Polar explorers Dixie Dansercoer and Sam Deltour wisely decided recently to stop with their current route of the Antarctic ICE Expedition and re-commence their expedition with a new route.

Widespread and enormously high sastrugi (rigid snow and ice formations) and a strong headwind have made it impossible for Sam and Dixie to use their kite system in order to achieve their planned 60 to 80 kilometers per day in the direction of the South Pole. The size and scope of the sastrugi are a result of immense “super storms” with wind speeds of more than 160 km/hour which pummeled the Queen Maud Land region of Antarctica in the recent barren winter months.

Mission

Honouring the 100th anniversary of the Race to the South Pole between Amundsen and Scott and their incredible perseverance.

Amundsen reached the South Pole on 14 Dec 1911 by dogsled and skis and made the return journey in a total of 99 days and over a distance of 2993 km. Scott, on the other hand, used pony’s to reach the Pole and arrived there a little over a month later, on 17 Jan 1912 , but perished with his team of 3 on the return trip.

Main targets

• Pioneering a new expedition route in Antarctica with an itinerary based on the direction of the wind (circular anti-clockwise motion)
• Raising the bar of sportive accomplishment of long haul Antarctic expeditions. Longest supported expedition so far is The International Trans Antarctic expedition from 1990, covering 3741 miles (5835 km) in 220 days. The longest unsupported expedition is 4808 km in 90 days by Rune Gjeldnes.
• Scientific study of the catabatic winds in cooperation with a number of universities and meteorological institutes
• Supporting Educational programs promoting environmental awareness 

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I then decide to join my friend Ivan (Freeairadventures.com), who offers Snowkiting camps in Sweden. For some time he had been telling me about a small expedition that he wanted to achieve over the mountains of the Härjedalen region, more specifically to the mythical Helags (1800m of altitude, with its glacier, the first one South of the Polar Circle). The deal with nordic mountains is not about altitude…but mostly about their access, as weather there is often extreme and highly changeable.

Ivan has planned a journey of 130km (straight line), during 4 days minimum, based on optimistic weather forecasts. But we already know that we will have to adapt to numerous changes.

We start on April 1st around midday from Ramundberget ski resort. In order to get the kites up, we first need to walk up a 400m hill through the forest and reach the plateau. But our 40kg of equipment (per person) spread over two sleds, will remind us the harsh reality of gravity. … After a good sweat on touring skis, trees start to clear up. Excellent visibility, clear blue sky …. but gusts up to 1m / s … We try nevertheless to progress with the kites (9,5m²), but with such little wind it is too difficult to move forward. After 3-4km mostly walking, we decide to prepare our camp for the night, as a storm is announced with gusts of 20m / s.

Video:

Between Snow & Sky experience from Ivan Guidobaldi on Vimeo.

At nightfall, temperature drops quickly around -10 ° C. The tent is securely stowed, and we built a snow wall toward south east from which direction the bad weather is due to come. Wrapped in our warm down jackets, we enjoy a meal under the stars before reaching our sleeping bags.

In the middle of the night, we are woken up by the wind shaking the tent. It seems that heavy snow or rain is mingled with bursts. But nothing strong to worry about, so we get back to sleep.

Saturday, April 2nd: the tent is surrounded by a thick fog. The wind can still be felt behind our snow wall. The answer to our question : yes, it has rained last night, which is not the most pleasant thing in the morning. Indeed, when camping in winter, it’s better to have some dry and cold than a damp atmosphere, whether for clothing or equipment (tent, sleeping bags, etc. ..)

All our stuff are quickly packed on the sleds. Despite poor visibility, we decide to move forward. Anyway, we have marked the points on our GPS in order not to get losts. For safety reasons, we choose not to distance ourselves from the only snowmobiles « road ». Although we don’t see that many people here, in case of an accident, we would be easier to spot.

Wind speed exceeds 10m / s. On a pretty hard snow, we are moving cautiously in its direction, which does not make things easier. Ivan uses his MontanaVI 7m while I opt for ApexIII 7.5 m². We would have preferred to move sideways, but let’s not be too difficult: at least it works! On top of a hill, visibility seems to be improving toward North … allowing us to see the next 20 km … A good thing? Not really. In the distance, the Helags mountains, whose head is caught in the clouds, appear in front of us.

