All news: December 2012

This morning, our second group flew to Antarctica. They are: Anatoly Stegney, Vitaly Simonovic, Dmitry Sokov and Alexander Lozhkin. Guide the group Olga Rumyantseva awaits them in Antarctica.

The weather is good, we hope that the return flight will be not delayed. We are waiting for the return of our team Alpari from Antarctica. They have to go back tonight.

I imagine how they want to celebrate the successful completion of the project “7 Summits for 300 days”!

We are waiting!

Alex Abramov from Punto Arenas

We send to all our heartfelt greetings from the country of end of the world! We are moving rapidly across the country and is also rapidly approaching our destination - the ascent on Orizaba. According to our plan - we will climb it on the day the world end :) ... Everything goes according to plan, tequila does not hinder. And even I would say that it helps in moving towards our goal.

On the way from Mexico Cityto La Malinche, we saw the famous volcano Popakatepel

Our  modest hotel

The main goal of our trip - the peak of Orizaba

And this is our goal for acclimatization - La Malinche volcano

Alex Abramov met a new group of the 7 Summits Club inPunta Arenas. They came for the program Climbing Mt. Vinson. The team consists of: Anatoly Stegney, Vitaly Simonovic, Dmitry Sokov and Alexander Lozhkin. Our Guide Olya Rumyantseva awaits them in theAntarctica, at the Union Glacier base..

Today, the company ALE organized a briefing and our team listened all in pure American English. This was the first hard test.

Alex had a friendly conversation with Mike Sharp, co-owner of ALE.

Climber who became a French national hero after making the first ascent of Annapurna.

The Guardian, Friday 14 December 2012

In late 1950, Maurice Herzog lay in the American hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine, on the outskirts ofParis, dictating what would become the bestselling mountaineering book of all time,Annapurna, published the following year. The effort was emotionally exacting, as he revisited every twist and agonising turn of one of the most important Himalayan expeditions in the sport's history – the first ascent of Annapurna, in central Nepal.

Annapurnawas the first mountain over 8,000m to be climbed. Others were higher – such as Everest, the site of British assaults in the 1920s and 30s – but no summits had been reached. Furthermore, the geography of theAnnapurnaregion was little known. Herzog's expedition only settled on it as an objective after first exploring the approaches to a neighbouring 8,000m giant, Dhaulagiri.

The personal cost of this triumph to Herzog, who has died aged 93, was horrific. In reaching the summit in the summer of 1950 with Louis Lachenal, Herzog's hands and feet had been frozen, and doctors had amputated all his fingers and toes. He spent months in hospital recovering from his injuries, plunged in a deep depression. Writing his book was not only cathartic but also sealed his reputation as a dynamic and courageous leader, and helped restore self-respect to postwarFrance.

When Paris Match put a picture of Herzog standing on the summit with the tricolour flying from his ice axe, it broke all previous sales records for the magazine. In January 1951, Marcel Ichac's film of the expedition opened in Paris, with the French president Vincent Auriol in the audience. A month later, another photograph of Herzog – this time gesturing with his ruined hands as he spoke to the film's audience – ran on the cover of Paris Match. "Our number one national hero," was what the magazine called Herzog – while failing to mention Lachenal at all. "Annapurna, to which we had gone empty-handed," Herzog wrote in his book, "was a treasure on which we should live for the rest of our days."

In 1958, Herzog became minister for youth and sport. After France's poor showing in the Rome Olympics in 1960, he was charged by Charles de Gaulle with re-invigorating French sport and inspiring a new generation, something he did to great effect. He was elected mayor of Chamonix in 1968, and headed several enterprises, including the company running the tunnel underMont Blanc. In a 1998 memoir, he recalled suggesting to John F Kennedy the idea of the Peace Corps and meeting the biggest names of his day, including Brigitte Bardot and Juan Perón.

In 1996, Yves Ballu published his revelatory biography of Gaston Rébuffat, one of the Annapurna climbing team, and in the same year Michel Guérin published the diaries of Lachenal, previously expurgated in a 1956 publication by Herzog's brother Gérard after Lachenal's early death, but now restored. These fresh perspectives told a more complex tale of a great enterprise whose image was controlled and exploited for political and personal interests. They cast the leader in an altogether less flattering light. Herzog protested indifference, but in private was bitterly upset.

He was born in Lyon, the eldest of eight children. His father, Robert, an alpinist himself, had served in the French Foreign Legion during the first world war. The family owned a chalet at the foot of the Bossons glacier that flows from Mont Blanc, which sparked Herzog's passion for the mountains.

He passed his baccalaureate in Paris and did a postgraduate course in business studies. Towards the end of the second world war, he fought with French partisans in the Alps, first the Armée Secrète and then the left wing Francs-Tireurs et Partisans. They made him a captain, and Herzog overlooked their affiliations. He received the Croix de Guerre and would cite the example of the resistance in celebrating the "victory" onAnnapurna.

In 1945, he went to work for the tyre manufacturer Kléber-Colombes and continued with his passion for mountaineering asFranceemerged from the horror of occupation.

