Transglobal Car Expedition

Yesterday, the ship of the Russian Antarctic expedition "Akademik Fedorov" left the port of Cape Town and headed for Antarctica. On board is the team of the unique round-the-world expedition Transglobal Car, led by Vasily Shakhnovsky. Also on the ship are Arctic Trucks cars specially prepared for traveling along the Ice Continent. And specialists for their maintenance. And in the team, in addition to Shakhnovsky, we see his constant companion and participant of the 7 Summits Club programs, Alexey Safonov. And also our very close friends Sergey Larin and Vasily Elagin.

This is what our route looks like

1 - Cape Town

2 - Molodezhnaya station

3 - Progress station

The route length is about 5600 km. The timing will depend on the weather and ice conditions in the Antarctic latitudes. We should start moving across Antarctica by December 18.

More information about the expedition:

Transglobal Car Expedition Website

Expedition route

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The 7 Summits Club President Alexander Abramov was one of the authors of the idea, the initiators of the record-breaking Transglobal Car round-the-world expedition. His participation ended at the Canadian border, when local authorities cancelled his entry visa (without reason, meanly, on his birthday). And now, more than half a year later, Alexander joined the team. For a short time, but he joined. And together with his friends, he admired one of the wonders of the world - Victoria Falls.

 Transglobal Car expedition diary. Day 280. 10/15/24

Today we visited Victoria Falls. Zambezi River, Victoria Falls. The names are familiar from childhood. Victoria Falls is located on the Zambezi River. Width 1800 m. Height 120 m. The difference from our usual perception of a waterfall is that the water falls into the gorge along the width of the riverbed. Scottish explorer and traveler David Livingstone named it in honor of the British Queen Victoria. In the Lozi language of the indigenous people of these places, the waterfall was known as Mosi-oa-Tunya - "thundering smoke"

Now in this area of Africa, the driest season and the water level in the river is very low. Therefore, two-thirds of the riverbed have dried up. And the width of the waterfall at this time is no more than 400 meters.

To the active part of the waterfall, along the dry riverbed, we walked about two kilometers. Part of the team decided to swim in the waters of the Zambezi. And of course, there was a photo shoot against the backdrop of the waterfall.

The 7 Summits Club congratulates our friends and comrades from the Transglobal Car expedition on completing the Arctic stage of their record-breaking route! We remind you that one of the authors of the idea and initiator of the project is the President of the 7 Summits Club, Alexander Abramov, who took part in the first stage – a run through the northern regions of the United States. He was not allowed to enter Canada in a sneaky way, canceling his valid visa right at the border without reason.

   The Arctic stage began on February 8, when the team left the Canadian town of Yellowknife. On February 22, the expedition left solid ground and entered the ice of the Arctic Ocean. A team consisting of 13 people went on a route on all-terrain vehicles "Ymelya". On April 6, the North Pole was reached and the expedition turned south towards Greenland. On May 10, the shore of this largest island in the world was reached. Further along the way, our expedition was accompanied by the Danish military, who demanded non-stop movement to the final point of the Arctic stage of the Nord Station military base. April 11 was the final day. In 80 days of a unique, record-breaking crossing, the expedition covered a distance of 6141 km.

  Vasily Shakhnovsky, the final message of the Arctic stage of the expedition:

As I expected, we were forbidden to take photos and videos at the base. They collected passports and conducted a full-fledged search of cars for weapons. Vaudeville developed in parallel with our departure. The police insisted that we leave Greenland as soon as possible. As a result, in exchange for agreeing to leave today, they will help us with putting the cars in order.

  In the end, 6 people are leaving today: Badulin, Safonov, Zaitsev, Andrew, Gavrilov and I. The remaining six are Elagin, Vankov, Ershov, Obihod, Dubinin and Larin. They stay for one day, put the cars in order and put them on conservation and fly to Svalbard tomorrow. There will be no photos of the base. But I want to say that the order here is perfect. Despite all the fears, in the end everything was agreed. We are sitting now, waiting for the plane.

