Ralph Plaisted

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Ralph Plaisted and his three companions, Walt Pederson, Jerry Pitzl and John-Luc Bombardier, are regarded by most polar authorities to be the first to succeed in a surface traverse across the ice to the North Pole on 19 April 1968, making the first actual conquest of the polar ice.

After an unsuccessful first attempt in April and May of 1967 to reach the Pole traveling by snowmobile that was thwarted at 83° 20' latitude by storms and open water, Plaisted returned for a successful attempt the following year in March, 1968. Starting at Canada's Ward Hunt Island just a few miles from Peary's start at Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island, Plaisted began the 412 miles traverse on March 9^[1].

Navigating with a sextant and resupplied when possible with fuel and supplies dropped by a turboprop DeHavilland Twin Otter, the expedition members spent 43 days, 11 hours travelling on the ice before reaching their final camp on the evening of April 19th. Navigator Jerry Pitzl made hourly sextant sightings over the next two days to confirm their location. On the morning of April 20, the party journeyed somewhat less than four miles to account for ice drift, and signalled a United States Air Force C135 weather reconnaissance aircraft using a handheld radio. At 10:30 am eastern daylight time, the aircraft, call sign LARK-47, flew overhead confirming the party was exactly at the North Pole.

Given the doubts surrounding the North pole conquest claims of Robert Peary and Frederick Cook, Ralph Plaisted's journey is the first fully confirmed successful surface conquest of the North Pole.