90.00.000 degrees North - The North Pole! At least for a few moments.
It's done - I finished the North Pole Marathon. It has taken a few days once I returned to Kansas City to catch up on sleep, emails, thaw out, etc. It was amazing. Almost impossible to describe. Since there is nothing permanently at the pole, a base camp is built every year for the short season when it is warm enough to be there but not so warm that the ice splits. The North Pole is completely on ice, there is no land, and the ice moves, a lot. The ice flows from east to West (kinda) and is constantly splitting and reforming.
Camp Barneo: Every year the Russians fly up close to the pole and look for a suitable place to build a camp and runway. When they find a place they like, they jump out of the plane and parachute to the ground. In addition they bring a bulldozer and a few supplies. After the runway is done, the plane starts bringing people and supplies and they build a camp. Lots of info at:
http://www.barneo.ru/ Camp Barneo is only there for 4-6 weeks a year! Then the ice splits up too much, they pack up and leave till next year. It is used by geologist, adventure seekers, a last stop before the pole and well, marathoners. It is constantly moving and was around 20 miles from the pole when we were there. It will sleep about 40 in addition to the staff. The tents are heated...but that doesn't mean they are above freezing. The warmest I saw in our tent was 27 degrees - but that is about 60 degrees warmer than outside. Water bottles had to be in the sleeping bag, wet clothes on the floor would freeze, etc. In a word = cold. But beautiful. Nothing for 1000 miles in any direction. No people, no building, not even any color but white.
We were at the camp for about 24 hrs before the marathon. Marathon started around 3:30 in the afternoon and since the sun never sets, you could run pretty much anytime. The temp at the start was -36 and then dropped to -38. Not too much wind, but enough that you knew when the wind was in your face. The course was an odd shaped, kinda oblong, zig-zaggy route that had to be completed 9 times. The snow/ice underfoot was everything from very solid slick ice to 8+ inches of fluffy snow...and it changed. As every lap proceeded the snow was more churned up and harder to run in. It is so dry that it does not pack. In between each lap there was a heated tent where we placed all of our water bottles and any food that we needed. If you were wearing snowshoes they had to be removed before entering the tent as it had canvas floors. Many people gave up the snowshoes after a couple times of taking them on/off. At those temps, it was very difficult to fasten the shoes. After two laps I was actually sweating and thought about dropping a layer. By lap three I was freezing and glad I kept it all on. I had three layers of socks. Three layers on the legs, five layers up top, face mask, neck gaiter, two 
hats and two layers on the hands. I had goggle for the first lap, but they kept freezing up and discarded them. It was cold. No other way to put it. As soon as your breath hit the air it froze to the mask/neck. Once I took off my gloves half way to adjust something, the little fine hairs on the back of my hands immediately froze into little ice crystals. When I touched them, the hair fell off. After 5 laps I thought I was done for. I could not get warm, was miserable and was doing a run/walk (run 20 flags, walk 5) I stopped in my tent, changed all my socks and all my upper layers. The warm and dry clothes refreshed me a bit and mentally I was back in it. Physically though, the loose snow was taking its toll. I slowly went to a run 15 flags/walk 5 to a run on the hard ice/walk in the fluff. The final lap I tried to run more and found that in the snow I could fast walk faster than I could run. I finally came in at 7:27 - the longest marathon I have ever done. The fastest time was just under 4:30 and the last person came in at 16:30+
After I finished, I quickly changed clothes and my spirits returned. Most runners then hung out in the heated tent and waited for the 
other runners. When someone would come in it was like an assembly line. We'd find them a place to sit, fix them tea or coffee, get them some food (mashed potatoes and goulash) and help them strip off the frozen pieces of clothing. After my roommate came in I finally went to sleep - about 6am. Was back up around 9am to see the last person finish and then 2 more hours of sleep.
Since the camp wasn't exactly at the pole when we were there, we boarded two old Russian transport helicopters for a quick flight to exactly 90.00 degrees. When we landed, the guide planted the temporary pole exactly at 90.00 We had a drink, took pictures, ran around the world, played alittle soccer and then headed back to camp. (that's not me on the left. Ted Jackson - crazy man. But that's a great pic of how it was)
Less than 48 hrs after leaving the pole I was back in Kansas City. 1 helipcopter and 7 plane flights later. I have a little bit of frost bite on my nose and a few toes, but nothing serious and all will be fine in a few weeks. I took lots of pics, but it will take a little bit longer before I can get them downloaded and in a form to post. I took lots of flags to the pole including the family flag seen on the right. That's right - the Bundschuh family has a crest/flag. Sure it is not the most colorful or interesting thing, but it has now been to the North Pole. I made new friends and had time to be completely alone in a place where when you are alone, you are REALLY alone.
It was amazing, simply amazing.