Later that decade a generation of French alpinists came to the fore, including the guides Rébuffat, Lachenal and Lionel Terray. These three formed the nucleus of the team forAnnapurna, put together by the autocratic Paris-based president of the French Alpine Club, Lucien Devies. They were, however, professionals, and to maintain the amateur ideals of mountaineering, Devies appointed Herzog leader, and added Jean Couzy, an aeronautical engineer, and Marcel Schatz, a physicist. The doctor was Jacques Oudot and Ichac, already a celebrated cinematographer, would shoot the film.

Herzog's climbing record was respectable but not spectacular, and making him leader was a risk. Devies clearly had doubts about whether the guides in particular would toe the line for the greater glory of France. Two days before departing, he made them all swear an oath of allegiance to their leader.

Herzog and his team performed one of the great feats of exploratory mountaineering, trekking up the Kali Gandaki valley to examineDhaulagirifrom the east and north. The mountain was judged, in Terray's phrase, "fiendishly difficult" and so the expedition turned its attention to Annapurna, so far unseen. Just getting a view would prove surprisingly elusive.

By mid-May, the team still hadn't made progress so Herzog called a council of war at their base camp in the village of Tukucha, and with time running out before the monsoon, committed his forces to the Miristi Khola, hoping to get lucky and find a practicable route to the top. Working at extraordinary speed, and after coming to a dead end on the peak's north-west spur, the team rapidly pushed a route and a series of camps up the north face. Terray and Herzog had proved the strongest and best acclimatised, but when the supply chain stalled, Terray gave up his chance for the summit to push supplies to a high camp. Lachenal took his place at camp IV.

Wearing leather boots that offered insufficient insulation, Lachenal was anxious about his feet, not least because losing toes could threaten his livelihood. What would Herzog do, he asked, if he turned around? "My whole being revolted against the idea," he wrote in Annapurna. "I should go on by myself," he told Lachenal. "Then I'll follow you," Lachenal replied.

They reached the summit at 2 pm on 3 June, and while some historians question the validity of the summit photograph, they were close enough. Herzog was in a blithe mood – his spiritual musings were a key part of his book Annapurna's appeal – perhaps boosted by the "pep pills" Oudot had prescribed to keep them going. It was in that frame of mind that soon after they began descending he removed his gloves to open his rucksack and watched "quite stunned" as the gloves slid away down the slope. The mistake would cost him his fingers.

The descent of Annapurna was a protracted and freezing horror. Terray and Rébuffat climbed up to campIV to support them. Terray discovering a frantic Lachenal lying in the snow, desperate to get down to a lower camp so Oudot could do something to save his frozen feet. They spent the following night in a crevasse, confused and lost in a storm. Terray and Rébuffat, hunting for a route in the white-out, suffered agonising snow-blindness.

It would take six weeks for Herzog to make it home, suffering agonies in his hands, by which time his blackened feet were riddled with maggots. His serious climbing was behind him. His book, which has sold more than 11m copies, did not make him rich. The royalties went to French mountaineering, which had funded the expedition.

Herzog married Marie-Pierre de Cossé-Brissac in 1964. They had two children, Laurent and Felicité, and divorced in 1976. He had two more children, Sébastien and Mathias, with his second wife, Elisabeth Gamper, whom he married in 1976.

• Maurice Herzog, mountaineer, born 15 January 1919; died 14 December 2012

Don Striker Named New Superintendent of Denali National Parkand Preserve.

The National Park Service has named Don Striker as Denali National Parkand Preserve's new superintendent.

Striker has been the superintendent atNew River Gorge National River,West Virginia, for the past five years, and brings a strong background in both business and resource management to his new position.

Since 2007, Striker has managed New River Gorge along with the nearby Bluestone National Scenic River and the Gauley River National Recreation Area. The parks annually see more than one million visitors, and include four visitor centers and more than 100 access points.

He has been instrumental in improving relationships with state government and local partners, building a large cadre of volunteers, and managing significant construction projects. Prior to working in West Virginia, Striker served as a special assistant to the Comptroller of the National Park Service, as superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial (South Dakota), as superintendent of Fort Clatsop National Memorial (Oregon), and comptroller at Yellowstone National Park.

"I am deeply humbled to have been asked to serve as the chief steward of one of our country's most spectacular and iconic parks," Striker said. "My wife, Gretchen, and I are excited to be moving toAlaska, a goal we've long held. We are really looking forward to becoming productive partners in our new community." Striker will move to Alaskain January.

NPS Alaska Regional Director Sue Masica said that Striker's accomplishments over more than 15 years with the Service position him well for theDenalijob. "Denali is a complex park, with many major business and resource decisions coming up. Over the next couple of years, the park will be looking at implementing its new road management plan, rebidding the main concession contract and continuing to work on a variety of wildlife issues with the State of Alaska and others. Don brings the talents we need to lead the Service on these issues."

Denali National Park and Preserve is Alaska's most recognized park, hosts more than 400,000 visitors every year, and encompasses more than 6 million acres that includes Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak. Striker replaces Paul Anderson, who retired this fall. Jeff Mow has been the acting superintendent.

Source: http://www.nps.gov/dena/parknews/new-supt.htm

Alaska-permafrost

Hope we can get permission and establish monitoring site at West Buttress!!

We need finalizeDenaliproposal very soon for next summer (June). Idea is that to install (just) temperature sensors on air, ground surface and ground with Iridium based satellite datalogger simmilar like Kilimanjaro setting.

