HM 91 — GERALD "JERRY" PITZL, IN RECOGNITION

HOUSEA MEMORIAL 91RECOGNIZING 53RDAND LEGISLATUREHONORING -GERALD STATE"JERRY" PITZL, PH.D., AS A MEMBER OF NEWTHE MEXICOFIRST -EXPEDITION SECONDTO SESSIONINDISPUTABLY ,REACH 2018THE INTRODUCEDNORTH POLE BY JasonSURFACE C.TRAVEL;

Harper and Brian Egolf 6 8 10 A MEMORIAL RECOGNIZING AND HONORING GERALD "JERRY" PITZL, PH.D., AS A MEMBER OF THE FIRST EXPEDITION TO INDISPUTABLY REACH THE NORTH POLE BY SURFACE TRAVEL;

168 WHEREAS, Guinness world records recognizes that the e t 17 earliest indisputable attainment of the north pole by surface w l n d 18 travel over the sea-ice took place when expedition leader Ralph = = 19 a l Plaisted, an insurance salesman, accompanied by Walter i a e r 20 Pederson, the trip mechanic, Gerald "Jerry" Pitzl, a high a t m m 21 school geography teacher turned expedition navigator, and Jean d r e 22 Luc Bombardier, a Canadian and member of the Bombardier family, c e s k 23 founders of Bombardier, incorporated, reached the pole after a e a n b 24 forty-five-day trek on four sixteen-horsepower Bombardier-Bombardier-manufactured u [ manufactured Ski-Doo snowmobiles;

and .210263.2 WHEREAS, the expedition team members were not experienced explorers, but ordinary men who endured temperatures that dipped to minus sixty-two degrees Fahrenheit and rarely rose above minus forty, and who suffered through two forty-mile-per-forty-mile-per-hour hour wind storms that confined them to their tents for a week at a time;

and WHEREAS, the team spent months preparing for the HM 91 expedition, including sleeping on a frozen Minnesota lake and Page 1 engineering ingenious clothing — an inner parka made of poplin with a wolverine fur hood layered underneath a duck canvas exterior parka, each dyed a different color so the men could identify each other in conditions of low visibility;

and e e 17 WHEREAS, the first attempt departed on March 18, 1967 from e e n d 18 Ellesmere island, Canada, six hundred miles from the north = = l ] 19 pole;

and a l r i 20 WHEREAS, none of the men had set foot on Arctic ice, and, t e a t after a month of travel, the team was trapped for a week by a m m 21 e d r e 22 storm and forced to abandon the attempt several hundred miles c e r c 23 short of the pole, but which resulted in a Columbia e a n b 24 broadcasting system, incorporated, television documentary u [ entitled "To the Top of the World", by Charles Kuralt, who had .210263.2 - 2 - accompanied the expedition;

and WHEREAS, on March 7, 1968, the team departed again, this time from Ward Hunt island, Canada, a four-hundred-twelve-milefour-hundred-twelve- mile traverse to the north pole;

pack ice whose constant motion HM 91 Page 2 created steep pressure ridges and stretches of open water known as leads;

and eerie sounds from the ice, including ghoulish groans as ice floes shifted, followed by artillery-likeartillery- like reports as the ice sheets collided and cracked, threatening to open yawning fissures beneath their feet at any moment;

and WHEREAS, the expedition reached its final camp on the e e 17 evening of April 18, 1968;

and e e n d 18 WHEREAS, Gerald Pitzl, as the expedition navigator, made = = l ] 19 hourly sextant sightings to confirm their location, and on the a l r i 20 morning of April 20, 1968, the expedition traveled the final t e a t four miles to the pole and signaled a United States air force m m 21 e d r e 22 C-130 weather reconnaissance aircraft;

and c e r c 23 WHEREAS, the C-130 flew overhead confirming that the team e a n b 24 was located exactly at the north pole, and the pilot radioed u [ the team:

I .210263.2 - 3 - see them dead ahead.

and WHEREAS, a March 17, 2016 New York Times Magazine article entitled "An Insurance Salesman and a Doctor Walk HM 91 Page 3 Into a Bar, and End Up at the North Pole" renewed interest in the expedition, and Sony pictures entertainment has reportedly purchased the rights to make the story into a feature-length film;

and WHEREAS, Gerald Pitzl wrote in his diary, "We strive for e e 17 an elusive and imaginary point ...

it has nothing to do with e e n d 18 the Arctic and the wilds of the north.

It's the drive to = = l ] 19 capture something that defies capture.";

a l r i 20 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF t e a t REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that Gerald "Jerry" m m 21 e d r e 22 Pitzl, Ph.D., be recognized and honored for his significant c e r c 23 achievement in reaching the north pole in 1968, and that the e a n b 24 governor be requested to proclaim April 20, 2018 "Gerald u [ 'Jerry' Pitzl Day" in New Mexico;

and .210263.2 - 4 - BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor and to Gerald "Jerry" Pitzl, Ph.D.

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