torn. Art and I stitched it up. It was so cold that we could only do three stitches at a time. But it was a good thing we sewed up that rip.

Whiteout. A whiteout (an Arctic cloud condition that confuses visual perception) accompanied by a vicious storm immobilized us when we were only about 40 miles out from our base camp. We stayed in our sleeping bags for about 14 hours a day for seven days.

I could hear the ice crashing into the pan we were on. It sounds like an artillery barrage. You wonder if the ice you're on is going to break up from the pressure around it. Winds of more than 50 m.p.h. tore at the tents. Anxiety hit me. I was sure the tents would be torn away or they'd catch fire from the fuel we stored, and you just don't stand a chance in that weather without shelter.

We tried to forget our fears by reading paperback mysteries or listening to a Wollensak cassette recorder. We had only a few tapes with us and listened to the same music over and over.

Meanwhile the men at base camp were busy and worried. We were out of radio contact most of the time. Moriarity and Pitzl were at Ward Hunt Island. George Cavouris, Andy Horton, and Wes Cook still were at Tanquary Fjord getting fuel dug out of the snow and ice it was buried under. We needed Pitzl, because he was our navigator – the guy who'd have to pinpoint the Pole for us.

Doc Aufderheide decided he could do more at base camp to help us make it. So he offered to take Jerry's place and give up his chance to reach the Pole. He would return as soon as the plane could bring Pitzl out.

Finally the storm ended. Weldy was able to fly again and he brought much needed gas and a coil to replace the one that had burned out. Doc went back with him, along with the cameraman.



On our way. Even though snow had packed in all around the engines, they turned over quickly and cleared themselves.

We started out again. It was great going, rough on the knees, but we were making time. Jean Luc rode ahead all the time, looking for breaks in the ridges, and ways to get over the leads. He would climb up to the top of a ridge, take out a cigarette and calmly survey the situation as he puffed. He would eilher find a way to ride around or pick a place where it would be easiest to hack through.

Everyone wanted to keep going to make up for the lost time. In the week following the storm, we made about 60 miles – still 374 miles from the Pole.

The weather continued brutal. One night was so cold, a bottle of Scotch froze only two feet from my head. It scared me to think of what that same cold might be doing to my head!

We continued to have support problems; Weldy was having a tough time finding us whenever he flew out with supplies. The beacon receiver in the nose of his plane wasn't picking up our signal.

On April 2, Don Powellek went back with Weldy to fix the beacon receiver. It would be serious if our beacon couldn't be picked up when we got farther out. Don stayed at base camp the rest of the time to mother our lifeline, and he kept he vital beacon going for us. Weldy was flying with little reserve gas, and he couldn't afford to spend much time circling around over the ice in search of us.



Don's return to base cut our party to the final four who would make it to the end. We really started to move. By April 4, we hit the halfway point – 86 degrees, 21 minutes north latitude, 71 degrees west longitude.

Dangerous crossings. We had to cross many thin, newly frozen leads, perhaps eight to 10 times a day. Once Jean Luc went through the ice of a lead and the water came within two inches of the top of his sled.

Often the ice would part as we raced over a lead. Only the momentum of our snowmobiles kept us going. If the engines had conked out, we'd have gone down.



The men at base camp and at Tanquary cheered us on. Every time we radioed that we had crossed a degree, they celebrated.

The machines held up fine. On very cold days, however, we'd lose drive belts – four in one day. They shattered like glass.

Although we were making good mileage, we had to make up for the drift of the ice. If you stood still you could move far off course. One day, we lost eight miles because of the drift.

Jerry Pitzl was now making very precise navigational fixes. He used a Plath marine sextant. It had a bubble attachment, which creates an artificial horizon, necessary because the horizon on the ice is so irregular.

About four miles from the pole, we stopped. Jerry wanted to stay in one spot so he could shoot hourly fixes on the sun for a whole day and pinpoint our path for the final few miles.