  We took off safely and landed in Svalbard two hours later.

We stopped to take a collective photo against the background of Yemelyas.

More information about the expedition:

Transglobal Car Expedition Website

Expedition route

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At 11 pm Moscow time, our friends from the Transglobal Car Expedition arrived at the North Pole. This is a significant milestone in their incredible journey. There are still many challenges, worries, and problems ahead, but we can take a moment to celebrate! We congratulate our friends and are proud to call them our friends. Good luck on your way, and may fortune smile upon you!

The Transglobal Car Expedition continues despite the fact that one of its leaders, Alexander Abramov, had to leave it for a while due to the lawlessness of the Canadian authorities.  On March 21, the team covered 63 kilometers across the ice of the Arctic Ocean and got 55 kilometers closer to the pole. Now there are less than 700 km to the North Pole! The expedition set up camp at 83 degrees 47” north latitude. Fuel supplies are expected to be received from the air here.

 In general, the pace of progress has been stable over the past 10 days, thanks to the ice reconnaissance service. Only a couple of days were hampered by the lack of visibility and ice hummocks. One day there was a need to stop for a small repair. In general, cars do not fail.

The diary...

The Transglobal Car Expedition continues despite the fact that one of its leaders, Alexander Abramov, had to leave it for a while due to the lawlessness of the Canadian authorities.

March 1–5, 2024

We've left Resolute, Nunavut, the last community on our route before the North Pole. It was hard. We have to have everything we need for two to three months! But we are ready.

 166km achieved on the way to the North Pole, which is a really good pace. A few bits of difficult ice, but we think our satellite and radar images are helping a lot.

 March 6–10, 2024

We had interesting days working on our vehicles with the windbreak of the abandoned Isachsen weather station. We took breaks by exploring the buildings, but of course leaving everything intact as we found it. We also took a terrific trip a few km away to see a C-47 that crashed in 1949 with all eight on board suffering only minor injuries. A haunting but beautiful icon in the white desert.

 Then we got our first real taste of pack ice and open leads. There was a good amount of ice chipping to make a route over the pressure ridges, then we got to an open water lead that we were planning to cross - getting the boat ready - but it opened so much wider and so quickly that we elected to look for another route.

The Transglobal Car Expedition continues despite the fact that one of its leaders, Alexander Abramov, had to leave it for a while due to the lawlessness of the Canadian authorities.

 From the Diary:

February 28-29, 2024

We were prepared for big challenges on the ice, but by good planning from our ice team and great images and data from Siku.org, we were able to navigate to relatively good flat ice with only a handful of difficult pressure ridges.

 On the Day 50 we've covered just over 200km incredibly fast. We had to cross a couple of large pressure ridges including with the fording ladders - a really technical challenge.

 However, we made it to Resolute Bay in early afternoon on February 29. We will spend a couple of days here in the lodge doing small repairs then head north. This will be the last community we will see for about two months until we cross over the North Pole and get to the south end of Greenland. There were great days with some very smooth ice and only one small mechanical issue. The team stopped northwest of King William Island near the coordinates where the Franklin Expedition ships were beset by ice for two winters and eventually abandoned in 1848. We observed a moment of silence for the lost 129 men and flew the Explorers Club flag.

On February 22, at 14: 00, the Transglobal team of 13 people on all-terrain vehicles "Emelya" started from Cambridge Bay in the direction of Resolute Bay and further to the North Pole. Thus, began the Arctic stage of the Transglobal expedition. The team mastered the technique, overcoming the first kilometers of the route in difficult conditions, with strong winds and almost zero visibility in the white haze. They had to do some maintenance on the trailers along the way, but overall, everything is going well. The satellite image shows that gray, uneven ice awaits ahead, which means slow driving. We inflated the tires manually to prepare for icing.