Between Helags and us, a vast plain visibly ravaged by numerous winter storms, leaving innumerable black spots of earth and rock. I confess I have to pause my kite for a bit, just the time to realize where we are going. It feels like being thrown into the lion’s den with no real possibility of return (against the wind), and without knowing how the weather will evolve in the coming hours … But Ivan feels the same stress, which reassures me: only the unconscious ones are not afraid!  This ground commands respect, for sure. Anyway, if the weather deteriorates, we will shelter under the tent with a cup of tea!

As we move forward on the plateau between hills and canyons, the wind is really unstable, sometimes falling to zero for several seconds before rising even stronger. It even turns around 180° … without explanation. Aerology is definitely a very complex science … Anyway, we go on through kite sessions, waiting periods and walking.

After 20km, the first decision requires a change of plan: The wind does not allow us to keep going toward our original destination (Sylarna mountains), at least not safely. So we decide to go around the mountain to the East of Helags, rather than to the West, and join the Fjälstation (shelter) at the foot of its northern face. The day was long and tiring, I begin to feel the cold … it is gray and the weather forecast posted at the shelter is contradictory. Motivation is not at the top … so it’s time to get our secret weapon out: the Chilean wine pack, carefully stored at the bottom of the sled! Between a French and an Italian, it’s the least we can do ….

The next night, we will not sleep much… Although the tent is strongly anchored to the ground, it slaps, shakes, crashes over our heads with every gust … The refuge’s anemometer recorded gusts over 100km / h. One only thing to do: dive your head into the sleeping bag … and wait.

The next morning, we are woken up by sunlight through the tent. A quick glance through the unzipped door confirms the good news : clear blue sky ! The northern cliff of Helags is standing in front of us, dark, frozen, massive. At the top, torn clouds indicate that winds are still very tempetuous. But down here so far, everything’s quiet. Breakfast swalowed, we are quickly packing up our gears for the day. No heavy sleds ! We will try to hike up the north face with our touring skis, as high as possible. Our goal is to reach the bottom of the summit ridge, and see from there how conditions are.

Skinning up is quite easy. The slope isn’t too steep, but snow is very icy and many rocks are sticking out. Looking north, the landscape is breathtaking : this area is definitely big and wild. We have brought each a snowkite and a speedflying wing, which makes our bags quite heavy. We can now see the glacier entirely at the bottom of the massive cliff. It does look and feel like being at 4000m in the Alps, even though we are below 2000… One again, altitude is nothing here…

Just before reaching the lower part of the summit ridge, we are caught into some clouds coming from the South. Wind is still strong (10m/s) so we decide not to go higher, but rather south to see if we can take of from there. Indeed, Ivan really wants to fly : taking of from Helags with his Bobcat 18m is one of his dreams… We find a small area where snow seems « cleaner » (no rocks or ice bits sticking out) and properly orientated facing the wind. So Ivan decides to go for it… His take of ends up being tricky with skis, as the wind is pulling him backward. I have to push him with all my strenght in order to throw him into the slope, before he can get speed and lift up in the air. A few seconds later…. he’s gone ! 

I am now alone up there. So after a quick look around, I decide to keep my speedwing in the bag for safety. The south face looks quite clean with enough snow, so I decide to launch myself on skis. It quickly becomes even better than expected, as the snow has softened on the surface, letting me draw some nice curves at full speed.  The view is amazing now that all clouds have gone away, especially looking West toward the pic of Predikstolen. I am enjoying this moment so much : skiing down this mountain on my own is giving me such a feeling of freedom !

At the bottom, it’s another world. No wind at all. Wet snow and heavy sunshine. There must be a difference of 20°C with the top of the mountain. Ivan is standing there wearing only a T-shirt, packing his speedwing, with a large smile on his face. He looks as happy as me after his descent, even though we did not play with the same « toys » 

With a true motivation, we are starting to skin up again on the South face, hoping to get some wind and our kites out. After 300m of hard hiking in the sun, the brise comes back to our hears… Our HQ MontanasVI 9,5m are starting to jiggle in the bags, asking to get out and pull us toward the summit. Again, we are so amazed by the power of our kites which gently help us ski up the hill. Over the fact that it is probably a « première » on this remote mountains, having such a wide open landscape below makes us feel like kiting into the sky.

