AT THE POLE: Kitwanga skydiver

Jim Patterson poses for photos at

j the north pole. A group of about 90

international skydivers jumped at
the top of the world this spring.

Photos by Johan Person

& Jim Patterson

‘Norte at North Pole -

By JEFF NAGEL
PLUNGING towards the
ground in free fall from
10,000 feet isn’t every-
body’s idea of fun.

Doing it in extreme condi-.

tions over the pack ice. at
the North Pole seems: just

plain crazy.

Enter Jim Patterson. oy

For. the second Straight year, | the -
48-year-old Kitwanga electrician ©.
has becn among an elite group of:
skydivers who jump at the top of.

the world.
The .2,700-jump. veteran. who

works at the Carnaby” sawmill,”

was one of only two Canadians to

make the j jump this year, on April ©

18,

It was-a beautiful day for the |

North Pole. Minus 23 degrees
Celsius, crystal clear blue sky and
no wind.

But 10,000 feet up ia the air,
where the ex-Russian - military
Ilyushin 76 cargo jet cuts through

the sky, it’s a crisp minus 45 de-'.

grees,

“You cat imagine what the
wind chill factor is at -45 degrees
and 210 miles per hour,’’, Patter-
sonsays. .

That’s ‘the speed of the
skydivers as they leap out of the
-plane’s dark cargo hold into the
blazing sunshine.

“I's like being shot out of a
cannon,” he says, ‘“‘Everything is
so bright around you.”

The airspeed — more than
twice as fast as they normally

jump at —- was dangerous for at :

least one skydiver.

“Patterson says one of his fellow

jumpers suffered a dislocated
shoulder when he hit the slip-
stream,
_ His main chute wouldn't open
and he was only 1,000 feet above
the ground when he finally got
hisreserve chutetoopen.
Once away from the plane, the

skydivers actually slow to a ter
minal velocity of about 120 miles
per hour in free fall, -.

Patterson fell for about 20 sec-
onds before pulling the ripcord.

‘I opened my parachute: quite
high because I wanted to float
down and enjoy the view,’ he

Bays.

The pole is 600 miles from the

‘nearest land, so the view consists
. of the. everchanging landscape of
the: pack ice. —— twisted; “cracked
‘and -jumbled -by. arctic ocean ‘cur-

Tents,
“Tt leaves these ‘amazing pat-
terms,”’ Patterson says, ‘“You

- have pressure ridges.. You have

snow drifts where the snow has
drifted over. You have. open leads
— blue stretches of open water.”
The other novelty was the time
ofday,
The groip took off from
Khatanga, Siberia at 1:00 a.m, lo-

_cal time. ‘

But time zones become ir-
televant as you ‘reach the pole,
however, and the wee morning
hours saw the skydivers jump in
blazing sunshine,

The north pole only has one ©

sunset and onc sunrise each year,
‘From the 21st of March when

’ the sun breaks free of the horizon

until the 21st of September, the

FOUNDERS OF COMMUNISM Karl Marx,
now capitalist activity in Khatanga, Siberia,

serve the tourists of the west,

2 Stan

Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin gaze down at the
where Russian officers and military equipment now

That effect is magnified when
you float down in a parachute, he
said, adding they descended very
slowly.

“You could do a ‘landing on
one‘ toe,”’- he says...

ches of soft snow is‘no problem
at all.??...”

Patterson isn't. the only north-
western ‘whio’s been to the North
Pole in recent years.

“Doing a jump there is really not much of
a problem at all. The logistical nightmare is
getting back off the ice back to dry land.” -

- sun is in the Sky 24 hours a day,”

Patterson explains,
"The landing was particularly

soft.
_ “When you land in air fempera-

tures that are really cold, the air.
density is probably the same as at -
an elevation 6,000 or 7,000 feet .
“The :
- air is very thick, almost soupy.”

below sea level,’ he said,

BIZARRE-LOOKING Russian alr force. Antonov. 74° short. |
takeotf-and-landing abcrant was used to, land on the pack ke at

Hazelion’s Ron Bazak  ac-
companied Patterson in 1994 as a
member. of the advance: ground
‘crew.

Bazak was part of the team, that

“Spent 'a few days on. a- remote

arctic ‘island ‘and organized the
warming hut and ground prepara:
tions at the pole. coed

- “Doing a jump there is really

“And of:
_ course landing in six.or eight in-

not much of a problem at all,”’
Patterson’ says. “The logistical

nightmare is getting back off the :

ice back to dry land,”?
The Russians use a military ice

station that drifts around the pack

ice near the - ‘pole as oR slaging
ground. .

“The Soviets a and ti Tiow 7 he Rus-
sian for maiy years have -

Maintained’ bases on the pack
ice,” he says. +:

“They still maintain these ~

bases, but now rather than milita-

ry installations, they’ ve. tumed °
them into a commercial enterprise”
of ‘flying. people to. the North’

Pole,”’

- The ice station featured “small
inflatable buildings right on the.
pack ‘ice, with barracks, radios .

and a short, rudimentary. runway.

