The Russians Have Made It!
Published on 10.03.2008 - General Info
The news reached us on March 14th: the Russians, Matvey Shparo and Bori Smolin, have reached the North Pole, thus accomplishing a great winter success.
This is how the expedition's website published the news on March 15th: "On March 14th, 2008 at 19 40 (Moscow time), the Russian explorers, Matvey Shparo and Bori Smolin, for the first time in history, reached the North Pole during the great polar night, after having crossed more than 1,000 km of the Arctic Ocean pack ice. The explorers had begun their adventure from Cape Arktichewski on December 22nd, 2007, the day of the winter solstice, and have therefore taken 84 days to accomplish their feat ..."
The former Russian President, Vladimir Putin, sent them the following message: "I would like to congratulate you on your victory, an historical victory over the North Pole during the winter. You have once again demonstrated the enormous potential of the human being, its mental and physical strengths, its endurance of any test and its unbreakable will. You have reached the roof of the world in total darkness overcoming all the difficulties that beset you during your hazardous progression. ... I wish you further success in many other feats for the good of Russian science and my very best wishes go with you ..."
We should however point out that, two years ago, in 2006, the explorers Borge Ousland and Mike Horn had also reached the North Pole during the winter. They had left from the same place, Cape Arktichewski, on January 22nd and had reached the North Pole on March 23rd, after a nocturnal trek of 61 days.
Photo : Courtesy of their website, by Oleg Karadzha
