Russian traveler plans 10-day sole drifting on North Pole

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. Russian traveler and explorer Fedor Konyukhov will spend ten days on a drifting polar station on ice on the North Pole. The expedition is scheduled for July. The voyager will study ice melting and will make a few paintings, press service of the Poseidon Expeditions Polar Travel Club told TASS. The club will help Konyukhov in preparations for the journey. "Fedor Konyukhov will spend two weeks alone on a drifting polar station in the Arctic Ocean," the press service said. "The main goal of his mission will be to study the intensity of polar ice melting and its drift routes. Konyukhov will dedicate his free time to creating a series of paintings featuring the beauty of arctic landscapes." On July 11, "Fedor Konyukhov will depart Murmansk together with 124 passengers aboard the 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker as part of this season’s first trip of the Poseidon Expeditions Polar Travel Club. Once they reach the North Pole, the captain and Poseidon Expeditions team will locate a sturdy (at least 3 meters thick) ice floe on which to set up Konyukhov’s mini-polar station," the press service continued. "Millions of people will follow up Konyukhov’s expedition and with the satellite tracking system they will be able to track him at any moment and see his location on a map on the Internet, or even send him a message," the release reads. "The device has a 100% accuracy to show where the traveler is: it uses GPS for location tracking." Fedor Konyukhov’s expeditions The 69-year-old traveler has sailed around the world five times, has crossed the Atlantic 17 times and has become the first Russian to complete the Explorers Grand Slam: he climbed the highest mountains on all seven continents and visited the North Pole and the South Pole. In 2007, Konyukhov circumnavigated the Southern Hemisphere aboard the Scarlet Sails sailing yacht, sailing across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. In May 2019, he finished his solo rowboat voyage on board Akros, crossing the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. In 2020, with his sons and grandson he climbed Africa’s highest mountain - Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters), and later in the year - the highest mountain in Europe - Elbrus (Western summit 5,642 meters). Read more