Just spotted this arcticle in Geographical (the magazine of the RGS), it's an amazing feat.
"While the British media has recently been focused on various polar re-enactments and races, two Swedish adventurers have quietly compltered an extraordinary winter journey in Siberia that most experts had deemed impossible.
Veteran explorer Mikael Strandberg and relative newcomer Johan Ivarsson left the village of Kulu at the end of July 2004 and paddled for a month - living off the land and fighting their way through walls of mosquitoes - before reaching the Kolyma river. Another six weeks of paddling saw the duo arrive at the settlement of Zyryanka just as ice began choking the Kolyma.
After waiting for temperatures to drop sufficiently to make ski-travel possible, Strandberg and Ivarsson then set off into the legendary Siberian winter. At -30 C, their broadcast-quality video camera died. At -42 C, the glue holding the synthetic skins to the base of their skis dried up. At -57 C, their metal ski bindings exploded. Almost nine months after setting out, the pair reached the mouth of the Kolyma river, having travelled a total distance of 3,000 kilometres.
Strandberg and Ivarsson's epic journey was motivated by a desire to record the way of life of indigenous people such as the Chukchis, Evenks, Yakuts and Yagahirs who live along the banks of the Kolyma. Speaking to Geographical, Strandberg was at pains to describe the honesty and integrity of the people he met. "One man spent two weeks snowmobiling across the tundra to explain that his wife had been mistaken when she told us that it took 40 reindeer skins to make a yurangi (a Chukchi tent)," said Strandberg."In fact, it was 75.""
"While the British media has recently been focused on various polar re-enactments and races, two Swedish adventurers have quietly compltered an extraordinary winter journey in Siberia that most experts had deemed impossible.
Veteran explorer Mikael Strandberg and relative newcomer Johan Ivarsson left the village of Kulu at the end of July 2004 and paddled for a month - living off the land and fighting their way through walls of mosquitoes - before reaching the Kolyma river. Another six weeks of paddling saw the duo arrive at the settlement of Zyryanka just as ice began choking the Kolyma.
After waiting for temperatures to drop sufficiently to make ski-travel possible, Strandberg and Ivarsson then set off into the legendary Siberian winter. At -30 C, their broadcast-quality video camera died. At -42 C, the glue holding the synthetic skins to the base of their skis dried up. At -57 C, their metal ski bindings exploded. Almost nine months after setting out, the pair reached the mouth of the Kolyma river, having travelled a total distance of 3,000 kilometres.
Strandberg and Ivarsson's epic journey was motivated by a desire to record the way of life of indigenous people such as the Chukchis, Evenks, Yakuts and Yagahirs who live along the banks of the Kolyma. Speaking to Geographical, Strandberg was at pains to describe the honesty and integrity of the people he met. "One man spent two weeks snowmobiling across the tundra to explain that his wife had been mistaken when she told us that it took 40 reindeer skins to make a yurangi (a Chukchi tent)," said Strandberg."In fact, it was 75.""
