Russia to Canada by The North Pole or The Ultimate Off-Road Trip Diaries 2011. Russian Arctic Expedition.

   

The expedition is currently underway. On March 4th, 2011, the Marine Live-Ice Automobile Expedition left Urengoy, Russia and headed north to traverse the floating ice of the Arctic Ocean, under the flag of the Russian Geographic Society. Upon reaching the North Pole, the crew will head south to Canada. 

This unprecedented Arctic expedition is expected to wrap up in Resolute (Qasuittuq), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, around June 15, 2011

NOTE: This is the planned route. For ACTUAL GPS TRACKED ROUTE CLICK HERE

On this page you will be able to follow the daily progress of the crew and to communicate with the participants.

We welcome academics, researchers, students and adventurers from both Russia and Canada, as well as from anywhere else in the world, to communicate with us, post comments, and ask questions. Thank you for joining us! LIKE US ON THE FACEBOOK! 

NEW Follow this expedition on the facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mlae-2011-Russia-to-Canada-by-the-North-Pole-Expedition/179513732101194 

ABOUT MLAE-2011

ROUTE (Maps itinerary and daily progress)

DIARY (Daily updates on the progress of expedition)
CREW

VEHICLES "Yemelya" Vehicles design

CONTACTS PARTNERS SPONSORS AND ASSOCIATES

PAST EXPEDITIONS (MLAE-2009, MLAE-2008)

"YEMELYA" Vehicle inquiries.
"THE WHITE SILENCE" An article by Vasily Elagin, the man behind (and in front of) MLAE-2011



ENJOY THE JOURNEY WITH DAILY UPDATES NEWS AND PHOTOS BELOW:

Golomyanniy island Russian Polar Base, Arctic ice melting. MLAE-2011

Russian Arctic Expedition MLAE-2011. Russian Arctic Ocean ice Expedition.

Cloudless sunrise after frigidly cold night. Atmospheric pressure has gone down. Wind is out of the south. Light snowfall. It is splendidly nasty. I am sitting on Golomyanniy island Polar station. Behind are seemingly endless 24 hours of driving over shore ice belt of the island Oktyabrskoy Revolyucii.

Further on, closer to Sredniy island, border guards make us promise to join them tomorrow in banya. And at last, the long awaited “polyarka” Polar Base with sourdoughs – Lutchnko and Omelchenko. Anatoliy is a young father of Svetlana’s two year ols boy. He is leaving for the continent in a few days.

Igor Mihaylovich, on the contrary, has just recently entered the duty and along with two young meteorologists will remain here until spring. It partakes of homecoming. Laughing, they hand us our own forgotten here last time, towels and our two boxes full of metal scrap parts and engine oil are sitting there untouched from last visit. We will stay here for three days to do some maintenance work on vehicles and gear and to rest a bit and will head out once again. Although we are not yet certain if we will move north or south from here. Today’s task is to get in touch with all the competent sources and to get as accurate description of ice situation an movements for today.

Russians in the Arctic. Russian MLAE-2011 Expedition on
Golomyanniy island
Meteo Station
Arctic Research and Development.

We are presently on Golomyanniy.

Water is on three sides of the island. Anatoliy Omel’chenko who is here since the year 1991 and and he says that it is the very first time he sees it at this time of the year. We give ourselves two – three days to make the decision. Fortunately neither vehicles nor the gear require any serious repairs. Both Va’nkov and Zaitcev keep their restless hands busy implementing the improvements modifications thought up during the many long hours spent breaking the ice on the way. We will make the decision and we will immediately make it known to all of  you, our continental friends.

Vasily Elagin

Translated from Russian by Ilya Kovalev

Russian Atomic Icebreaker ship Taimyr. Yenisey River, town of Karaul, Russian Arctic Explorers MLAE-2011

 

We have covered 1230 km. 120 km left to go until we reach Dickson. The vehicles, trailer and the crew seem to be tugging along smoothly. The breaking in period is over. Expeditions is picking up the pace. On our way down to Yenisey Bay we stop in the old village of Karaul.

