Distribution Exec's 'Green' North Pole Adventure

Don Bell, president, chairman and CEO of distributor Bell Microproducts, recently returned from a trip to the North Pole with his wife.

Bell joined a team led by British adventurer David Hempleman-Adams that aims to draw attention to global warming and the need to preserve the polar ice cap.

Most of the group left 10 days before Bell and his wife Lynne. He had a board meeting that couldn't be moved so needed a helicopter to catch up with them about 10 miles from the geographic North Pole.

Bell said he understood why scientists are concerned about the Pole. "The ice is thinning. Some of it naturally cracks. You can see some of the cracks. You can see some of the ridges where the ice floes come together and are bulging up," he said.

Bell said he was told that the Polar ice cap has lost 23 percent of its area just from 2005 to 2007. In 2000, the ice cap was 7.1 million square kilometers, but it was down to 4.1 million square kilometers last year.

Bell's team took a Russian plane from Longyearbyen to Barneo, a temporary ice base carved out of a floating island each year.

Longyearbyen, an isolated village near the Arctic Sea, is the location of the "Doomsday Vault," a multi-national project that houses millions of seeds to be protected against disaster.

Bell and his wife pose for a shot in Longyearbyen.

Russia carves out the village of Barneo from scratch each year, Bell said. "They fly over looking for a good spot, then parachute out a bull dozer and people. They scrape ice to make a runway. Puncture a hole in it to pump water up, until it slicks over, then grade it," Bell said. "The sun's up 24 hours a day. It's like 5 p.m. all day long."

This is the last stop before heading out to the North Pole. It's less than 10 miles to the pole from here.

"Everywhere, you need a polar bear gun and a flare gun," Bell said. Bell did not see any polar bears, but others in his group said there were a couple laying across the runway when they were trying to land back near Longyearbyen.

A mess tent at Barneo was the social center of the expedition. "The food is terrible, but the people are hearty, hearty, hearty," Bell said. "The little mess tent is the only place to go. You don't want to be outside, it's still at minus 85."

"We flew up with a group of six Russians who were going to scuba dive under the ice. There is no land. It's just a big mass of floating ice that moves. It moves 12 miles a day in one direction. It turned around when our group was there," Bell said.

At the North Pole, it was minus 40 degrees and the wind chill was a negative 85 degrees, Bell said. "You would get frost bite within 30 seconds on exposed skin," he said. He spent about 5 hours at the Pole before the group departed back to Barneo. "The ice cracked where we were the night before. Our group woke up one morning and there was a 15-foot-gap in either direction, the ice is moving so quickly," he said.

Bell joined the trip through a meeting with David Hempleman-Adams at a charity event in Windsor Castle in England. Hempleman-Adams has climbed the highest peaks in each continent, reached the North and South Poles and set several hot-air ballooning milestones.

Bell and Hempleman-Adams had a mutual friend in Steve Fossett, the world-record-setting balloonist who disappeared and believed to have been killed in a plane crash in September 2007.

They talked and the idea of a trip to the North Pole came up. The Hempleman-Adams team was joined by a team led by Norwegian adventurer Rune Gjeldnes. In February 2006, Gjeldnes completed "The Longest March", a three-month 4,800 kilometer solo ski trek across the South Pole region.

Hempleman-Adams' team and Gjeldnes' team are happy to reach their destination, the top of the world.

It was hard trip, but Bell said he was glad to be able to go and to experience it with his wife. "I was not unhappy to see the helicopter come. People looked after us to make sure we stayed covered up. I had left my goggles and face mask behind, but I was able to borrow," he said.

After spending about five hours at the pole itself, it was time to head back.

The Bells spent more time in Longyearbyen before heading back to the United States. Don Bell went dog-sledding and said he and his wife are looking forward to a future trip ' to the South Pole.