This is one story we guarantee you won't forget. The Catlin Artic Survey is a group that heads out to areas, in this case the North Pole, to measure shrinking icecaps.
One thing about these trips is that sometimes their compasses stop working. When you get so close to the poles, the magnetic pulls cause equipment that use magnets to stop working. Also, its too cold for the teams GPS equipment.
So, when technology fails you can find your direction by a reliable source, the sun and the stars! But what happens when its cloudy outside and you can't see the sun or the stars?
The Catlin Artic Survey team came up with an unusual idea. They actually attach lingerie to the end of a ski pole and measure the direction of the wind!
According to Pen Hadow, an arctic explorer and the first person to make a solo trip to the North Pole:
“It is an entirely genuine situation. If you can get gossamer thin material and attach it to your ski pole, it is particularly useful for this project because we cannot use the compass as we are so close to magnetic north and it is too cold to use GPS…The knickers have taken up a whole new value operationally”
The funny part? Well, the panties were donated by a supporter of the expedition... so none of the female explorers had to give theirs up!
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