On the North Pole Expedition
As well as daring expeditions up high mountain peaks, steep cliffs and into undiscovered deserts, ventures to the icy wastes of the Poles among Man’s greatest challenges. But even here you’ll find them – Swiss Army Knives from Ibach.
As, for example, during an exhausting North Pole expedition in the winter of 1976-77. Charles Burton reported in early 1978 on the British North Pole expedition. During the winter of 1976/ 77 his team was on route to the most northerly point on the globe during the dark Arctic night. They had to abandon the expedition just before reaching their destination due to the harsh weather. However, it had made sufficient progress to furnish a couple of heroic stories in which the Swiss Army Knife played a prominent role. Burton recounted in his letter to Ibach:
«In July 1977 we returned to England after six months in the Arctic. The group of ice explorers spent 90 days on the pack ice at temperatures below 50 degrees Celsius. This had been the lowest recorded temperature in the Arctic for 46 years. On 15 May, despite having already covered 890 miles (1432 km) on the ice and just ten days away from the North Pole, we had to be evacuated at once. A breakup in the ice, something which had never happened before, forced us to return. The ice broke up early, as it had never done before, and forced us to turn back. Despite this we were one of the expeditions that succeeded in travelling far to the north that year. The Swiss Army Knives you supplied us with proved invaluable for the entire group on the ice as well as for those at base camp. They were used, among other things, to remove ice from the sledge runners and for opening cans of food.
When one of our party fell into the ice we were able to use the knife to cut his clothing loose and free him from his wet garments which immediately froze. When he fell into the ice the temperatures were minus 37 degrees Celsius, so he had to be taken into a tent quickly and dried out. Without acting quickly, thanks to the help of your knives, he could have been in serious danger.»
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