Hi all,
Thanks to Ralph's post that mentioned a 1978 article from National
Geographic... I went and dug out that magazine. The article is titled
"First Solo Assault on the Pole" and is about a Japanese man named
Naomi Uemura who on March 6th, 1978 began a solo attempt to reach the
pole by dog sled. He started from Cape Columbia and reached the pole
55 days later on April 29. He had monitary backing from people in
Japan that funded this trip along with it seems navigation help from
the US. He also had resupply flights coming from the Canadian
settlement of Resolute when needed.
Interesting... his sled is named "Aurora". Nothing is mentioned as you
might guess of an opening at the pole. Much is mentioned about
floating masses of ice and gaps that he had to get a 1,000 pound sled,
himself and 17 dogs across several times.
"On April 24 the ice begins to open again, and I must detour in search
of passable leads At one point I come upon an expanse of dark open
water, curving through the pale ice like the graceful sweep of a
Japanese calligrapher's brush across rice paper."
At the same time he is attempting this solo mission... there is
another group, some friends of his from Nihon University also heading
for the pole. Nothing more is said about them except that they reach
the pole before him.
A little bit about his navigation:
"On this memorial day the dogs and I cover 40 kilometers, one of the
best runs during the entire expedition; we are closing fast on our
goal. By my calculations we are 233 kilometers from the Pole-five
days' travel under good conditions.
My own figures are borne out by a tracking system arranged for me by
the U.S. Smithsonian Institution in cooperation with the Nat.
Aeronautics and Space Adminstration. A small battery-powered
transmitter on my sled sends an automatic signal to the American
satellite Nimbus 6 traveling in a circular orbit over both Poles. The
resulting fix is transmitted to my base camp at the edge of the Arctic
Ocean and relayed to me by radio."
The article also mentions others who have reached the pole by ice, air
or sea..
Robert E. Peary 1909, Richard E. Byrd 1926, The Norge (dirigible)
1926, Nautilus (Skate) 1958, Ralph Plaisted (snowmobiles) 1968, Wally
Herbert (sleds) 1969, and the Arktika (Soviet nuclear icebreaker)
1977.
**Interesting too- Wally Herbert- After 14 months and 2,000
kilometers, a four-man dogsled expedition led by Englishman Wally
Herbert planted the Union Jack at the North Pole on April 5. Beginning
at Point Barrow, Alaska, this trek covered more territory than any of
the other recorded surface crossings to the pole.
Sorry for the length of this, I thought there might be some tidbits
here that might be of interest. 
MaTa