Within a few minutes, we are back at the bottom of the summit ridge. The wind has dropped, temperature is fine, so we enjoy the views one last time before skiing back down to the Fjälstation, this time on the north face.

What a day ! What an experience ! From ski touring, to speedflying, snowkiting and skiing… with 2 ascents of Helags within a few hours… It is still hard for us to realize what we have just done, but above all, how lucky we were with the weather. Thank you Helags !

We could stop there, tired and happy… but NO ! Down at the refuge, the wind is blowing strong enough for us to start our journey back. This is a chance we cannot miss… as pulling 40kg of sleds along 30km isn’t a great perspective.

It is 5pmand here we are, on the road again. During 2 hours, we are tacking up wind toward the South. But soon before sunset, Eole decides that it is time for us to set up our camp, and stops the blowing machine. Good thing, as we are exhausted.

A quiet and cold night (-15°C) seems to be ahead of us. But we are so happy after today, than we don’t feel the cold and stay out for a while, celebrating our experience with pasta carbonara (dried of course) and a few glasses of our Chilean wine. Stars are shinning above us, it’s just perfect.

When I wake up around 7am, the tent is still, covered with a thin layer of ice. Not a good sign… But after only a few minutes, a light brise starts coming from South West. So we are starting our long journey upwind toward Ramundberget, sometimes walking uphill as the wind isn’t strong enough. Slowly, it seems to rise, until it gets to a moderate strenght. In the distance, we can already see a large band of dark clouds coming in our direction. After 4 days in the wild, the thought of spending another night in the storm under our tent isn’t really pleasant… We are then pushing harder on the skis in order to tack even more efficiently, looking for the best route up wind, in the middle of the rocks. We really want to reach the car before nightfall.

We reach our camp of the first night in the middle of the afternoon. We are more or less 3 kilometers from Ramundberget. Stress is behind us. So we decide to drop the sleds for a little while, and celebrate this last day with a little « freestyle » sessions and a few jumps in the air. The last descent through the forest with the sleds is quite acrobatic, but we manage to reach the carpark before 4pm. Our GPS indicates that we have been kiting over 80km since this morning… it was definitely not easy to tack upwind between the rocks ! In total, we have kited over a distance of 130km minimum, after 4 days on the plateaus.

We stop at a Pub in Funäsdalen and enjoy a well deserved local beer. I can see on Ivan’s face how tired he is, but I know I’m not better ! We are talking loads about this experience : pleasure, emotions, sharing, stress and even fear sometimes… but what comes out first for both of us is the respect for this environment, where even trees don’t grow…

Helags welcomed us and was rather lenient with us … Thanks.

Check out their Website (Text and Pictures taken from the Source below)

www.freeairadventure.com

www.flymountainsnowkite.com

The 67 day journey travelled a straight line distance of 3120 kms (total distance 4260 kms) on a route that had never been completed before, with the team carrying all their supplies for the journey. The trio endured difficult conditions throughout, primarily from head winds or little winds, together with swathes of glacial melt water and numerous crevasses on the final leg.

Travelling up to 20-40km on occasions and reaching great speeds on flagged (safe zones) sea ice roads to nearby locations, it is the best kiting I have ever experienced.

With the harsh weather conditions and sub zero temperatures of Antarctica Safety is your number one concern, especially with recreational outdoor activities and sports. But still with all the protective safety clothing and gloves it is real easy to set up your kite/lines & bar outside and ready to get going within a short time.

Read the whole story: Peter Lynn

Check out the amazing archivement of Michael and Cornelius who just managed to cross Greenland from south to north using Ozone Snowkites. After the Pittark Team made the same trip last year it seems that more and more expeditions are following them.

Our congratulations to Michael and Cornelius!

We are wondering what comes next?

Read on for their report below …

We are now back in France since some time and the expedition seems already far away. Still we only slowly realize that we actually made it. A dream has come true for us!