Around 14K Camp (medical Camp) is another candidate (picture below). But steep and narrow open sky for satellite communication…

We try to develop 3D visualization material for 100 years glacier & permafrost history on Kilimanjaro working with Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology of theRussianAcademyof Sciences

http://ffky.edublogs.org/category/alaska-permafrost/

Permafrost book

http://issuu.com/permafrostbook/docs/permafrostbook/99

Kilimanjaro permofrost

The united group Alpari - 7 Summit Club  was taken today from the Vinson base camp to Union Glacier. Now they could relax, waiting for a plane to Punta Arenas. Alex Abramov today arrived in Punta Arenas. He will wait for our heroes and next group. In his plans - to climb some peaks in Bolivia and then to lead a ski-tour to the South Pole. Olga Rumiantseva in Union Glacier will wait for the next group to Vinson.

On December 11, in the International Day of mountains, the team "Alpari on top of the world" - Ludmila Korobeshko Ivan Dusharin and Maxim Shakirov, at 22-32 Moscow time, climbed the top of the Antarctica Mt. Vinson and planted the Alpari flag there!

From a telephone call of Lyudmila Korobeshko:

We climbed up rather quickly, despite of cold and wind. Now we are starting to go down. We congratulate all on successful completion of the project!

According to our calculations, the world speed record for climbing seven summits for women and for a team of three climbers is now 292 days 2 hours and 2 minutes.

This is also the absolute speed record for Russia. Ivan Dusharin - the recordsman of Russiaon age (65).

First press conference of February 8, 2012

Aconcagua. February 23, 2012. 19-30 Moscowtime

Kilimanjaro. March 11, 2012

Everest. May 19, 2012

McKinley. June 30, 2012

Elbrus. September 8, 2012

Kosciusko. November 5, 2012

Vinson December 11, 2012, 22-32 Moscow time.

My calculation: 292 days 2 hours and 2 minutes ..

Today our group reached the High Camp on Mt. Vinson. Tomorrow  they plan to climb the highest peak of Antarctica. Climb of Mt.Vinsonis  it is the final stage of the epic "7 summits in 300 days” for Lyudmila Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin and Maxim Shakirov.  

UAE-based adventurer scales Carstensz Pyramid in Oceania.

DUBAI: The UAE-based adventurer Suzanne Al Houby, a Palestinian, has returned from her latest expedition with another world record as the first Arab woman to scale Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya), the highest mountain in Oceania, peaking at 4,884 metres.

Al Houby is famous for becoming the first Arab woman to climb Mount Everest last year and with this latest climb she has now officially conquered six of the Seven Summits — the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. Compared to previous expeditions, Al Houby has embarked on a pursuit of her goal, Carstensz Pyramid, located inPapua,Indonesia, which offers its own set of unique challenges.

The approach for this climb is known as the most difficult in the world.

The area is extremely inaccessible, with the journey beginning in a multi-hour flight acrossIndonesia, with as many as six stops, before landing on theislandofPapua, where the mountain is located.

From there, Al Houby and the rest of her expedition made a gruelling six-day trek across steep terrain through rainforests, swamps, mud slides and rock walls just to get to the base camp.

The expedition was supported by tribal porters from the Dani tribe, a people who live outside of modern civilisation and who have practised cannibalism well into the 20th century.

During the trek, the expedition had to pay sums of money to tiny villages as they passed through for fear of animosity towards them.

“The weather conditions were really bad because of continuous heavy rains,” says Al Houby.

“We were wet all the time and the rain made steep sections difficult to cross.”

“The continuous deterioration in weather affected the health of some of the climbers.

“This made me develop a nasty lung infection that began to make me weaker each day until we reached the base camp,” she said.

After reaching the base camp and taking a day’s rest, Al Houby pushed through on her attempt to the summit.

“I climbed the vertical rock walls until we were high up on the summit ridge. There we stood in front of one of the highest mountain obstacles in the world: a 12-metre gap between two rock pinnacles with hundreds of metres drop in between.

Along with Al Houby on the expedition was another Arab climber, the Jordanian Mostafa Salameh.

“This was the first time I’ve ever had another Arab climber in the team with me and the camaraderie was just amazing.

“We had a great time and we crossed the most challenging section higher up together,” she said.

Besides being the first and only Arab woman to ever climb Mount Everest, the highest mountain on earth at 8,850 metres, Al Houby was also the first Arab woman to climb Mont Blanc, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Vinson (the highest mountains in Western Europe, Europe, South America and Antarctica), in addition to Kilimanjaro and Toubkal, the highest mountains in Africa and North Africa respectively, amongst others.

The summit of Mt. Everest

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Everest hero Mostafa turns attention to charity and poles hikes

http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/everest-hero-mostafa-turns-attention-to-charity-and-poles-hikes-1-2659648

Mostafa Mahmoud

By David O’Leary

A FORMER city hotel worker who quit his job to climbMount Everesthas become the first Jordanian to scale the highest peaks on each of the world’s continents.

Mostafa Mahmoud Salameh, from Bruntsfield, resigned from his job as food and beverages manager at the Sheraton in 2004 to embark on the life-altering challenge of scaling the world’s highest mountain.

