MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti) - A group of seven Russian teenagers are preparing to set out on a ski trip to the North Pole together with Russia's children's rights ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov.
The orphans and special needs children hail from all across Russia, and they are gearing up for challenge and adventure, event organizers told RIA Novosti.
The group of explorers will be flown to an Arctic station called Barneo, which drifts on pack ice, and from there they will ski 110 kilometers to the North Pole. Organizers expect the trip to take them seven to eight days. The team will have to sleep in tents, survive subzero temperatures and learn to live far from civilization.
The trip comes amid growing interest in the Arctic, among both laypersons and global powers, who have their own political and economic concerns in the region.
Russia regards the region as one of its top priorities. Last year, Moscow unveiled a strategy aimed at increasing its presence in the Arctic and boosting the region's development by 2020. Experts say it may take Russia five to seven years to ratchet up its Arctic exploration effort to what it was during its golden era in the 1930-40s.
The teen expedition has been titled "Skiing to the North Pole," a spokesman with the Adventure Club Foundation told media representatives. Vyacheskav Venidiktov said the event will be the seventh of its kind. Teens aged 16 and above are eligible, and there are minimal restrictions, so even those with special needs can apply.
Dmitry Shparo, the club's director, noted that applicants are required to have some expedition experience and have participated in national athletic competitions, such as the "Ski Track of Russia." He added that many earlier participants had confessed they had found it harder to prepare for the expedition than to actually ski all the way to the Pole. "But that's how it always is. It is normal," he said.
The seventh team of adventurers is a unique one. Organizers confessed they had always picked at least one physically impaired participant or a member of a disadvantaged family for the journey. But this time it was vice versa, they say, as the focus was primarily on children who have faced personal difficulties.
They stressed this doesn't mean these children are less prepared or physically fit to travel to the North Pole. "This year, all the kids are very tough, open and not as frail as some might think," Mr. Shparo underscored.
Travelling along with the team of teen explorers is Russia's most popular ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, who is President Putin's aide on children's rights. Astakhov said he has been given vacation time for the trip and is now busy storing provisions, sleeping bags, warm clothes, and tents.
"Every kid will be pulling a sledge loaded with some 50 kilos worth of stuff, while adults will have a 120-140 kilo load each," Mr. Astakhov said. Weather forecasts predict the average temperature to fall to 24-27 degrees below zero, he added, voicing concern for the team. "But we will overcome," the traveler ombudsman hoped.
The expedition will be headed by Matvei Shparo and Boris Smolin. "We believe them to be the best polar explorers in the world. They can shoulder any difficulty that may come their way, though it is hard to speak for the children. It's a responsibility they have taken themselves," Dmitry Shparo noted.
Mr. Venidiktov said the travelers weren't just teens. "They are athletes, and they want to go, they are motivated. And yet the North Pole is a dangerous place, temperatures there are still freezing, polar bears still run rampant, you can fall into an ice hole and four kilometers down to the bed of the ocean," he warned, adding the primal goal of the trip is to show the teens their worth.
One of the participants comes from an orphanage in the city of Novokuznetsk. He said he isn't afraid of hardships. The teen hit the road at the age of 11, travelling hither and tither with the local expedition club. "I'm not really afraid, because I have a wealth of serious experience behind me. I'm not afraid as long as well-travelled leaders come along."
He said he wanted to become a medical officer or join the military and hoped that his experience would come in handy in the future. "I don't think just anyone can survive seven days away from civilization, without a connection to the world, but I'm used to it."
Another teen said he learned to ski at the age of three and a half when he would travel with his father to Russia's Kola Peninsula and Altai mountains. The boy's mother confessed she had initially been very anxious about the trip, but said it was a chance for the boy to become a man.
