The Plaisted Polar Expedition Speedmaster

I had never heard of this story until a couple of days ago when watching a Flash animation of Omega Speedmaster history.

Apparently, insurance salesman and amateur adventurer Ralph Plaisted and a few friends decided on a lark to see if they could get to the North Pole on snowmobiles, the first land attempt. They had one failed try then succeeded in 1968 after a 43 day effort. They (Plaisted and 3 friends) used Ski-Doo snowmobiles, 300cc with 16hp, amazing in today's world of 150hp sleds! The used Omega Speedmasters that not surprisingly, performed quite well (44 days at an average -52°C).

From the Speedmaster animation site: "Plaisted used his Speedmaster and a sextant to manually navigate the expedition through 1330km of shifting ice flows and blinding snowstorms. Even when the temperatures dropped below -50° Celsius, the Speedmaster functioned with unerring precision before Plaisted used the watch to configure exactly 90 degrees true North - the Geographic North Pole." (here's the actual watch!)

Here are a couple of pics of an Omega Speedmaster from the Plaisted expedition, this example was for sale from Trebor's Vintage Watches in Canada. You can see the engraving on the caseback.

More info on the Plaisted Expedition:
The Plaisted Polar Expedition, 90 Degrees N by Snowmobile: "Ralph Plaisted was an insurance salesman from White Bear Lake, Minnesota who had some polar experience, or near-so, from hunting and fishing in the great Northwest. He and some friends were discussing snowmobiles in the mid-60's, and one of the men jokingly said something to the effect of if snowmobiles were so good, then why not just go on through to the North Pole?"

Musée Bombardier - Le transport et la neige: "Plaisted chose fellow expedition members based on their expertise: Gerry Pitzl, navigator, Walt Pederson, mechanical engineer, and Jean-Luc Bombardier, technician and scout. The latter was Joseph-Armand Bombardier’s nephew. The chosen snowmobiles were Ski-Doo SUPER Olympic 300 cc models produced by Bombardier Limitée. Before departure three simple modifications were made to the vehicles: the addition of a gas reservoir on the hood, the shortening of the seat for more storage space, and the insertion of metal studs in the rubber track to increase traction on ice."

Omega Speedmaster Plaisted Polar Expedition: The Speedmaster Goes To The North Pole Before Its Trip To the Moon - Hodinkee: "In the late 1960s, an insurance salesman from Nebraska with a penchant for snowmobiles thought to himself 'Hey, if snowmobiles are so great, why can't I ride one to the North Pole?'. And the long and short of it is....he did. After one failed attempt in 1967, the aforementioned insurance salesmen, Ralph Plaisted, and three of his colleagues (who were considerably more experienced adventurers) made it to what they calculated to be 90 degrees North Latitude, or the North Pole."

Additional links:
Ralph Plaisted Speedmaster
TZ-UK - 1968 Plaisted Polar Expedition (Speedy/Hamilton)
Forest Lake Times - 40 years ago, Plaisted was on top of the world
Musee Bombardier - Le transport et la neige
A Historic Snowmobile Moment
SnoRiders Destination: North Pole
OMEGA Speedmaster Professional - Expedition Exchange
Vintage Watches: #1888 Omega Speedmaster Professional Cal 321 Plaisted Polar Expedition, 1968 - SOLD
Daily Kos: Ralph Plaisted died this week (2008)
North Pole On A Snowmobile - Popular Science Archive
FEATURE: One of history's great polar feats