Russian Extreme Explorers First to Drive to Eurasia’s Northernmost Point of Cape Chelyuskin

            A Russian extreme team led by explorer Bogdan Bulychev has reached the northernmost point of Eurasia as part of the Cape Chelyuskin – Cape Piai international expedition. They were the first to reach Cape Chelyuskin by car after driving the entire route exclusively by land without any support. The expedition is part of the events of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023, which are being managed by the Roscongress Foundation.

“After reaching Cape Chelyuskin as part of the ‘Eurasia from Coast to Coast’ project, the team completed its plan to reach the three most extreme points of Eurasia [Cabo da Roca in 2018 and Cape Dezhnev in 2020]. They plan to reach Cape Piai in Malaysia by car in 2024. Upon completion of the last stage, the RGO Expo team will become the first in the world to have reached all four extreme points of Eurasia by car,” said Bulychev, the expedition leader and a member of the Russian Geographical Society.

The project’s main goals are to promote tourism in Russia’s Far Eastern and Arctic regions as well as develop routes for foreign tourists. Bulychev said the team has already come up with three interesting destinations for travellers from foreign countries: two in Yakutia and one in Taimyr. In addition, RGO Expo visited seven national villages, three of which are also ready to receive tourists.

The Arctic stage of the Cape Chelyuskin – Cape Piai international expedition kicked off on 8 March in Yakutsk. The route passes through the cities of Mirny and Udachny, Taimyr Peninsula, Middendorf Cave, and the Byrranga Mountains, crossing the Arctic Circle along the Anabar winter road. The expedition team included four Russian explorers. During the trip, they are shooting a multi-part film about their expedition, which will later be available to viewers on the About Travel YouTube channel.

The trip is being organized by the RGO Expo expedition centre with the support of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic. RGO Expo has already made several extreme trips in the past: to the North Pole by bicycle, across the ice of the Arctic Ocean to the New Siberian Islands, as well as a more than 40,000-kilometre trip on off-road vehicles through 14 countries of Europe and Asia. RGS Expo has conducted a total of more than 15 major international and Russian expeditions since 2015.

Russia is chairing the Arctic Council in 2021–2023. A cross-cutting priority of the chairmanship is to ensure responsible governance over the sustainable development of the Arctic. The comprehensive programme of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council aims to promote cooperation to improve the well-being and quality of life of the Arctic population, including the Indigenous peoples of the North, adapt the Arctic to the effects of climate change, conserve the biodiversity and unique ecosystems of the Arctic, ensure socioeconomic development, find solutions in matters concerning global energy and transport security, promote scientific cooperation in high latitudes, and strengthen international cooperation