Russian Atomic Icebreaker vessel Taimyr on Yenisey River
Vasily Elagin

We meet good people here. Nenets Svetlana and Rostik Vaenga sold us freshly frozen whole deer (a 30kg female). Michael Aliev and his relative Zulfin – both from Azerbaijan presented us with 2 bags of whitefish and three sturgeon heads for fish soup.
Russian diesel operator Dima sold us a barrel of freshly caught sparling (on the shores of Yenisey River they call it “zubatka”)

MLAE-2011, Vasily Elagin and Nuclear Powered Icebreaker Ship "Taimyr"

We exchanged three long siren blasts with a captain of a large atomic icebreaker ship “Tymir” that passed 200 meters away from us in “the opposite lane”. Upon noticing us the captain halted the machines, stopped the vessel and then commanded full steam ahead and the huge machine’s black and frost covered hull side passed above us, crushing the ice underneath it. Huge ice floes behind the vessel were being carried along the canal. The might and power of this atomic reactor powered lunker next to the fragile “Yemelyas” is well captured in the photos and video.

Coordinates: N70° 28.396', E083° 22.409.

Our current position at 08:00 MSK time is:  N70° 28.396', E083° 22.409.


Translation from Russian by Ilya Kovalev

MLAE-2011 EXPEDITION PARTNERS

MLAE-2011 PARTNERS:

RUSSIAN CENTER FOR ARCTIC RESEARCH  – the organizing authority for the expedition.

NAUKAGRAD DUBNA - http://www.naukograd-dubna.ru – Yemelya vehicles were build here with the personal managerial and administative assistance of Ivankov M.B.
Field trials of the “Yemelya-3” and “Yemelya-4” vehicles designed by engineer Elagin
were conducted in the Ivankovskoe Vodohranilishe reservoir.

THE RUSSIAN FEDERAL AGENCY FOR TOURISM  (Rostourism) –  http://www.russiatourism.ru - handles applications to FSB of Russia and The General Headquarters of The Russian Ministry Of The Armed Forces with personal organizational assistance of the department chief: E.V. Belousova.

ASSOCIATION OF POLAR EXPLORERS  - organizational support and assistance were provided by
The  Special Envoy of The President of The Russian Federation – A.N. Chilingradov, personally.

THE MINISTRY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION FOR CIVIL DEFENCE, EMEGRENCIES AND ELIMINATION OF CONSEQUENCES OF NATURAL DISASTERS (EMERCOM OF RUSSIA) –  – www.mchs.gov.ru -as per the personal directive of the Minister Shoygu, is providing stand by emergency aerial support of the MLAE-2011 expedition inside the Russian region of The Arctic.

THE EMBASSY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN CANADA -  http://www.rusembassy.ca
 The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary: G.E.  Mamedov, ambassador@rusembassy.ca  .
 Counsellor, Head of Bilateral Section: Igor Girenko, igor.girenko@rusembassy.ca

THE RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY - – http://www.rgo.ru - The expedition proceeds under the flag of the Russian Geographical Society and under the patronage of the first vice-president of the RGO – A.N. Chilingradov.

THE ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC EXPEDITIONARY CENTRE “POLUS” -  http://www.polus.ru
The organizational assistance to the expedition is  kindly provided personally by Orlov A.V.

RED FOX - http://www.redfox.ru  (Russian manufacturer of expeditionary gear and outfits) organizational assistance provided personally by A.E. Glushkovskiy and V. Morozov.

MARINE PORT “DUDINKA” – kindly offered accommodation for expeditionary crew members and
provided space for vehicle preparation and final set up at the start of the expeditionary route.
Expeditionary support provided personally by Uzdin I.B.

OSNOVA – www.osnova.org – insurance firm offering a comprehensive range of insurance services.

BELSHINA –  http://www.belshinajsc.by

ARCTICTRANS ASSOCIATION -  http://arctictrans.ru/vezde/lop

ART LIFE – dried foods and supplies - http://artlife.ru/ru/

ALLTON – http://www.allton.ru – vehicle peel on label manufacturer.

“AUTO PLUS” TV CHANEL - http://www.autoplustv.ru – covers the expedition in “Traveling Companion” show.