The first stage of the expedition was by car and ended in the settlement of Cambridge Bay in the far north of Canada. Here the team received a warm, cordial welcome - the local authorities staged a real celebration. The cars from here set off on their way back, and the expedition transferred to Emel's all-terrain vehicles.

The Transglobal Car Expedition continues despite the fact that one of its leaders, Alexander Abramov, had to leave it for a while due to the lawlessness of the Canadian authorities.

The Canadian town of Yellowknife has long been a landmark for the expedition. After all, it meant the completion of the first stage of the global journey, the "USA – Canada" stage. Here, in the last great stronghold of civilization, the team spent more than 10 days. It was impossible otherwise, it was necessary to thoroughly prepare for the most difficult and problematic part of the entire super route, the "Arctic" stage. In Yellowknife, in particular, they bought a large amount of frozen fish, traditional for polar travel.

The team left Yellowknife on the morning of February 8th. After about 100 kilometers, the trees finally disappeared, the expedition came into the untouched tundra. There are no roads here anymore. They drove a little more and set up camp just in the middle of a snowy desert. This was the beginning of the second stage.

In the following days, the target was the village of Nunavut. The cars got stuck in deep snow several times, and we had to use winches.

There were sunny, beautiful days in the Arctic tundra, and by evening the temperature dropped to -32 °C. All participants are in a good mood – the main team is heading to the meeting place with Yemeli's team. On February 11, the expedition crossed the Arctic Circle. It's very serious.…

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the USA:

Wow, that was a birthday! 60 years, anniversary. You won't believe who you tell. It doesn't happen that way. The day started very optimistically. The sun was shining and minus 25.

The plan was to visit first the American base in Minot. Then drive to Canada and celebrate my birthday there. We even ordered a cake and a restaurant.

Our caravan was stopped at the border with Canada. At 8 hours from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., we were checked, interrogated, all cars were carefully checked and the contents of all computers and phones were checked. Since we were already late for the restaurant, we celebrated my DR right at the border control with a performance of the Happy Birthday.

 The interrogation was going on for 8 hours. We each answered 100 questions. The funniest one was: what are my connections with the Russian Geographical Society?

And as a final point and an anniversary gift, I was given a document stating that my visa was suspended on January 12, which I should have been informed about. But they did not inform and did not name the reasons. But I can't enter Canada.

 I mean, I can't go to the North Pole. The showdown lasted several hours. Saying goodbye to the team, we hugged. As a result, Kostya Vasenko took me to the town of Minot, 150 km from the border. There is an airport there. And now it's 3 a.m. It's all so sudden.

Now I'm lying on the bed and slowly blinking away the gifts of fate for 60 years. What's it? Leap year or a gift of fate? We'll wait and see.

I'm looking at tickets to Iguassu Falls right now. Departure is in 4 hours. And what, you need to cheer up somehow.... Go ahead! The adventure continues!!!

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the USA:

Today was an exciting day. We left Minneapolis. Then we drove towards the Canadian border. We stopped to have a snack and refuel in the city of Fargo, which is famous for the movie and TV series "Fargo". This movie is black humor. People are constantly being killed there. And all this happens in winter in a blizzard. That's right. A blizzard immediately began and it became creepy. After all, films are not made just like that. But overall, it was a beautiful day.

I went to Gym in the evening. 10 km uphill on a treadmill and an hour of strength exercises restored confidence and strength. We drive for 7-8 hours every day and movement is necessary in order not to freeze in the driver's position forever.

Tomorrow is the Canadian border and my anniversary. We will celebrate the anniversary in the USA in the morning and celebrate it in Canada in the evening. 60 years after all!

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the USA:

Today we left Chicago and it was a hard day. We drove more than 600 km to Minneapolis on icy roads. The temperature is already -23 degrees. In the morning, the non-freezing liquid in the window washers froze. We had to stop and warm it up with boiling water at the gas station. We bought a new liquid at -37C.