Not content with just reaching the 8850m summit, however, the 42-year old has gone on to complete the Seven Summits challenge and become a Jordanian national hero into the bargain – he has been knighted by the Middle Eastern state.

Last Friday, the Queen Margaret University graduate reached the summit of the Carstenz Pyramid in Indonesia, finishing an eight-year odyssey which has seen him scale Everest along the border of Nepal and Tibet/China; Mount McKinley in Alaska; the Vinson Massif in Antarctica; Aconcagua in Argentina; Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mount Elbrus in Russia.

He said: “It’s a relief to finally complete them all. I head toJordannext week to hand the flag back to the king ofJordan. It was easily the toughest trek I’ve ever done, just getting to the mountain through dense Indonesian jungle was an ordeal.

“It would take us a whole day just to complete 200 metres, there are also about 50 different tribes living in the area and we would have to stop and trade with each one.

“Everest base camp was a walk in the park in comparison.”

He added: “After weeks with no shower, eating rice for breakfast lunch and dinner, I finally made it to the top of a giant, jagged rock, raising the Jordanian flag on the last of my Seven Summits.”

The intrepid explorer still callsEdinburghhome, though, and regularly returns to the city.

He said: “Edinburghis my base and I return every couple of weeks. The next time I’m back I will go to a few schools and give some talks. My wife is pregnant at the moment and we are going to have a second child in four weeks time so this will be my next summit.”

Following the birth of his child, Mostafa will begin training for his next adventure in January and is planning a 60-day hike to the South Pole before flying toNorwayto begin a journey to the North Pole.

He added: “If successful I will become one of only 25 people in the world to complete both the Seven Summits and both poles. My plan is to complete the South Pole in November 2013 and finish the North Pole in April 2014.”

Next April, Mostafa will also lead 20 Jordanian celebrities to Everest base camp to raise more than a million dollars (?625,000) for the King Hussein Cancer Foundation.

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Blind climber receives Hillary grant for Seven Summits

Blind runner Neelusha Memon and helper Olly Marshall finish the Coast to Coast race at Sumner

News Pursuit leads to Hutt drugs, weapon bust Auction decides fate of family's farms Licence suspension rescheduled around tournament Kapiti killing accused appears in court Rare whisky remedy memorable, says doctor Post mortem for burnt-out car death Officers' actions played role in prisoner's death Wellington Santa Run raises cash for kids DOC hikes Kapiti Island fees to increase returns.

Legally blind adventurer Neelusha Memon’s dream of conqueringSouth America’s highest peak is one step closer thanks to a Hillary Expedition Grant.

Today it was announced she was one of seven teams to receive a Hillary grant, which provides funding from Sport New Zealand for Kiwis to undertake outdoor challenges.

The 28-year-old Wellingtonian has set out to summit the seven highest mountains across the seven continents, starting with the 6960m-high Mt Aconcagua.

Ms Memon said she was thrilled to receive the grant, which would help to fund her ascent of the Argentinian mountain with support guide Gavin Lang.

‘‘I didn’t think it would ever really go ahead, based on the fact we couldn’t get funding, so to get this grant is a massive thing for me.’’

The worldwide expedition was a personal challenge for Ms Memon, the ‘‘ultimate test’’ of her physical and mental endurance.

But she was also hoping to set an example for others to follow.

‘‘I’ve got impairments but I’m still able to complete my dreams, with the right support.

‘‘Once they realise it, pretty much everyone is limitless in what they can do.’’

When she was 16, Ms Memon lost 70 per cent of her vision after a post-viral autoimmune response caused her to fall into a four-month coma.

She also lost her sense of balance, and had to learn how to walk, talk and swallow again.

A lifelong fan of the outdoors, Ms Memon has been setting herself adventure challenges since 2010, when she climbed Mt Aspiring in the South Island.

In February this year, she became the first legally blind runner to complete the Coast-to-Coast race.

She hopes people will track her fitness, balance and altitude training as well as the November 2013 ascension of the peak on the Hillary Expedition website, and will be inspired themselves.‘‘I wantNew Zealandto come along on the journey with me, and be part of this – to encourage people to get out in the outdoors.’’

After reaching the summit of Aconcagua, Ms Memon planned to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Carstensz Pyramid,Denali, Vinson and Everest, over the next five years.

THRILL-SEEKERS

- Sarah Wilson will complete a Cook to Cook multi-sport expedition, climbing Mt Cook, cycling to Picton, then kayaking acrossCook Straitin January 2013.

- Brothers Nathan and Nigel Watson will climb 21New Zealandmountains over 2000m in 21 days in February, in theNelsonLakesNational Park.

- In April, Rob Frost, Ben Dare, Andrei van Dusschoten, and Scott Blackford Scheele will attempt to be the first Kiwi team to summit Himalayan peak Anidesha Chuli, also known as the White Wave.

- Kayaking team Jordan Searle, Barny Young and Shannon Mast will make a record-breaking attempt in April for the first kayak descent of the Grand Canyons of theChimbuRiverinPapua New Guinea.

- In May, Mayan Smith-Gobat will free-climb ‘‘The Nose’’ wall inCalifornia’sYosemite Valley, and will try to break the current speed record of 2 hours 26 minutes.

- Christine Burke will attempt to become the firstNew Zealandwoman to reach the summit of both the  Gasherbrum1 and 2 mountains on the Pakistan-China border, in June.

