Russian Extreme Travellers Drive over 3,500 Kilometres Offroad in Expedition to Cape Chelyuskin
Members of the Russian extreme team RGO Expo led by
explorer Bogdan Bulychev have completed the Arctic stage of the Cape Chelyuskin – Cape Piai international expedition after travelling
from Yakutsk to the northernmost point of Eurasia and back. The expedition took
place as part of the events of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in
2021–2023, which are managed by the
Roscongress Foundation.
The expedition route passed 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
trailblazers were the first to travel the entire route to Cape Chelyuskin
overland exclusively by car. More than 3,500 kilometres of the route was offroad.
“The Cape Chelyuskin – Cape Piai project has a common goal: to show that it
is possible to travel around Russia. This can be done using any form of transport:
if you have a car, you can go to a neighbouring region and it will be a
journey. If you don’t have a car, get on your bike. If you don’t have one, you
can go on foot. That’s also a journey. We see all the complexity of our world
through travel,” Bogdan Bulychev, the leader of the expedition and a member of
the Russian Geographical Society, said during a press conference in Yakutsk.
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. The expedition members passed through national
villages, some of which are also ready to receive tourists.
The expedition team included four
Russian travellers: Bogdan Bulychev (leader), Yevgeny Shatalov (navigator),
Mirlan Turkmenov (second navigator), and Anton Golikov (photo/video operator).
With the expedition to Cape Chelyuskin, the team completed the plan to reach
the three most extreme points of Eurasia: they visited Cabo da Roca in 2018 and
Cape Dezhnev in 2020. They plan to reach Cape Piai in Malaysia by car in 2024.
With the expedition officially
completed on 10 April, the travellers held a meeting with Russian Deputy Prime
Minister and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian President in the Far
Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev, Minister for the Development of the
Russian Far East and the Arctic Alexey Chekunkov, and Head of the Republic of
Sakha (Yakutia) Aysen Nikolayev. The expedition members shared the results of
their work, talked about plans for the near future, and discussed joint
projects.
The trip was organized by RGO Expo
expedition centre with the support of the Ministry for the Development of the
Russian Far East and the Arctic and Head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
Aysen Nikolayev.
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 offroad 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.