We began to worry again because the drift had stopped. Sitting on this ice, we were sure we’d get to the Pole; but now that we had to move again, we felt no certainty that we’d actually be parking our vehicles at the North Pole. What if the Pole were located in the middle of a lead? And what if we suddenly got hit with a storm now that we were so dose? Suppose we never got there after so much work toward that goal?

But the weather held up for us.

The big moment. When we reached a spot Jerry felt was within walking distance of the Pole, we set up our final camp. Soon an Air Force plane would be coming over to verify our position. And Weldy would be landing to carry us and our equipment back as soon as we got the word.



The Air Force plane, a WC 135, came over about an hour later. I talked to the pilot over our beacon as his navigator checked and rechecked our position. Then from directly overhead, the pilot, Maj. Albert Cardinal, radioed the good news: we were at the North Pole!

It had taken us 43 days to travel the 474 miles between Ward Hunt Island, our departure point, and the Pole. We actually covered 830 miles.

As we were flying back, I thought about the things that had made our success possible. The element that stood out was team effort – the selfless work of all the men, both at the base camp and out on the ice.

Could we do it again? Maybe. The Arctic is a fierce mistress. If you succeed, you can only say that you've been lucky – not that you conquered her.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

National Geographic didn't want anything to do with the Expedition after Ralph cast doubt on Peary's claims following his first 1967 attempt. They did apparently send a reporter to the airport to greet the Plaisted party on their return. Ralph's response was to sell his story to Life magazine! I know there is a mention/(write up?) in the '1968 In Review' issue of Life but I haven't got hold of a copy yet. I'm also unsure if it was printed earlier in the year or if Popular Science was a sister magazine and the above is the same article.

Just dug out another magazine article from Argosy magazine Feb '69.
Excerpts from Ralph Plaisted's diary

"March 26: It was so cold last night it froze a bottle of Scotch that was two feet from my head...."

"April 7: We sure have been lucky; not one of us has been hurt. As Walt says, Someone (God) is looking over us. We have all had close calls with machines, open water, falling off the machines, smashing into blocks of ice. I sometimes just hold my breath when I see the near accidents every day, and as we move on, we all work harder and seem to throw caution to the winds at times. The other day, we rode up to an open lead - 6 feet across - black water, threw in a little snow, got a run ... and away we go, one sled after the other. I'm sure no one could have walked across the snow bridge..."

"April 17: The boys seem to be obsessed with the idea of getting to the pole today and they took a lot of chances ... We are just living too dangerously ... We are only 39 nautical miles from the pole. With luck and a good day tomorrow ... we could make it. If open water is encountered, it could be longer."

"April 18: The ice was bad, but after 3:30 we broke out and made lots of miles - 49 total for the day's run. We feel we are within 15 miles of the pole...."

"April 19: We are drifting in toward the pole. Moved almost five miles during the night ... 12 o'clock and Jerry is working on the noon shot to get the meridian passage. This verifies our position and he says it puts us five miles from the pole ... It's hard to believe we are almost there. To think of it, it seems to overwhelm me somehow. 2100 GMT, we drift over the North Pole ...."

"April 20: The Air Force weather plane came over at a very high altitude ... They confirmed our position at exactly 90 north..."

Just wanted to point out with the above that the Arctic is purely ice, no land mass beneath it, and is constantly shifting, melting, splitting, re-freezing.
May be obvious to many but hopefully no harm in explaining for those that have had no reason to consider it before.

I've taken the date of reaching the pole as 19th April as this is what Ralph seems to have used for all his "signed" items and was the day of the diary entry of that final drift. Until I typed this up it hadn't even occurred to me that you have to pick one time zone (GMT referred to above) as I suppose you would be standing at the convergence of all 24 hours at once.

re the drifting:
Nicked this from Wikipedia re the Wally Herbert British Trans-Arctic expedition
"In July 1968, having crossed 1,900 km of rough drifting ice, Wally and his team established a camp. Because they could not reach a position where the drift of the trans-Arctic ice-stream was in their favour, they were forced to stay for the winter, as they drifted around the pole. Only when sunlight returned the following year could they continue their journey, finally reaching the North Pole via the Pole of Inaccessibility on April 6, 1969."
Hope someone packed the Scrabble.

