Traveller
Updated June 1, 2019 to add link to his latest video.
In May 2014, Iohan Gueorguiev (website – YouTube – Twitter – Instagram) started cycling from the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk, in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The plan was to cycle to the tip of South America in a year, maybe a few more months.
The oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic has started to break up, opening waters north of Greenland that are normally frozen, even in summer.
This phenomenon – which has never been recorded before – has occurred twice this year due to warm winds and a climate-change driven heatwave in the northern hemisphere.
One meteorologist described the loss of ice as “scary”. Others said it could force scientists to revise their theories about which part of the Arctic will withstand warming the longest.
More at The Guardian
In Canada and the U.S. Reddit is now more popular than Facebook. Globally, Facebook is still #3 behind Google.com and YouTube – Alexa
Trees have legal rights. Because nature. – Globe and Mail
Higher temperatures make it harder for students to learn and leads to lower test scores. The economic case for installing air conditioning in every school – Quartz
High-protein diets are linked to heightened risk for heart disease, even for vegetarians – Quartz
Canada’s best phone deals are in Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Double-data mobile offers spark questions over why only some provinces get the best phone deals. – CBC
2018 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest – The Atlantic has photos
Google’s Toronto city built ‘from the internet up’ – BBC
Ben Page, the man who cycled across the Canadian Arctic
Vermont will pay you $10,000 to move there and work remotely – Quartz
Mary Meeker’s 2018 internet trends report – Quartz
Some highlights:
Jon Golden, as told to Nina Strochlic, National Geographic:
T MINUS SIX MONTHS
Gearing up: I’ll be photographing a team of extreme adventurers mountain biking across the frozen Arctic Ocean in Canada. I’ll be on a snowmobile, which is still hard work, so I need to get in good shape. A few months before, I start running and doing core workouts. In the Arctic you can’t sit down if you’re tired—you have to keep moving or get in your sleeping bag. I also put in a request to my sponsors for some gear: a down-filled sleeping mat and gloves I can shoot with.T MINUS TWO WEEKS
Essential packing list: Our camp in Auyuittuq is 50 miles from civilization in any direction, so I take everything I need for the 2.5-day February trip.
– Emergency beacon
– A satellite phone (which will be on for only two hours a day, so I go over safety protocols with my family beforehand)
– Macadamia nuts (they have the highest fat content)
– A toothbrush with pre-applied toothpaste
– A dozen camera batteries. The cold zaps their power, so I keep them in my vest or sleeping bag.
– Two sets of long underwear
Camp 4 Collective:
As much we admire the explorers traveling to the ends of the Earth on large scale Expeditons it’s the everyday man (or women) exploring their own backyard that often inspire the most. Guys like Chris Dahl-Bredine, who built an experimental aircraft in his garage in order to bring a new perspective to his life & creative vision. There isn’t much glamour in this type of exploration. No sponsors footing the bill. Just hard work, cold mornings & sometimes a bit of duct tape. Part cowboy, part photographer, part mechanic, Chris’ work blends a blue collar work ethic with a special eye for landscapes and the interconnectedness of it all.
Associated Press via The Guardian:
The land weather station closest to the North Pole, at the tip of Greenland, spent more than 60 hours above freezing in February. Before this year, scientists had seen the temperature there rise above freezing in February only twice before, and then extremely briefly. Last month’s record-high temperatures have been more like those typical of May, said Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute.
Of nearly three dozen different Arctic weather stations, 15 of them were at least 10F (5.6C) above normal for the winter.
More:
North Pole thaws mid-winter as temperatures smash records in the Arctic – CBC
Ben Page:
Self-shot and edited whilst cycling around the world, this short film charts my winter journey into the Canadian Arctic as I completed my bike ride up the American continent. Compelled by Jack London’s assertion, that ‘any man who is a man can travel alone’, I sought an adventure of perfect solitude. Yet, as I came to realise, the harsh truths of travelling in such a formidable environment were a long way from the romantic images I’d held of this land. The Frozen Road is an honest reflection on my solo trip; of the wonder, terror and frustration I experienced when riding through the unforgiving emptiness of one of the world’s ‘last great wildernesses’.
–
Notable awards for the film:
‘Special Jury Mention’ – Banff Mountain Film Festival
‘Best Director’ – Bilbao Mendi Film Festival
‘Spirit of Adventure’ – 5Point Film Festival
‘Best Adventure Film’ – New York WILD
‘Best Exploration and Adventure Film’ – Fort William Mountain Film FestivalFeaturing in the Banff World Tour 2018
To this day, there is no record of anyone reaching the North Pole under their own power, without resupply, in winter.
And
English explorers Alex Hibbert, George Bullard, and James Wheeldon want to meet the challenge, and have been preparing for the journey in the Yellowknife area. They’re hoping to set out for the North Pole this fall.
All are veteran explorers — Hibbert and Bullard set a world record for the longest unsupported traverse of Greenland in 2008, while Wheeldon and Hibbert spent a winter together in northern Greenland. But they have never worked together as a trio.
Follow Alex Hibbert and George Bullard on Twitter.
Wall building last night as the wind picked up.
Shovelling keeps you warm!#canada #north #travel #adventure #sunset #winter #tent #camping #color #colour #nwt pic.twitter.com/jxiXELYFte
— Alex Hibbert (@alexhibbert) February 10, 2018
Ada Blackjack was barely five feet tall and 100 pounds and lacked any wilderness skills. Left alone in the arctic, she survived by teaching herself to hunt and trap, pick roots, haul wood, make her own clothing, and avoid hungry polar bears.
Kate Siber, writing in Outside Magazine:
Except for the polar bears, a corpse, and a small house cat named Vic, Ada Blackjack found herself alone on Wrangel Island in late June 1923. Nearly two years had passed since a schooner dropped her off with four young white explorers who intended to claim the Arctic isle for the British.
Blackjack, a petite 23-year-old Inupiaq woman, had come along as a seamstress. Her job was to sew foul-weather clothing out of animal hides so the men could survive the northern winters. The team was planning to live off six months’ worth of supplies and local game before being relieved a year later with a new crew. But when a ship didn’t show up as promised in the summer of 1922, the expedition turned desperate. Three men went for help by dogsled over the ocean ice, some 100 miles south to Siberia, leaving Blackjack on her own to care for the remaining expedition member, Lorne Knight, who was bedridden with scurvy.
The 1902 footage shows disorganized and somewhat unruly crew on the failed William Ziegler expedition to the arctic. It was the first time National Geographic did a field documentary. The 42-man team were attempting to be the first to reach the North Pole.
© 2021 Robert Vinet
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