We have crossed Greenland from south to north, 2240 km over the icecap from Qaleraligd Fjord close to Narsaq all the way up to Bowdoin Fjord and Qaanaaq. During the whole trip we only walked for 60 km – all the rest was covered using the wind with our Ozone kites and one additional skisail.

Thanks to the kites we were able to cover 2215 km sea level to sea level in only 29 days and 5 h. And Narsaq to Qaanaaq in 31 days. Being lucky with our choices for the access to and the exit from the icecap, we were able to do the whole trip without further assistance, except boat transport from Narsaq to the starting point. And of course except the cup of tea offered by Lou and Mark when we met them as well as a finnish and a German expedition at Day 2 – it would have been a pity miss this one.

Long distance kiting is a pleasant way to travel on snow. The incredible power of the kites made us completely forget the weight of our pulks until we had to haul them again ourselves at the end. And it made us forget how far it actually is. We forgot the time: once beyond the arctic circle it was the wind that ruled our rythm. Only when our shadow had again nearly completed a full tour of us, we realize that an other day had passed.

We enjoyed the exotic pleasure to ski directly into the huge low sun – right north of us. Or in streams of driving snow with an orange glow in the low light. Or through a white ocean of frozen waves. Or just into white clouds of an endless nothing. Or through a dream of dry powder….

We had a good time out there kiting!

Michael Charavin & Cornelius Strohm for “Wings over Greenland”

Article: Wings over Greenland

Hardy Brandstötter was thefirst Snowkiter who tried to cross the Ice of the Baikalseain Sybiria. On March, 27th his journey started as a spectecular Snowkite Adventure with a solo run through 1200km Ice and Snow.

Find below his review of the Solo crossing of Syberia:

Finally I was ready an went on the Tupolev plane to Russia. Along on my side my 80 kg heavy equipment, my only companion for the following weeks.
Reaching Irkutsk via Moscow was quite stressful and in order to actually get to the starting point of the expedition some bribe money had to be paid. Before starting the expetition North of Sverobaykalsk, near Nizhneangarsk I´ve spent some time in listvjanka to do prefilming, training, prepare my gear and check the ice.

Exhausted by the journey I slept the first day like a stone in my little villa – that’s how I named my small Hilleberg tent – at –25C°.

The next day, when I woke up I actually realized that I got to the place I have been dreaming of since years. The unique and mysterious Lake Baikal, in South-East Siberia. Optimal conditions on this day where an invitation to head South and start this exceptional journey on the ice.

Physically I was in best shape. The training hours of the past months did pay off.

Mentally there was a lot going on. On the one hand it was an indescribable and fascinating feeling to be on my own on the Lake Baikal. But on the other hand a feeling of humility outweighed especially in the beginning. The first two days I covered the distance with lowered head. When I was looking up I faced endless space and loneliness. Adding to this I was basically completely on my own, relying only on my gear apart from a security tracking device.

The first two days I could make 140 kilometres mainly by kite. At the beginning I was still very cautious when walking on the ice. I did know that the ice had a thickness of 150cm but sometimes it seemed to be only a few centimetres thin. In this originally volcanic area some warm springs still exist and they can influence the ice thickness. But I could not help it, I had to move in order to reach my goal. After some time the feeling of lonely vastness went by and I sensed absolute freedom and I was floating in my element.

Before the sun set its first rays on the unreal ice formation I was already on my way taking advantage of the morning thermal winds.

I consequently stuck to my resting times of 40 minutes after every 3 hours of exercising to eat and prepare my material. Even though I was sometimes really in the flow and everything went smoothly I had to economize my energy in order to be ready for unexpected difficulties. On average I was 13 hours on tour of which 9 hours were in action. Shutting my eyes in one of the resting times was very risky. One time I snoozed away within seconds and wasted precious time.


After 3 days on relatively flat ice I was suddenly faced with ice barriers. The incredible masses of ice on this lake are in permanent movement. The sound of cracking and crunching ice accompanied me the whole time. Sometimes there was even loud rumbling and a new gap emerged.

The ice walls on the lake Baikal can reach up to 2 meters and crossing them can become a difficult issue. With the help of my binoculars I was able to find my way through these ice breaks but it was impossible to kite or cross them with my touring skis.