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To be the first sevensummiter in Colombia

Colombian climber Manolo Barrios prepares himself for one of the biggest challenges of his storied career: climbing the tallest mountain inAntarcticaby himself, reported local media on Tuesday.

In 2001, Barrios became one of only four Colombians to ever reach the top ofMount Everest. Such a feat would usually be the peak for any adventurer, but for Barrios it was not enough.

"What now?" Barrios asked after scaling the world's tallest mountain.

The idea of 'The Seven Summits' originated after Barrios and others scaledMount Everest. The idea is simple -- reach the highest point on every continent.

"We climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount McKinley in Alaska, Aconcagua in Chile and Elbrus in Russia. But in my case," said the 55-year-old Barrios, "I need only this mountain [Antarctica's MountVinson] and one in New Guinea."

Located on the Ronne Ice Bank 1,200 miles from the South Pole,MountVinsonis 15,256 feet above sea level.

Barrios plans to climb the ominous peak in December, when the weather can be even more unforgiving than normal. Sunlight shines 24 hours a day and winds can reach speeds of up to 180 miles per hour. In addition to the hurricane winds and the unyielding brightness, Barrios will have to deal with the cold and the solitude.

"It is one thing to talk about it, it is another to live it," as Barrios put it.

If all goes according to plan, Barrios will make it to the top of Mount Vinson, the sixth of his 'Seven Summits', by the end of December and will plant the first Colombian flag onAntarctica.

But as Barrios himself admitted, summiting the mountain is dependent on one thing.

"The mountain will decide when I turn back."

On Everest

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Abkhazia declared a climbing war to Georgia

Mount Aconcagua (6962 m altitude) in Argentina become a theater of a climbing war between Georgians and Abkhazians. December, 20 four Abkhaz mountaineers (led by specially invited to this project famous Swedish explorer Johan Ernst Nilson) starts an expedition to conquer the tallest summit of America. Abkhazians want to plant on the top a flag of their country, Georgia's breakaway autonomy. Before the first trip to the Andes, the Abkhaz climbers have already set flags on Elbrus (5642 m) and Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 m).

Abkhaz Foreign Ministry has decided to support the project with public funds and businessmen of the republic.

In January 2012, the well-known Georgian climber and politician George (Gia) Tortladze planted on a top Akonkagua not only Georgian flag but a banners with the words "Georgiawithout occupation." Later, in April, he climbed Mount Everest (8,848 m), setting on the highest peak in the world similar exposition with an extension, which added the words "Russiaget out from Georgia!".

- Due a weather conditions any flag or banner do not stay long on the tops, the main thing - to capture it all on film - George Tortladze told to the newspaper "Izvestia". - Then show it on different channels - this is a great response.

Tortladze criticized Swedish climber for taking part in the Abkhaz ascent.

Influential politician - George (Gia) Tortladze. Two times Everest Summiter

- I think he will get big money for this expedition. And if he did take part in the promotion of separatism, I put this in the world of travelers. Nielson will regret - said Tortladze.

Tortladze also continues his sports-political exploits. With the Georgia flag and an anti-Russian banner, 52-year Georgian plan to climb the fifth summit of planet - Makalu (8485 m) in the Himalayas. This will be in spring with an international team of 10 climbers.

By Matthew Priceю BBC News. The team face a 2,000-mile journey acrossAntarctica, which they hope to start in March next year.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is leading a team of five other explorers in a quest to achieve a feat no other human has managed - to walk across Antarctica in the near permanent darkness and super low temperatures of winter.

Phase one of The Coldest Journey expedition - which aims to raise millions of pounds in donations for the Seeing is Believing charity to tackle avoidable blindness - begins later when the icebreaker SA Agulhas sets off from the River Thames.

The journey from a wintry Thames to the ice shelf ofAntarcticawill take just over a month.

During their sea voyage, team members will obtain data on marine life, oceanography and meteorology.

On Thursday afternoon, after a suitable send off, the SA Agulhas will weigh anchor and slip beneathTowerBridgeon its way to the world's coldest continent.

The expedition force is led by the man known as the world's greatest living explorer - 68-year-old Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

It's an expedition that's been in the planning stages for years, Sir Ranulph says on the bridge of the ship, while looking at a map of his route.

"The idea came up about four-and-a-half years ago. We started approaching the Foreign Office for permission to go and we finally got it 10 days ago."

Aboard the SA Agulhas is a giant crane. It will be used to lift some 200 tonnes of equipment onto the ice ofAntarctica.

The BBC's Matthew Price has been aboard the SA Agulhas to see how preparations have been going

It consists of three huge industrial sledges - each with a modified shipping container placed on top.

Inside two of them are living quarters, and supplies. In the third, a science lab.

Behind these there'll be another 14 smaller sledges, each transporting fuel.

That will power the two bulldozers that have been specially re-equipped for this expedition, in the hope they can drag the entire team across 2,000 miles of some of the world's most inhospitable terrain.

In front of this whole procession, two skiers will lead the way, pulling a small ground-penetrating radar system that will help them locate crevices. That will be crucial if they are to make it across.

The expedition proper - from the Russian base of Novolazareskaya to theRossSea- is due to begin on 21 March and is expected to take six months.

