About the author

Tim Moss

Tim Moss has supported over 100 expeditions across all seven continents. He has climbed new mountains, crossed a desert on foot and recently cycled 13,000 miles around the world. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society London and a Guinness World Record Holder. He aims to encourage more people to live adventurously. Read more...

6 Comments

  1. 1

    Korpijaakko

    Not meaning to discredit Alex by any means as his archievement is incredible and I probably couldn’t do (and maybe wouldn’t even want to try) a similar trip but I’d like to correct few things:

    “the longest unsupported polar journey of all time”

    The Long Haul was the longest unsupported and unassisted polar (or should we say Arctic/Antarctic?) trip to date but for example the last season there were two succesful Hercules Inlet – South Pole return trips covering 2275km and thus being londer than the Long Haul, right?

    “There are, of course, myriad reasons why no one else had travelled that far before, even with dog or kite support.” (that far being spring 2008)

    In 1992 “Rune Gjeldnes and Torry Larsen parachuted onto the southern tip of the icecap. They paddled a kayak to within a day of Cape Farewell but were turned back by heavy pack-ice. From here they completed the longest unsupported polar journey to date arriving at Cape Morris Jesup after a total of 2928km and 86 days, using skis and kites.” Already back in 1978 Naomi Uemura covered about the same distance with a dog team though he received resupplies on the go. In 2006 Rune Gjeldnes covered 4800 km solo kite-assisted at Antarctica. Since then there have been also even longer kite-assisted trips.

    This all is quick to check with little googling.

    Reply
    1. 1.1

      Alex Hibbert

      Jaakko is indeed correct. George and my journey has been exceeded by previous un-resupplied but kite and dog supported trips and also by the SP returns last season. Records are there to be beaten!

      Reply
      1. 1.1.1

        Korpijaakko

        Thanks for the reply Alex. My message was meant more for Tim but anyway. And now that we are on the topic: What do you think would be the ultimate one-way (return trips could make it a bit longer) human distance that could be covered unsupported and unassisted?

  2. 2

    Tim Moss

    Thanks for the note Jaakko. It’s hard to keep track of all these records!

    Everyone else, do check out Alex’s article on the ultimate range for such records (and the rest of his excellent site): http://www.alexhibbert.com/blog/2012/1/8/ultimate-human-range-on-a-polar-expedition.html

    Reply
  3. 3

    satellite phone

    that’s the toughest expedition ive ever heard, cant imagine the obstacles he encountered during the trip, nice!

    Reply

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