For hours I stumped over these natural barriers, hiking shoes and climbing iron on my feet. Constantly ice plates were breaking underneath my weight and I had to take several breaks, as concentration slowed down fast. Sometimes I was lucky and the barriers were only a few kilometres long and I could continue with the kite. On the fifth day I was again crossing a barrier that seemed to be endlessly.

Mirages made it look like the ending was 10 kilometres away. 12 hours later after ice spikes and plateaus and constantly thundering ice there was still no end in sight. A mental issue! What if the next 300 kilometres the ice is in this condition? 35 kilometres and 14 hours later my feet where finally standing on normal ice again.

This is how it went on and on. Depending on the ground I moved forward by kite, touring skis or climbing iron. Changing permanently. It was possible to kite approximately 70% of the distance. The ice on the Lake Baikal cannot be compared to normal ice. The spiky crystals permanently blunted the best material. Up to three times per day the skis had to be grinded and waxed with Swix.

I faced two highlights one day. One of them was crossing the point near the island Olkhon, the deepest point of the lake (1640 meters) and the other one was meeting the worldwide unique fresh water seals, the Baikalseals near the island Ushkaniy.

A detour of 10 kilometres in order to cross the ice barriers, trying to find a way to the Ushkaniy islands. Unfortunately I failed and had to head south a little disappointed.


The more I came South the warmer it got. Comfortable – 5 C° to – 10 C° depending on the wind, made cooking and sleeping a lot easer.

But also the ice got thinner and thinner and made even more noises. One day a storm coming out of nowhere with nearly 100 km/hr and woke me up at 4 o’clock in the morning. 30 kilometres against the wind was the maximum I could make this day. When the storm weakened and the view got better I had a tremendous view on the border mountain range between the republic of Buryatien and the Mongolian boarder, the Khamar Daban mountains.

The ice got better and I was fortunate with the wind. I reached the end of the Lake Baikal in time and arrived near Kultuk. I already feared it when I was on my way: the further I headed South the warmer it got and the less snow I saw. The air in the Baikal region is extremely dry and rainfall rare. I left my pulka on the ice in Kultuk and hiked with light material up Gramthuka, hoping to find a way over the Tunkinskie Goltsy mountains.

It was impossible to cross and continue the expedition with the sledge through the mountains and the grass. Without the right amount of snow I had no chance.
When coming back to Kultuk I had my first encounter with so called wolf dogs. Five of them surrounded my tent in a circle of 200 meters. Understandable as I was close to the coast.

This evening I was too tired to head out onto the ice and I had to accept the fact that I will not be on my own this night. I tried to observe them until nightfall. But I could spend quite a quiet night in my tent.


I went back near Listvjanka, my new goal. I enjoyed the remaining time on the ice as the journey was soon coming to an end.


Summarizing I covered a distance of 1.080 kilometres ( the linear distance was 890 km) with every possible condition. Temperatures slightly over 0 C° down to minus 25 C°, wind from 0 km/h up to more than 100 km/h, constantly changing ice conditions and interesting situations that had to be managed.
7 kilos of body weight less I started the trip back to Austria only to find out it will be at least as difficult as getting here. A little melancholy came up having to leave the great Baikal.


Had I had a different goal and more food I think I could have managed to spend weeks on my sledge exploring this magic place on our planet.
This article can only give a bit of insight of this fascinating and indescribable region around the lake Baikal.
I for my part have discovered another exceptional part of our planet.

However the next project is already slumbering within me…

Article: Stormrider.at

There were many inspirations for this expedition, but first and foremost was a trip up to the Wrangell-St.Elias Mountains the year before which redefined my idea of mountains. As a skier visiting this area for the first time, it is like a sailor going from his local lake to the Pacific Ocean-the scale is too vast to comprehend and it makes other mountain ranges almost seem irrelevant. Once you have skied there, you have to go back.

Another inspiration is that aside from endless mountains, the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve (WSE NPP) also has some of the largest icefields in North America, which make for great kiteskiing. Unlike glaciers which are steeper and thus more crevassed, an icefield is more like a frozen reservoir of ice. There are a few cracks here and there, but for the most part, icefields can be safely navigated at high speed using a kite or in poor visibility, which is a huge safety factor.