Flying out of the:makeshift air-
base is an Antonov 74 Russian air
force plane with short takeoff. and :

landing capabilities. ©

. The Antonov was used to ferry :
the skydivers back first fom the -

pole to the ice station, and then
back to Khatanga in Siberia. ;

“the north’ pola and fly skydivers to a military ice station and then

back to Siberia. :

4

* everything worked outOK.?
‘military officers who... retained
equipment: have..embraced_ free.

~~ thon. is. spartan by, western tan:

; don’t stop, pane ek for; while?’ 2

The entire trip consisted of
mainly plane travel, Patterson ef-
fectively flew all the way around
the world to jump on the pole.

He flew: from. Smithers to Van-
couver, ‘to. Frankfurt, to Moscow,
and.-then further east ‘through:
Siberia before cutting north,

“Tt would have been ‘a much’
shorter distance to leave here und
fy north,” he laughs, :

They” celebrated with ;
chamipagne at.the pole and con-
tinued . with vodka : back. in
Siberia, _

We! probably. ‘went 50 hours
without sleep,!’ Patterson recalls, —

- The town, was still under milita-
ty administration, - and” the.
skydivers _ were . warned “to

“conduct ourselves according

dy.
ee

We plied every Russian of:
ficer’.we saw: with vodka and:

Although the: former - Russian,
contro] of the airplanes, bases and °
enterprise, the whole tour. opera-.

dards.
“The Russians are very ‘casual
about the rules on. board aire
craft,’? Patterson recalls,
Seatbelts were rion-¢xistent and.
seats were sometlines a luxury,
On the flight back ‘from the
pole, all the’ skydivera: had to-
stand in the hold and hang on to
straps on the sides of the plane. .
“For some .of these flights 1°
was able. to ‘stand in the cockpit.
right bebind the pilot,’’ Patterson

says, “I stood there and watched - sure they follow. fishing

the pressure: ridges _ disappear’:

beneath the nose of the “aircraft '{.

before the pilot finally hauled
back on the yoke.”
Patterson does his conventional ;
skydiving with a northwest group |
that flies from the: Woodcock’ alt:
strip near Kitwanga. °°. -
Beautiful ‘asthe ‘view ‘is across
the Skeena towards‘ the Seven.
Sisters, he won't . soon“ forget :
floating over the North Pol
“Hardly a day goes by when I

dg, Wednesday, August 30, 1995 - AS

CORRESPONDENCE
FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

The —
Mail Bag

Big deal

Dear Sir: —

Big deal. Airfares slashed, or so-
the airline companies would have
you believe. a

Does this involve Terra ce? N o.

You can fly from Vancouver to
Los Angeles for $95 return — or
clear across Canada or to Great
Britain for $400 to $500. ©.

Try going from’ Terrace to
Kamloops. The compassionate
fee is $449 plus tax, in a small
propeller driven 19-passenger
plane, to bury a loved one...

We live in this part of the coun-
try because we love it. Fresh air
— good water, no smog and a
good place to bring up children,

Should we be penalized for
this?

Elna McNaughton,
Terrace, B.C.

Bear facts

. Dear Sir: |

Regarding: the so-called ‘bear

“zapping fence:

‘| We were appalled reading about
what is going to happen to the
bears and the garbage dump..

If it has to be an electric fence
wouldn't it be better to start out
early in the spring before the
bears come out of, hibernation?
That way they wouldn’t start out
with a bad habit and no bear has
to be relocated or. destroyed.

Relocating them. in. September
is very cruel as they | have spent
all summer at the dump and now
they are trying to fatten up for the:
hibernation. Being put into anoth-
er bear’s area to.find.a deni for the.
winter is. not only. cruel but. not
caring at all about our wildlife.

As. far asthe. dump | is. con-
cemed, itwas bad enough to have
the dump open only from. 12: to
eight, now it might. be even
closed for two days in the week. -

Already garbage has. ended up
in the bush and.old logging roads.
Now it is Boing to be worse...

_ Ortrud Buschmann,

". Terrace, B.C.

aaah
erent

What life?» agi
Dear Sir:

, I was.a person. 1 ‘used to work
for a living‘and have control over
my life. Control: over. my hopes,
my dreams, and future.

[had planned days off and holi-
days, I was able to-go. after. the
things I wanted for my.future.

But. now... Taman: “injured
worker. I am ‘told: what to, do,
where to go and how.much I will

" make.” My. holidays. are. now |

. planned by WCB. T elther go: to
the ‘Richmond’ Center, a. pain
clinic, or on countless. visits to

a Richmond to sce ‘thelr advisors; .

I do not take my. ‘family; I, om
/ now an dnjured worker, My fam-
ily comes. second. to WCB. I do
- what Iam told, and have. volumes
of reports that no onc ever reads,
not even WCB...
mea have. lost: my goals because
they: are not in. WCB’s budget, J
have lost my future. I have becn
‘treated . with: disrespect aad dg-
‘norance for so-long that my. con-
fidence is gone...
Ino longer speak out and have
become submissive, they now
feel I am ready to be pushed onto

“the unsuspecting emiployer.-"

~ “They are kind enough ‘to push
me. toward.a job that:L ‘mentally
like,” ‘but they: do not ¢ cate if]. am

“They Know this because all the
“Cont'd Page Ar oe

“Fish cops

_MORE PEOPLE are being.”
checked this year to make’

‘rules,