It's a rather sad day today as an evacuation plan is set in motion by sponsors Groupama Assistance to fetch Horn from his position some 600km short of the North Pole, where he is suffering from severe frostbite in both his hands.

Horn risks losing both his thumbs unless he receives urgent medical treatment, but he still plans to continue with his Arktos expedition once his hands have recovered.

On the 3rd of April, after sitting out a storm for two days, Horn took good advantage of the calmer conditions and good visibility to try to make up some of the 20km that he had drifted backwards while tentbound. He was feeling good after advancing 6km in two hours, and bent down to tighten his bootlaces.

"I took my gloves off for two seconds and in that time my hands froze. I stopped immediately afterwards and decided to try and heat them up." By the end of that day, he had not managed to get the feeling back in the index finger and thumb of his right hand, or the thumb of his left hand.

Horn had overcome some frostbite in his hands, cheeks and ears already on this expedition, so he continued in the belief that his hands would improve. In fact, in the following days he made good progress, often using his Vade Retro kite to harness the windpower that would bring added speed. And when the fingertips started aching, he took this pain as a sign that life was returning.

On the 9th of April, Horn made the decision to quit this part of the expedition. His hands had become extremely painful. "It's so painful that I am finding it hard to do everyday things like pitch the tent, cook a meal, etc. I must get them seen to. It's difficult to stop now ­ I was really beginning to feel as if I was on a downhill run to the Pole. So close yet so far! Unfortunately I don't have much choice in the matter ­ my hands are important to my future."

The Swiss emergency recovery service Groupama Assistance are organizing Horn's evacuation to Switzerland for treatment. However, he's already talking about continuing with his main expedition, the circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle. This traverse of the Arctic was, ironically, only a last-minute add-on to the planned expedition, and was never even reflected on the expedition's logo.

— Dominique le Roux, MountainZone.com Correspondent