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Supplies

165 rolls of toilet paper (12 sheets per man per day)

20kg of dried egg

7,300 tea bags

4,400 packets of soup

30 toothbrushes

230kg of chocolate

600 metres of rope

15 pairs of boxer shorts per man

Boots with electrically-heated insoles

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"The vehicles are a bigger potential problem than the people," believes Sir Ranulph. "Minus 80 could be damaging to lung tissue when you're breathing while skiing."

But he says that, "in the vehicles you have steel and rubber which don't like minus 70 - never mind when they're towing everything - so there is an unpredictable element there".

To get Foreign Office permission to go toAntarcticathey had to prove they could be self-sufficient. That's why the vehicles must be used to tow everything they might possibly need. In the Antarctic winter there's no way of being rescued.

Sir Ranulph wants to beat Norwegians to new Antarctic record

"That means everything from vehicle spares down to a toothbrush," says Brian Newham, who'll be on the team crossing the continent, and who's also been organising the gear for the expedition.

He's even been counting the number of sheets on a toilet roll.

"We're taking 165 rolls. That's one for all of us for every 2.25 days," he says.

Is that enough?

"I'd better have it right," he smiles.

Everything they take with them will be removed from the ice at the end of the expedition. Including the human waste.

There's enough food for each of the six-person team to last 365 days if it's necessary. They hope it won't be.

The food consists of specialist dried fruits, sports nutrition products, and normal dried foods like lasagne. They can't take tins with them as they'd freeze and burst.

"I can't say I think we can make it," admits Sir Ranulph.

"I don't know it's possible - it's rather like the Americans when they went to the moon. Was it possible? They didn't know."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20619050

Fox News

Departure

Hi! This is Lyudmila Korobeshko from the expedition "Alpari on top of the world." So, we are in Antarctica under the Mt.Vinson massif. Yesterday we arrived at base camp, spent a night, and today went up to the next camp, the so-called Low Camp. It was quite a difficult trip. We're spent about 7-8 hours. Walking was difficult, because we have a heavily laden sledge. The back of Ivan Dusharin still hurts, but we hope that soon he will get better. The weather is still good. Near the camp in the morning quite a large avalanche came down ... But we are not affected.

Greetings for all.

Best regards !

Source: http://www.alpari-life.ru/low-camp/

Climb of Mt.Vinson is the final stage of the epic "7 summits in 300 days” for Lyudmila Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin and Maxim Shakirov.

The team

December 11 (Tuesday) at 14:00 in the ITAR-TASS /Tverskoy Boulevard, 2, 2nd Floor / will be a press conference on the topic "The Russians on the highest peaks of the continents." Recently, the popularity of the "7 Volcanoes" is growing. We are talking about the conquest of the highest volcanoes all continents over the world. InRussiathere are two people who are close to this performance - Alexander Abramov and Vyacheslav Adrov. In addition, Vyacheslav Adrov holds 2 records ofRussia/ Russian Book of Records / associated with the activities at altitude.

In a press conference we will meet: Honorary Polar Russia, vice-president of the Russian Geographical Society, Director of the Arctic and Antarctic Museum Victor Boyarsky, master of sport mountaineering, multiple conqueror of Everest, the head of "7 Summits Club" Alexander Abramov, recordsman of the "Book of Records of Russia" Vyacheslav Adrov.

Vyacheslav Adrov

An article about this (in Russian)

http://www.abajour.ru/files/92-99_198.pdf

On January 1, 2009, Graham Hughes set out on his mission to visit every sovereign state on Earth without flying, and become a Guinness World Record holder in the process.

Nearly three years later, on November 26, he achieved that feat after his passport was stamped with the markings of the world's newest country,South Sudan.

Hughes, 33, has visited all 193 United Nations member states, as well as Taiwan, Vatican City, Kosovo, the Palestinian territory, and Western Sahara -- all by train, bus, taxi or ship, spending an average of 10 pounds per day, reports The Telegraph. Need proof? He has photographed every page of his passport as of June 2011.

"The main feeling today is just one of intense gratitude to every person around the world who helped me get here, by giving me a lift, letting me stay on their couch or pointing me in the right direction," Hughes told The Daily Telegraph from Juba, the capital of South Sudan, after achieving his goal.

Of his journey's challenges, Hughes said: "People asked me how I was going to get to Afghanistan or Iraq or North Korea, but they were the easy ones, you don't even need a visa for Iraq, you just walk across from the border in Turkey...The really tough ones were places like Nauru, and the Maldives and the Seychelles, island countries where there were also pirates."

Along the way, Hughes raised money for WaterAid and filmed for the National Geographic Channel. Check out his very complete travel map of the world here and his interview with a New Zealand TV station below.

Source: huffingtonpost.com

OUTSIDE MAGAZINE

Just last week, Graham Hughes became the first person to visit every country on earth without flying. After almost four years of travel, the 33-year-old fromLiverpool,England, set foot in his 201st and final country,South Sudan. When he began his challenge, the country did not even exist, but now it represents the crowning glory of a long and frustrating journey.

It started as a mad dash, one-year trip, back toAustraliato be with his girlfriend, captured on the TV show, Graham’s World, on the National Geographic Adventure Channel. But things did not turn out quite as planned. Hughes broke up with his girlfriend, the show ended, and the journey took almost four times as long as intended, but he has finally achieved his goal.

