The trekkers will travel in ultralight style: They will sleep under tarps, wear trail running shoes, travel at night to avoid warmer clothes, and carry backpacks that weigh only 24 ounces. They will, however, carry 50 lbs consisting mostly of food). In the image, courtesy of Ryanjordan.com / expedition's website, the ULA Arctic Dry Pcaks they will be taking (click to enlarge).
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Arctic 1000: 600 miles unsupported across a remote land called America
Posted: Jun 07, 2006 11:00 am EDT
(ThePoles.com) On June 11, Ryan Jordan (Bozeman, Montana) will join Roman Dial and Jason Geck (Anchorage, Alaska) for a 1000km (600 mile) unsupported trek across the wildest side of America.
Off the beaten track
The route will traverse the most remote (westernmost) region of Alaska's Brooks Range, starting at the Chukchi Sea near Point Hope and ending at either the indigenous territory of Anaktuvuk Pass, or the Alaskan Oil Pipeline Highway ("Haul Road") near Wiseman.
This region is notable for two key characteristics: it is the largest contiguous roadless and uninhabited wilderness in America, and it contains America's remotest spot (defined by its distance from the nearest roads or habitations).
No self-catering in the woods
The team hopes to complete the trip “unsupported, ultra-light, and by fair means". This means they will have no resupplies on the way, no external help. And while nature may provide them with some help, the guys have ensured they will carry all their food in their backpacks, avoiding hunting, fishing or foraging. None of them is allowed to follow roads or to enter villages for any kind of support.
Total distance covered will be approximately 550-625 miles (about 900-1000 km), depending on route conditions and how much food they have left towards the end of the trek.
Down to the essentials
They will travel in ultra-light style, sleep under tarps made with the lightest racing sailcloth materials, carry backpacks that weigh only 24 ounces but will carry 50 lbs (mostly food), and cook over bush fires. They will wear trail running shoes. They will travel at night, and sleep during the day - minimizing the amount of insulating gear they will have to carry. For the final third of the trek, they will walk nearly 50 miles a day.
Team member Ryan Jordan, Publisher of Backpacking Light Magazine and the BackpackingLight.com website, says "This expedition will be a serious test of ultralight trekking technique - it's absolutely mandatory that gear weight be ruthlessly eliminated so we can carry enough food to provide the caloric needs to complete this distance."
Roman Dial is a Professor of Biology and Mathematics at Alaska Pacific University, an expedition adventure racer, and has trekked, skied, biked, and paddled some of the longest wilderness routes ever attempted in Alaska.
Ryan Jordan is the publisher of Backpacking Light Magazine, pioneer of some of the longest unsupported long distance routes in the Northern Rockies and Yellowstone Ecosystems, and leading practitioner and educator about ultra-light trekking style and technique.
Jason Geck is an Instructor of GIS, Mathematics, and Outdoor Studies at Alaska Pacific University, renowned wilderness athlete, record-holder and 2005 champion of the Alaskan Mountain Wilderness Classic.
The team says, in case of success theirs will be the longest unsupported trek across the Alaskan wilderness done up to now. Adventurers, native Americans, and pioneers have moved across the northern areas of the American continent for centuries. However, they usually followed no endurance goals, and thus hunted for food or profit, and got supplied in settlements along the way.
Earlier this year, Italian Ario Sciolari completed a major Alaska crossing, but he got supplies and rested for days in different villages.
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