All news: March 2011

They met in the spring of 2006, when the Dutchman Harry Kikstra worked as a guide in the Everest expedition of 7 Summits Club, and the Argentine Ivana Coria drove by on a bicycle. Cheerful thing: she drove from Malaysia to India, through Tibet, is one. Young and beautiful! In short, Harry was awarded for his wretched season. For the Dutch began a new life ... maybe more suitable for him. After some time, Harry and Ivana went together on Kilimanjaro. Then go on an epic trip from the north of North Amenrica to the south of South America, at more than 2 years. Good test of compatibility before the wedding!

As usual a great site: 

http://worldonabike.com/

Maybe Harry simply has no other shirts, but most likely he's just a proud member of our club

Ivana Corea is now 33 years old and she grew up in a friendly Argentinean family. Harry - 39 years, a typical new European intellectual, who grew up already in the computer era. He is a programmer, writer, photographer, sometimes mountain guide. His brainchild site 7summits.com was very important for us at the beginning of our work.

We wish the newlyweds a long and happy life together!

Understanding and complementing!

We wish to Harry to become a model father ! And to spend more time on affairs, earnings money, together with 7 Summits Club as usual.

Two new cross-country vehicles named “Polyus” (Eng. “North Pole”) are being built and tested during 2008-2010. In February of 2011 a team of 6-8 explorers on advanced cross-country vehicles will start the route from Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago to to the North Pole - the most difficult stage of the expedition.

At the North Pole the expedition will meet members of the International Action “Ecology of Planet” dedicated to Global Climate Change, members of the Polar drifting station “North Pole – 2011”, members of the Organizing Committee, and representatives of the expedition’s partners, sponsors, and Russian and worldwide media to highlight the project. The expedition plans to hold the first Arctic Press Conference in the North Pole’s history .

From the North Pole the travelers will go to Canada. On the Canadian Arctic archipelago, the route will pass from Ward Hunt island to Eurika and further down to Resolute Bay (Magnetic North Pole), where the third stage of expedition will be completed.

Fresh information from Expedition 'Polar Ring 2011': Mar 2

The scheduled for yesterday flight from Vorkuta has took place. Two airplanes have successfully delivered the polar explorers and equipment to the island Sredny. The main task now is to assemble all-terrain vehicles and to get to the start point. Too much time had been lost in Vorkuta waiting for a favorable weather. Mechanics assigned themselves only three days to assemble the all-terrain vehicles. It is an extremely short time. There is no time for communication with the continent. Work is humming.

Hi everybody ! Just today, March 2, we descended into Chalten after a difficult eight-day passage to Glacier fields of Patagonia. All participants are healthy and happy, they bring home lots of new impressions and beautiful photos. We'll be waiting for photo gallery from our photographer Ivan Lukasiewicz. It will be ready in the middle of March.

Briefly about the expedition: the weather was good only in the first 2 days, and the rest of the rain came down with a strong wind. This, however, did not prevent us to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Fitzroy, the endless expanse of ice. We stayed at the base camp at

the western face of Cerro Torre, broke under heavy wind to shelters near the saddle del Viento, slept under a sprawling relic trees. And finally, tomorrow we will enjoy the falling blue ice of the glacier Perito Moreno in Calafate.

And yet we do not forget about the delicious local beer and, of course, Argentine wine. Photos - in the near letter, when we will be in civilization.

With the fiery Argentinian greetings. Luba

Despite recent terrorist attacks near Elbrus Mountain in the North Caucasus, plans to establish a tourist industry in the region remain intact, even though tourists are currently banned from the region during a counter-terrorist operation.

Tourist cluster

A special law providing tax breaks for the tourist cluster in North Caucasus has been discussed at a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev’s aide Akrady Dvorkovich, Vedomosti reported. The law could be accepted before the end of the year.

Five zones in the region are part of a single tourist cluster Vysota 5642 (height) in Karachayevo-Cherkessiya, Kabardino-Balkariya, North Ossetia, Dagestan, Krasnoyarsk region and Adygea. The resorts, aimed at bringing in income and jobs to the ailing region, will have a total budget of 451.4 billion roubles, 86.7 per cent will be attracted through private investors.

The Skolkovo of the Caucasus

The resort organisation suggested removing all taxes apart from VAT for the participants of the scheme for ten years, as well as fast-tracking bureaucratic and land paperwork.

The company will have to follow up the proposal with finance ministry, but Dvorkovich assumes that there should be no problems for tax breaks similar to Skolkovo’s.

In the innovation centre investors are exempt from profit and property tax, and insurance is at 14 per cent. The resorts will receive the land for free, and will then have the right to rent it out to investors for 49 years.

Terrorists fenced off

With security as the main concern in a region often hit by terrorist attacks, the tourist cluster recognise that it is an issue they will have to address.

There were also calls to build a three metres fence around the resorts to ensure the guests’ safety in the volatile region.

However, that suggestion was deemed excessive, and law enforcement were tasked with developing constructive safety measures in the cluster and the region overall.

Sources in president’s administration say there may be a clause about safety issues in the region in the law.

Cameras to protect from attacks

The fence will also ruin the face of the resort and it could be climbed over, president of Gorimpeks group and co-owner of Krasny Shtorm security holding Viktor Volikov told Vedomosti.

In order to fight terrorist attacks Volikov suggest surveillance. It would be much more effective to have surveillance stations along the tramway that would monitor data from video cameras set up on every support.

However, safety issues for locals have to be solved before any tourists should be allowed to go there, according to head of Public chamber expert group on North Caucasus Kaloi Akhilgov.

And for this law enforcement has to work better to understand the reasons for the sudden surge of violence in Kabardino-Balkaria, where it has been relatively quiet for many years.