Hughes caught the travel bug early, visitingEastern Europewith his family as the Iron Curtain was coming down, and has not really stopped since. He does not, however, really have the look of a modern day adventurer. There’s no army physique or weathered features, just a typical looking English guy in a fedora, the hat made famous by Indiana Jones. Indeed, Hughes has dubbed himself the "Thinking Woman’s Indiana Jones," but it is another one of his fictional role models that he most resembles, Phileas Fogg. The 19th-century protagonist of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days was an unflappable charmer and schemer, able to think on his feet and talk his way around the world. Like Fogg, Hughes will return toLiverpoolby boat, having succeeded in a scheme, very much in the vein of a late Victorian adventurer.

Here, Hughes tells us why theUnited Stateswas one of the hardest places to enter, what pieces of equipment have been indispensable to him over the past four years, and what he plans to do if new countries are created.

Why did you embark on this journey?

I think it’s the same sort of reason people give for Everest: because it’s there. The challenge was there and no one had done it before. It was a Guinness World Record I knew that I had the ability to achieve and I thought it was possible. I’d traveled before starting this and I wanted to do at least one amazing thing in my life—and now I’ve done it.

You’ve said it was a decade-long dream. How did it come to fruition?

I got the concept for it when I went backpacking in 2002. I’d bought an around the world ticket and went to a lot of places. I had the most amazing experience. I said after that, Would it be possible to get to every country in the world without flying?

Throughout the 2000s, as the world was getting more peaceful and wars were ending in West Africa andCentral Africa, I realized the world was getting a bit more easy to get around. By 2008, I realized I could do this in the next couple of years. I spoke to people at Lonely Planet Television inAustraliaand they really liked it and said you could probably do it. They commissioned me to make a TV series that was on National Geographic a couple of years ago, the first year of my adventures.

It’s taken almost four years to do. Did you ever think about quitting at any point?

I never thought about quitting. I had some difficulty last year because my sister passed away. After that I didn’t want to quit, but I wanted someone to take the reins and sort of deal with the complicated stuff and arrange things for me. For the whole trip I’ve been a kind of one-man band. It was a lot of responsibility to keep it going, but there wasn’t a point where I thought I was going to give up. I felt like it would be letting so many people down, people who had helped me on the journey.

Did you have any indispensable bits of equipment that kept you company throughout your travels?

My GPS logger is still with me. My trusty camcorder has been with me all the way. There are bits of equipment that really are indispensable when you’re traveling, like a Swiss Army Knife, wet wipes, a bank card, and a passport. But I travel pretty light.

Which was your favorite country?

A little island state calledPalau.

Which was the hardest country to get in to?

The U.S.A. now, because I need some crazy visa! But other than that, the Seychelles because of the Somali pirate situation. I tried from about seven different places in the world to get to theSeychellesbefore I actually cracked it.

What was the issue with the U.S.?

I was on a ship going to Micronesia and Palau. It stopped in Guam, which is part of the U.S.commonwealth, but they wouldn’t let me off the ship. They said I needed a special visa waiver that costs $100 and I had to apply for it three days in advance. How is that not a visa?

What was the most dangerous experience or place?

I was inSenegaland I had to get some fishermen to take me over toCape Verdeon a pirogue, a wooden canoe with an outboard motor on it. I was on it for four days in the open ocean with no radio, no distress signal, no satellite phone, and no means of communication if anything went wrong.

Was it terrifying?

It was fine, I suppose. There was no storm or anything. I watched the movie The Perfect Storm a few weeks afterwards. If I’d watched it before, it might have been a different story.

Who were the friendliest immigration officials?

Mauritius was OK. They were pleased to see me. Going into Afghanistan, the guy was laughing. The border guard asked me what I was doing there. I said, "I’m a tourist." He said, "You’re no terrorist, we have too many terrorists here." That kind of thing. Some places people have been really welcoming. In Sierra Leone, the guy on the border basically gave me a hug because I’m British. It was because of the conflict there that was ended in 2002. He said the British saved his life.

What aspect of this journey would you consider your greatest achievement beyond the title and the record?

Not going home in four years—that’s a pretty good achievement! I think having the determination to see it through to the end when things got very difficult. In the first two years, I traveled through 184 countries. In the last two years, I’ve been to 17. That’s because they’re all islands in the middle of nowhere. Or places like theSeychellesand theMaldivesthat are in pirate areas.

The record might not be static. Are you scanning the map to look at the potential for new countries to come into existence?

Yes. I want to do this for the rest of my life. The idea is that every time a new country gets created, I go and visit it overland. I’ll take three or four months out of my life to go and do that. I kind of like that idea. I’m keeping an eye on things.

Are you driven by the idea of fame and creating attention as an adventurer?

Long term I want to make feature films and tell stories, so that’s not that important to me. I do like that idea, but it’s not the main reason I did this. I did this more than anything because I wanted to get in the Guinness Book of World Records, and it had never been done before, and it was something that I’m good at. I’m really good at travellng! I don’t get ill when I travel, I can sleep anywhere. I’m great about waking up when I need to get on a train. I seem to be naturally adapted very well to this kind of lifestyle.

Do you have any role models as an adventurer or a traveller?