Over the past six years, the idea of using kites to access skiable terrain has grown on me as it helps eliminate a major drawback of skiing expeditions, namely immobility due to the massive amounts of weight you need to camp, ski, climb, eat and stay warm. A one-hundred pound load is fairly common for trips like this, which if you are hauling it (perish the thought) means you are limited to about five miles per day of travel by the time you break camp, move and set camp back up again. In contrast, people have traveled 275 miles in a single 24-hour period using kites while dragging heavy loads, which opens up vast new opportunities to access remote, skiable terrain. Another aspect of a kiting/skiing trip which appeals to me is the idea of spreading out your objectives and exploring multiple peaks instead of risking it all on a single objective. And then again, kite skiing is just fun in itself.

The open-ended concept of this trip was to get dropped off on the Bagley Icefield just below Mt. St. Elias right on the US-Canadian border (no customs hassles), then kite west down the Bagley as far as time allowed, skiing peaks along the way and then use a satellite phone to call in our coordinates for a plane pick-up. For the most part, this is what happened, although like most expeditions, it had its share of surprises.

After flying into Anchorage, Ben Ditto and I rented a car and made the five hour drive to the end-of-the-road town of Chitina where we met Lorne Glick and Armond DuBuque who had driven up from Skagway. We met up at the Ultima Thule gear shed where we ended up staying for two days while the weather cleared enough for Paul Claus to fly in and take up 75 miles back up the Chitina River to their family lodge. In a stroke of good fortune, the lodge is a five-acre private in-holding which was grandfathered in when the area officially became a National Park & Preserve. It is only accessible by plane (or a very miserable multiday walk), which is fortunate as three generations of the Claus family are experienced pilots, to say the least.

After a day at the lodge, Paul shuttled us out to the Bagley and dropped us off in the shadow of the 18,008′ Mt. Saint Elias, the second tallest peak in North America where we set up Camp 1. The next day was spent kiting and scouting, including finding a possible ski descent line off of Mt. Huxley. After an early start the next morning, we arrived at the business end of the Mt. Huxley climb/ski and three of us decided to pass on it, much to Lorne’s chagrin. As an alternative, we continued up “The Hump” which is a popular access peak to Mt. St. Elias, and an excellent 6,820′ ski descent.

The next day we were able to move camp under kite power, which is a sure way to spoil yourself as you will never want to hump loads again on foot. We made it about three miles before the wind shut down, but it was enough to refresh our skiing objectives for a few days and we were able to ski some nearby peaks, including a beauty which we retreated off of due to avalanche danger.

A day later, with no wind, we tromped another three miles down the icefield and set up Camp 3. After we all skied a nice little pyramid peak in the morning, Lorne and Armond, who were both experienced kiters with large kites, were able to have an excellent light-air afternoon session and put in many, many miles. Praying for a windy travel day soon, perhaps we prayed too hard…

The next day started out with light, swirly winds, but once we hooked into the main flow, it was an exciting ride. Three of us were on Ozone kites and within half an hour I was getting lifted in the air, slammed sideways and had lost sight of everyone else. Then the visibility shut down. After regrouping and downsizing our kites (from a 12m Manta to an 8m Access for me), we set off again and went 12.8 miles until the kites mysteriously fluttered, backed around and dropped to the ground in a dead calm. I guess it was time to set up Camp 4.

After skiing a nearby peak the next day, we returned to camp and a steadily increasing snow storm. By sunset, the winds were steady at 35mph with gusts on top of that and it was snowing heavily. We battened down the tents, crawled in and hoped everything would survive the night, and aside from a few items getting buried, most of it did.

With wind and new snow, hopes were high for pumping out some kiting mileage the next day. What none of us anticipated was that the new snow was going to be the consistency of glue, and although we were fairly well powered up on our kites, it was like dragging cement boat anchors behind you to go anywhere! With literally hundreds of pounds of resistance, each power-stroke of the kite only moved us a few feet forward before the sled augured in and came to a stop. Mine had so much resistance it ended up snapping my shock absorber bungee cord and leaving a trench which looked like the San Andreas Fault behind me. More wind would have been nice, but instead it shut down again and put us out of our slow-motion misery in time to set up our final camp, number 5.