The whole road is littered with long tracks that have flown into a ditch. These are the consequences of bad weather and a snow-covered highway. We drove carefully. No more than 120 km per hour and discussed how best to drive 4x4 or how?

Minneapolis surprised me. It's a nice huge, but kind of homely city.

In the evening, we also managed to drive to a REI store. We bought equipment for the spring Everest and summer K2. In the evening there is a Japanese restaurant.

I need to sleep, because in the morning at 6:30 I have to go to the gym. Constantly driving, the body grows stout and weak. We need a load.

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the USA:

The wind was blowing so hard outside all night that I thought it was the air conditioner roaring. Today was an interesting day. Kostya Vasenko and I got up at 6:30 a.m. Let's go to Gym. We worked out for an hour before breakfast. At 9 a.m. we went out to the cars. They're all in ice. The doors barely opened.

Go. The track is in ice. They gradually accelerated. Today there was a section of about 500 km between Detroit and Chicago. There were at least 10 cars lying on the roadsides, which had already flown off the highway. Tinsmith's Day. Before reaching Chicago, about 100 kilometers away, such a case occurred.  Either drunk or stoned, an African-American with dreadlocks and a Lancer was driving in the left lane. It looks like it's caught on a snow bank. He started spinning on the road. And smoothly demolish it in the right row. In which our column was traveling. He flew straight into the car where Lesha Safonov and Vasya Shakhnovsky were sitting. Lesha managed to slow down, and the torpedo flew between the first and second cars into a ditch. To be honest, it was sooo dangerous. On an icy road, he could just push the car into a ditch. They didn't have time to film it, of course. But it's imprinted on my brain. Everyone is alive. 

Since we arrived in Chicago early, we decided to take a ride through the center. We saw the third bridge, under which the brothers from the movie Brother 2 met. Actually, it was a fun trip.

We're going to Minneapolis tomorrow. It's already minus 20. And in Yellow Knife, the intermediate finish of our race, it is already minus 35.

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the USA:

 Today was a wonderful day of rest in Detroit. Detroit is the city where the main American automobile plants of Ford and General Motors companies are located. The Transglobal Car expedition rides on Ford Expedition cars. That's why today we visited the Ford factory and Museum. We saw the first conveyor in the history of mankind and compared it with a modern conveyor. Correspondents from Fox News and other television channels also came. To get an interview.

In the morning it was dry and the grass. But in the middle of the day it started snowing, now it's 20-30 cm. Traffic jams formed everywhere at once. It is unclear how to go tomorrow.

The second day of the Transglobal Automobile Expedition has been successfully completed. The team has arrived in the most automobile city in the world, Detroit! 564 km were covered in a day. On the way, we made a short hike to the waterfall in the beautiful Cuyahoga National Park in Ohio. The group will spend tomorrow in Detroit, near the Ford World headquarters, the Henry Ford Museum and Michigan Central Station.

 Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the USA:

The expedition has started. Today, on 10.01.24 at 10:10 a.m., the Transglobal Car Expedition Round-the-world expedition started from New York. Six cars rushed to the north of Canada. Today we drove 500 km. We are currently staying in Pennsylvania in a place called De Bois. Tomorrow we will move to Detroit, where we will visit the FORD factory.

Сайт Transglobal Car Expedition

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the USA:

Today was a great day. First, Mingma, Kostya, and I visited the Empire State Building (102 floors). This is my first time in New York and I was impressed by the most famous building in the city. And in the evening, a press conference and ceremonial send-off of the expedition took place at the world-famous Explorers Club. And as a reward, a run through Central Park, which I've been thinking about all my life.

Tomorrow we will solemnly leave New York for the North. According to forecasts, it is already minus 40 degrees in Yellowknife.

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the USA:

 Today is the day of preparation for the start of the Transglobal Car expedition in New York. We held a meeting, visited the New York Motorists Club, and walked around Manhattan in the evening.

Tomorrow is a big day, the presentation of the project at the Explorers Club ...

 Transglobal Car Expedition Website