My role models are obviously Phileas Fogg, Michael Palin, and my father. Those are my inspirations.

Your journey was different from most people’s experience of travel. How meaningful is as a travel experience when you constantly have to think about the next country or the next challenge?

Obviously, there’s a difference between traveling for the sake of traveling and going on holiday because you need to relax from work. I don’t feel like I’ve been on holiday for four years at all. I feel like I’ve been working for four years toward something.

If you want to sit on a beach and relax, that’s fair enough. I get a bit annoyed when fellow travelers will tell you that you’re not doing it right. Just because you didn’t go to this hut inLesotho, you’ve never really experiencedSouthern Africa. Come on, seriously? Everybody has his or her own experiences of travel. Travel is a very subjective thing. I don’t think there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. I just think there’s a way that you enjoy and I actually enjoy this.

What’s next for you?

I want to do some more TV shows. I enjoyed doing the show for National Geographic. I like telling stories. At the end of the day, I get a random email from some person halfway around the world, saying they’ve been inspired by my travels.

Hello! It is Olya Rumyantseva from Antarctica. This morning we took a small airplane and flew from the Union glacier to the base camp ofMt.Vinson. Now we are checking our things, settle down putting the camp. Soon we will prepare dinner. And tomorrow morning, early, we plan to start fro the lower camp. We are fine, the weather is pleasant. We hope that this will continue.

All, bye!

"Yes, we are now already in Antarctica. In the morning the phone woke us up at 6 am. We leave. At 9 am we took off from Punta Arenasand arrived at Union Glacier. Now it's warm here, we can say even hot. This is summer. In general, we are not fooled, we really came to the south. We all feel good, the mood is amusing. And we hope that today, a little later, we will fly to the Vinson Base Camp".

Lyudmila Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin and Maxim Shakirov will climb the last mountain of their attempt “Seven Summits in 300 days”.

In Punta Arenas

The plane was delayed and landed just after midnight. Ivan Dusharin and Max Shakirov came out last, than they made Lyudmila be worry. 48 hours of flights were pretty tired for them. However, they immediately started with jokes.

But there is no time to rest. The weather is good and representatives of ALE promise 4th or 5th December a flight to Antarctica at Union Glacier.

The 7 Summits Club was a sponsor of the main victors of a year’s ceremony of Mountaineering Federation of Russia, which took place in the evening of December 1 at the Luzhniki Press Center.

The main prize of the national award "Golden Axe of Russia 2012" was awarded to the team of Moscow: Sergei Nilov, Dmitry Golovchenko, Alexander Lange - for a new route to the summit of Muztagh Tower in the Karakoram. The coach and the expedition leader - Sergei Kotachkov. The result is appointed by voting of captains of six nominees.

"Think twice" route

Nicholay Totmyanin presents " Golden Axe of Russia in 2012" ...

The Moscow team has also got the main prize "Crystal Peak" established by portal Risk.Ru, where the winner was appointed by voting on the Internet. Nte same Moscow team won and a third prize - it was the audience award, certain by on-site guests in the evening.

"Steel Angel 2012" for the best female climbing achievement of the year went to Krasnoyarsk. His owners are Paulina Galatsevich and Irina Bakaleynikova - for climbing Zamin Karor Wall in the championship ofRussia.

53-years old grandmother Irina Bakaleynikova is the Queen of Russian climbing

The best "outdoor project of the year" according to the users of the site Risk.Ru is project "Ark of Hope. Dnepr 2012." Announcement of the results caused a round of applause. All welcomed legendary Crimean climber, courageous fighter with his disability Yuri Lishaev, known to all as Fantik.

About 4000 km on kayak along the river of Dnepr and Black sea shore, solo and with paralyzed legs...

Team Captain of "Alpari on top of the world" is now in the southernmost city in the world -Punta Arenas. Here it is the first day of summer. Summer in the south of Patagonia is cool, but all here blooms and green . Lyudmila prepares to meet his friends, teammates Ivan Dusharin and Maxim Shakirov, which today fly out of Moscow. The final stage of the epic "7 summits in 300 days" begins, the goal - Antarctica and Mount Vinson....

Valery Putrin, the former president of the Mountaineering Federation of Russia, died suddenly on the morning of 29th of November. He went out in the morning to clean snow from the car and fell. Instant death. In the XXI century, Valery became a collector peaks climbing Mont Blanc, Kosciuszko, Mount Fuji, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro. In 2010, at age 70, he tried to climb on Mount McKinley. Due to the illness of Comrade their assault failed. By all signs, Valery was in good shape and there were no signs of such end.

Putrin Valery (1940 r.) - A graduate of the Minsk Radio Engineering Institute (1964), studied science, has three certificates on inventions (1976, 1977). Master of sports of cycling and mountaineering (1970). He has participated in the national championship on mountaineering (1968, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1979), was the trainer of the international mountaineering camps in 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983 and 1984. Until the last days Putrin worked as chief specialist at the Research Institute of Radio.

In 1987 Putrin was a leader of expedition of  USSR national team, that made the first winter climb on the peak of Communism. In 1991, he was the head of the first Russian Himalayan expedition, which opened a new route to the summit of Cho Oyu (8201 m).

Photos from Mt. McKinley expedition

On Kilimanjaro