Being a maritime snowpack close to the ocean, the snow consolidated by the next day enough for Lorne and Armond to hook into some light winds with their big kites and go out for a long day of kite touring. Ben and I were shut down on the kiting due to our smaller kites and spastic foil flying skills, so instead we skied a nearby peak, took some photo and made it back to camp just as we had a visit from Paul Claus and his son Jay. Paul was heading down to Georgia and said we could either fly out with him in a few hours, or take our chances with a later pick-up and the weather. We had traveled a less than stunning 40 miles down the icefield (with many, many more miles to go), so we decided to call it quits and head back with him.

We may have been cursed with weather that was almost too good (clear, sunny and calm for the most part), but the Bagley didn’t seem like an overly windy zone compared to Patagonia, Baffin Island or Antarctica. However, what it may have lacked in wind during our trip, it more than made up for with scenery!

The flight back to Chitina was uneventful. Once we arrived, we said our thanks and goodbyes to Paul and Donna Claus, then in turn to Lorne and Armond who were driving back to Skagway. Ben and I kept the comical Dodge (low) Caliper rental car for another week and went over to nearby Thompson Pass for a dose of Valdez skiing action.

Like almost any trip to Alaska, it wasn’t quite what we had anticipated, but the people we met and experiences we had along the way made it a classic adventure in the wilds of AK.

Andrew McLean, May 2008

Article: Bagley Icefield Expedition 2008 including Pictures

Hardy Brandstötter, will be the first Snowkiter who tries to cross the Ice of the Baikalseain Sybiria. On March, 27th his journey starts as a spectecular Snowkite Adventure with a solo run through 1200km Ice and Snow. Some description in his own words from Stormriders.at below.

In spring 2006 after reading some books about the lakeBaikal, I came up with the idea of a snowkite project. 2 years later I am just about to start the probably most spectacular snowkite adventure that has ever taken place.

As I am very busy in my job it was quite a challenge to spare some time for the planning of the project. A few flights, many meetings and quite some kilometers in the car as well as a lot of testing had taken place since then.

Starting point of the project is the northernmost point of the lakeBaikal in Siberia, near Nizhneangarsk. I will get to this point via helicopter starting from Irkutsk. The route takes me on a central line 800 km, passing the island Ushkaniy and crossing the deepest and richest lake in the world the lakeBaikal, ending in Kultuk.

Depending on weather conditions and if wind is north easterly I will try to cover these 800 km under 12 days. Of course the goal is primary not time. A rest period of 1 hour after 3 hours of exercising are mandatory under all circumstances. I will repeat this schedule three times per day therefore move forward nine hours per day in order to arrive safely and within the timeframe at the south western end of Baikal Nur, as the lake is called by the local Burjats.

If wind conditions are either south or west I will have to cross the lake which elongates the route around 25%. And if there is not enough or no wind at all to kite I will have to pull the sledge with my touring skis. Ideally I can use the wind and save power for the most difficult part in the south Siberian mountains.

South Siberian mountains:

The most difficult part of the trip is after leaving the lakeBaikal which takes me through the 180 km valley to the submontane of the Goltsy mountains. The actual snow amount is very good which rather hindering for my purpose as better wind conditions are needed for moving me and my pulka through the snow.

After the crossing of the valley I will head north and overcome two mountain passes underneath the summit Zadoy (1.500 over sea level) and Dabady (2.100m over sea level). Due to the orientation of the mountains and its steep slope it will be impossible to kite and 120 km will have to be hiked.

By this time I will have approx. 6 kg less body weight but also the sledge will be lighter as petrol and foodis used up and should have around 18kg less than at the start. Therefore less power but also less force needed.
After this crossing I will head back north east along the river Kitoy, passing Butukhey until reaching my final destination the small village Oktyabrsky western of Angarsk.
The duration of the project will be at around 3 weeks if over 70% of the wind conditions are northeastern. If the wind is southwest or if there is none at all it will take about 4 weeks. 5 weeks is the absolute maximum as petrol and food will not last for any longer.