I've just received a couple of old press photo's from the succesful 1968 expedition.

From the clipping on the back.
"Northwest Airline stewardess Rose Marie Hering wishes good luck to the Plaisted Polar Expedition group at O'Hare Airport. The group will try to become the first to reach the North Pole via snowmobiles. From left: George Cavouras, Donald Powellek, leader Ralph Plaisted, Walter Pederson, Miss Hering and John Moriarity (sic)"

From the names on the jackets Walt Pederson (Mechanic) is on the far right, rather than as listed above.
Jerry Pitzl (Navigator) on the far left of this scan appears to have been cropped out of the picture printed in the newspaper.

I can't spot any watches on anyone's wrist.
I can't imagine that they could have been worn on bracelets in the temperatures they were about to face. Manual winding must have been a real mission in those conditions. I wonder if they all wore a Speedmaster or if Jerry just had one with his navigational equipment.

Hardly smooth going.


The original, unsuccessful, 1967 expedition was written up by Charles Kuralt (CBS reporter) in his book "To the Top of The World - The adventures and misadventures of the Plaisted Polar Expedition March 28-May 4, 1967". Snappy title!
I have been lucky enough to purchase a copy signed by Ralph and dedicated to Andy Horton, the base camp radio operator.


It isn't a literary classic but the tale of how the group was assembled and their slow progress on the Arctic ice is amazing. Very heroic but kind of Dad's army crazy!

I have discovered a watch from the expedition -

This is one of the photos from the dealer who currently owns it and without their permission I am reluctant to post others.
Omega Speedmaster 145-012-67 with 321 movement with 25 million serial number. [Edit 2013: this is the now 'infamous' eBay watch]

It does raise some questions now though.
This caseback has "19-4-1968" engraved at the bottom as well as the "Plaisted Polar Expedition" engraving at the top.
The only previous version I have seen only had "1968" at the bottom.









19 April 1968 was the date that the pole was reached, with confirmation from a USAF weather recconnaissance aircraft coming a day later.
This would obviously have to have been engraved after the expedition had succeeded.

Could there have been four Speedmasters, one for each member of the expedition crew, that were engraved "19-4-1968"?
Could the "1968" engraved watches having belonged to base camp members of the team?

Would the engraving not have been "4-19-1968" as the party were Americans and Canadians?

On the 1967 expedition the party were issued with Hamiltons
Listed under "Contributors" in the back of my book:
"HAMILTON WATCH CO., Lancaster, Pa.: watches and chronometers"
and from pages 16-17
"On the same day that Pepsi-Cola turned down Plaisted's request for ten cases of Pepsi, the Hamilton Watch Company, which had been asked only for the loan of a chronometer, suggested they furnish expensive wristwatches to every member of the expedition as well.
Plaisted thought, "But we all have wristwatches. What we need is Pepsis." Yet, he gratefully accepted."
Any information (or even speculation) on what Hamilton's they would have received would be appreciated.

Here is some of my modest collection so far.



The Tampa Tribune






Future reading: (EDIT: 19/4/11 still not made a dent in these )

Wilderness Adventure - Plaisted took his family and a few friends to live in the wilderness of Canada's northern forests. Not doing things by halves he chartered a DC3 to take their supplies up and it landed on the frozen lake in front of where he had built their cabin!
Across The Top Of The World - Wally Herberts tale of the 1968-69 British Trans-Arctic Expedition
The Snow People - Marie Herberts tale of when Wally took her and their Daughter to live with the Eskimo's - This was a feature of a Rolex magazine advert back in the day.
I may be some time - Francis Spufford - this one had some great reviews so with the above interest thought I'd give it a go

Further reading for you because I'm lazy
http://www.snowmobile.com/events/ski-do ... e-707.html
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/ ... a91460041d
http://www.fjab.qc.ca/en/content/motone ... aneige.htm
Daily Kos: Ralph Plaisted died this week
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic23-2-133.pdf

And for those in the Saint Paul, Minnesota area this one on ebay could be of interest
Item 180494099804 (now long gone)


I don't think it would be one from the expedition (see above links re items left on the ice and those in museums). I think these were badged up and sold by Ski-Doo after the success. As you would!