ICE AIRFIELD “BARNEO” -  http://www.barneo.ru

COLD FACTS – http://www.marccornelissen.com – Mark Kornelissen provided ice drilling  augers for the purpose of taking measurements of ice cover measurements in the Arctic, as wellas the protocols for the research and data collection.

FOTOBANK “GEOPHOTO” -  http://geophoto.ru   - covers the expedition news on its site.

LIROS – (resilient synthetic cables) - – http://www.liros.com

LOCTITE, TEROSON - (glues and sealants) - http://www.loctite.su

THE INSTITUTE FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF RUBBER PRODUCTS - http://www.niirp.mpi.ru –provided the rubber inflatable boat “Strug-2”

MOSKOMSPORT - http://www.mossport.ru – provided the conference hall for the press conference for the MLAE-2011 expedition.

EXTREME ADVENTURES PORTAL - http://www.vvv.ru – covers the progress of the expedition on its route.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS - http://www.yaesu.ru –  Vertex Standard and Yaesu brands radio communication stations.

http://satellite-rent.ru – supplied GPS tracker which automatically registers the coordinates of MLAE-2011 expedition position and updates waypoint every two hours.

ILYA KOVALEV INTERPRETATION AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES - provided translation of all documentation and online materials including diaries and the website of the expedition, and coordinated all aspects of the expedition on the Canadian part of the route.

The achievement of this expedition has been granted the status of official Russian record and entered as such in the “Russian Book of Records” on October 26^th 2009.

Marine Live Ice Automobile Expedition MLAE-2009 has successfully traversed over 2000 kilometers of frozen Arctic Ocean starting at Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago and after 38 days and nights reaching The North Pole.

VASILY ELAGIN

The organizer and expedition leader of the MLAE-2008 and Mlae-2009 expeditions. He is also the engineer, designer and builder of the “Yemelya” amphibious vehicles. Geologist, race driver and a participant of Paris-Dakar rally he is a Decorated Master of Sport of the USSR, bears the title of the International Class Master of Sport in alpine climbing, achieved the title of “Snow Leopard”

Traversed Kangchenjunga, ascended Mount Everest, Cho Oyu, Aconcagua, Mount Vinson and has been decorated with the Medal of The Red Labor Flag.

VLADIMIR OBIHOD

Driver-engineer, ice reconnaissance specialist. Holds the title of the International class master of Sport in alpine climbing, has been awarded the title of the “Snow Leopard”, twice. Completed complex vertical wall ascends on Khan Tengri, ascended The Peak of Communism, Annapurna, Lhotse and the Mount Everest. Participated in the MLAE-2008 expedition.

SERGEY LARIN

Doctor, supply and inventory manager, cook. Mountaineer, mountain guide, parachutist, yachtsman, surfer, alpine skier, participated in “Seven Peaks” program ascending the highest peaks on all continents.

LISKA (FOXY THE BOARDER GUARD)

Our guard dog, who viciously chased away polar bears. Year and a half ago had been born on the Sredniy Island frontier outpost in a pack of semi-wild dogs.

AFANASIY MAKOVNEV

Second in command of the MLAE-2009 and MLAE-2008 expeditions. Photographer and videographer. Mountaineer, speleologist, alpine skier, polar traveler, yachtsman, sea hunter, organizer of ethnographic discovery and adventure journeys in dog sleds and leather built canoes through Chukotka, Kamchatka and Alaska.

ALEKSEY SHKRABIN

Technical and machine maintenance engineer. Sport car racer, diver, alpine skier, alpine sports instructor, participated in Mount Elbrus and Shkhara ascends. Organizer of ascends of Upper Svaneti and Kirgiz Ata mountains.

ALEKSEY USHAKOV

Photographer, ice reconnaissance specialist, geologist. Conducted research in: Crimea, Karelia, Transbaikal Region, East Yakutia, Kola Peninsula, Dickson Island, Taymyr and Chukotka.

        NIKOLAY NIKULSHIN

Mechanical maintenance engineer. Has taken part in geological research expedition in Chukotka. Traveled solo from Chukotka to Moscow in a UAZ-469. Has been an expeditionary driver in “To the top of Elbrus in Land Rover” adventure expedition.