Navigation:
For navigation a compass, card and sextant will be used.
Out of profound conviction I will not use any GPS, satellite telephone or other electronic equipment. Only one emergency transmitter signal which will be valid within this timeframe on a determined frequency for safety reasons. Should I activate it, I can be located and will be flown out within 10-15 hours.

The sledge (Pulka):
Width: 90cm; length; 182cm; height 40cm
Material: GFK with double concave and two rails out of PVC
Weight: 17 kg incl. Cover and stacks

The sledge has an inner isolation. If necessary I can sleep in it fully dressed, this is a requirement when the outer circumstances make it impossible to set up my tent or when I loose the tent in a storm. The content of the sledge can be filled into PVC bags and will be fixed on the ice with pickles. The sledge will be pulled with a thorax belt and stacks connected to it.

Ski:
Ultralight 160cm Atomic touring skis with skins.
The skis are extremely waxed with Swix Waxs
800 km on the ice can make the skis very dull – I will try to avoid this with the Swix Flur products. Carbon Swix touring ski sticks.

Kites & accessories:
JN Semi Freddo in sizes: 12m², 9m² and 6m²
One 54cm bar + spare chickenloop, spare line set as well as sewing and gluing material

Tent & accessories:
Ultralight(1,9 Kg) Hilleberg double wall tent with 220 x 110 cm sleeping place.
Goose down isoluation, air mattress. Pickles for ice and snow.
The only tent stick used for the Hilleberg tent will also be used when sleeping in the sledge.

Clothes:
Mostly Helly Hansen and Ulvang products. Some are individual products.
Helly Hansen frostprotection coat with down lining, HH down pants. I will only carry 2 differente clothing sets. Goose down, woll and goretex are the main materials used.

Food:
The biggest part of the carried weight is the food needed for the trip. Different kind of food like dry food, astronaut nutrition, dried fruits, dried meat, fats are essential. Most important is the mixture between sugars, fats and carbohydrates, etc. which can be prepared with the petrol cooker.

Video interview in german kindly supported by BTV under:

BTV Pre Sibirien: http://www.snowkiting.at/stormrider_web/?page_id=138

Pictures by: www.grab33.com

Article: Stormrider.at

The team consists of a brother and sister; Sarah (21) and Eric McNair-Landry (22) and their good friend Curtis Jones (29). Eric and Sarah grew up in Canada’s north and have been into outdoor activities for as long as they can remember. They learnt how to dog sled at the early age of 10 and soon after started organizing their own camping trips. Eric was the first to pick up kiting and quickly inspired the rest of the family to join in. Soon after discovering this marvelous way of traveling, the family looked into doing polar kiting adventures, testing the idea with the Greenland 2003 “Kites on Ice” expedition. During the winter of 2004/05, Sarah and Eric took their skills to the next level during the Antarctic “Kites on Ice” expedition, a 2000 km expedition from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole and back. Shortly after this expedition Sarah and Eric returned to Greenland to set the world record for the fastest ice cap crossing at 7 days. In 2006, Sarah joined the Adventure Ecology Mission 1 Top of the World expedition, successfully reaching the North Pole.

In January 2007 Eric and Sarah won the Outdoor Industries’ Youth Outdoor Idols Award, which recognized their amazing achievements in the field of youth adventures. It was here they discovered their full potential as inspirational youth role models and decided to dedicate the Pittarak Expedition to the cause of inspiring young people to pursue their dreams.

The Pittarak Expedition will reach youth through the expedition web site’s live updates and afterwards through schools, public presentations and workshops. During the live updates and school presentations, the team will share their day-to-day experiences, discuss their views on modern exploration, describe the beauty of the Polar Regions as well as discuss a “think for yourself” perspective on climate change.

The Pittarak Expedition is only the start of something much larger. Will Steiger has asked Eric and Sarah to organize a climate change youth expedition to northern Ellesmere Island for 2008. Another Antarctic expedition looms on the horizon. And Eric and Sarah’s dream is to create the Youth Adventure Club, an online resource center to assist youth to pursue their dreams in the world of adventure.