Select an expedition service; solo travel to the North Pole is dangerous if not impossible. There are several agencies that can facilitate your trip. They usually run expeditions in April, when the Arctic night has ended but before the winter ice melts.
Get professional training. Packing a dogsled, mastering equipment systems and traveling over ice on skis are essential skills. Many expedition services that offer North Pole trips offer boot camps that simulate polar conditions. For example, one company offers "polar shakedown training" in Ely, Minnesota, to help clients "survive comfortably in extreme cold."
Fly to one of several embarkation points for travel to the North Pole. Options include Spitsbergen (Norway), Qaanaaq (Greenland) or Murmansk (Russia). Consult your chosen expedition company for its recommendation.
Take a charter flight to a location just south of the North Pole via plane and/or helicopter. Aircraft often stop at the Russian polar research station Barneo, about 60 miles from the Pole. The station only opens in spring.
Travel by ski or dogsled to the final destination. Depending on the expedition, the itinerary can take from two days to more than a week.
Explore the North Pole. There are not many things to do at the Pole itself, although travelers often celebrate their arrival with vodka and caviar. Satellite phones enable calls home. Getting around there requires skis to navigate around patches of open water and ridges of ice, although the terrain is mostly flat. The North Pole lacks formal accommodations, so expeditions set up temporary camps or get picked up by helicopter for the return journey.