If anyone has any further information please contact me or post it up here
Jerry Pitzl was the Navigator and I'd love to hear his views on the Speedmaster and its importance (or not ?) to the expedition
Walt Pederson has written a childrens book on the expedition from the perspective of his snowmobile "Little Lady" - next purchase.

RIP: Ralph, Jean Luc, Andy
Jerry and Walt - I hope you are both doing well and hopefully I can get in touch with you soon.

Ian

More links. Thanks to Francois Boucher.
Here are audio/video archives related to the Plaisted expedition:
North Pole expedition by Ski-Doo - CBC Archives Includes a radio message by Plaisted from the Pole, and an interview with Plaisted before he started on his trek.
Bombardier: The Snowmobile Legacy | CBC Archives Interesting video (aired June 22, 1967) on the history of Bombardier, told by Jean-Luc Bombardier himself. He mentions the (1967) Plaisted expedition shortly, near the end of the clip.

 

Great story.
Thanks for posting!!

 

Thanks. Wish I had worn my speedy today.

 

An excellent thread, superb story and fascinating picture. Whatever historian would die here!

 

What an adventure!
Why do men climb mountains?
...because they are there...

 

Some watch destined to be worn for adventure

 

My name is Tim Pederson. My father is Walt Pederson, the mechanic for the Plaisted expedition. I really applaud your interest in this bit of history. Unfortunately Omega has distorted it for its own purposes. The real story is marvelous and is a good read. "First to the Pole" - C J Ramstad and Keith Pickering

According to Jerry Pitzl, navigator, they never used Omega watches for navigation. They used a Hamilton watch the entire trip. Each of the four wore one. The Omega connection was thought up by Fred Clark, movie maker 1968, as a promotion (he got a watch out of it). His watch is probably the one seen being offered for $100,000. The person who inherited Fred's collection of expedition artifacts thinks so.

Secondly the claim and pictures of Ralph Plaisted using his watch for navigation is false. Ralph did none of the navigating and probably didn't know how to use a sextant.

Thirdly, in their mini show at the website the show "True North" the expedition is shown leaving from Nunchuk Greenland. Not even close. They embarked from the tiny island of Ward Hunt in 1968 just off the northern coast of Ellsmere Island.

Fourth and definitely least: The last segment with the dramatic fly over is a bit of clever animation based on a still photo. The snow was not falling. There was no film crew at the north pole when the overfly happened. I think Jerry took the photo they used as the basis for the animation. Weldy Phipps brought the film crew with him on his last trip to the ice party. As he landed the Air Force was leaving, having hung around long enough to help Weldy locate the ice party. He flew by and missed them once and was only going to get one more try before fuel concerns would force him back to mainland.

Here's 2 photos that may tickle your curiosity. Some of the terrain they encountered. Jerry doing a sun shot.

 

Thanks very much for posting Tim. That's some great information you've shared there.
I was very sad to read about the passing of your father. I'm sorry for your loss.

I have been able to collect a couple of items from Walt's planned expeditions to the South Pole in 1970 and 1971. I shall try and get some photos up later.
As I understand it your uncles may also have been heavily involved in those attempts.

I have picked up a copy of the Ramstad/Pickering book but not got around to reading it yet. I had thought that there might have been some dispute around it with the families as they haven't seemed to use the Plaisted Expedition name in the marketing and it was initially quite hard to find. I'm glad to hear you recommend it.

Best wishes from an admirer of you father's achievements from Brisbane, Australia. Ian.

Walt Pederson.

 

How did you come across our little forum?

 

Unfortunately Omega has distorted it for its own purposes....