Snow cover was approximately 18 inches and the polar ice about 5 feet thick. Below the ice - 12,000 feet of deep Arctic ocean. Chuck Cossé, founder of Cossé International Securities, carried the Cossé International banner to the Geographic North Pole on April 13, 2006. Here you see Chuck and his wife Sandy proudly displaying the banner. To get to the Pole, they flew to Spitzbergen, an island north of Norway, then on to a Russian base camp, landed on the ice, and helicoptered the last 60 miles to the Pole itself. Note the champagne celebration. The temperature at the Pole was +14°F, not the usual -50°F to -40°F.