Rowers’ attempt through Arctic’s Northwest Passage to highlight climate change
four men are set to embark Canada Day on an 80-day rowboat journey through the most cantankerous climate zone on the planet in the spirit of adventure and in an effort to reveal the shocking effects of climate change on the Arctic.
Meet the crew: There’s Kevin Vallely, an architect whose adventure resume includes some of Canada’s most harrowing expeditions; Paul Gleeson, an Irish cyclist and rower; and award-winning Canadian environmental filmmaker Frank Wolf. The fourth is Denis Barnett, also Irish and a team rookie who Vallely says brings “the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a neophyte” to the expedition
The 3,000-kilometre journey in an eight-metre rowboat will begin in Inuvik and wind through Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories to Pond Inlet, Nunavut. Along the way, they’ll contend with deadly threats such as unexpected storms, wild animals and bitter cold.
Rowers’ attempt through Arctic’s Northwest Passage to highlight climate change
They are leaving one week from tomorrow, and the entire route is choked with ice.
More clowns in need of rescue. I wonder if they’ll have matching tents like the others?
Top Gear made a run to the Pole in a truck…
http://www.toyota.com.au/hilux/arctic-challenge/the-challenge
More likely to make it there in a pickup truck than a rowboat!
Hope they’re bringing weapons because there are a lot of polar bears along Boothia Penninsula. If they have to drag over ice near there they’ll become a walking buffet
So they’re expecting unexpected storms…
Doh!
Hey!
No problumo.
They have a big electric fan to blow the ice around Greenland so it sinks the Titanic…
errr, whatever.
It is certainly interesting to watch the ice move with the wind in the mil’s animation.
I suspect the military needs to have to have real information,
not nice if they sink a sub due to eco-religious clap-trap!
Note that this expedition is sponsored by Mainstream Renewable Power, the renewable energy power company which pockets hard-pressed taxpayers’ cash to pursue its uneconomic fantasies.
May the force be with them … they’ll need a few Jedi mind tricks to get through the ice 😉
They should Not be allowed to be rescued by fossil fuel powered boats or planes.
These are the types of expeditions I like to see fail spectacularly, so we can all witness how “raising awareness” of global warming only raises awareness of the stupidity of such endeavours.
“The 3,000-kilometre journey in an eight-metre rowboat will begin in Inuvik and wind through Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories to Pond Inlet, Nunavut. Along the way, they’ll contend with deadly threats such as unexpected storms, wild animals and bitter cold.”
Interesting that they do not consider sea ice to be a deadly threat.
It should actually read-
“The 3000-kilometre portage, carrying hundreds of kilograms of gear and an eight-meter rowboat…”
Or even better…
“The 3000-kilometre stunt, carrying hundreds of kilograms of gear in a poorly designed sled…”
Natural selection
As a result of heavy snowfall about 2 thousand sheep died in northern Kyrgyzstan
http://kabar.kg/eng/regions/full/7456
This kind of news doesn’t make the headlines. If you are stupid enough to believe in the headlines, then you could be stupid enough to plan an expedition like this one.
Arctic sea ice extent is at its highest level in years for this time of year and shows no sign of precipitous decline, yet these morons are determined to “reveal the shocking effects of climate change on the Arctic.” Pray tell, what “shocking effects”? The climate change (aka global warming) environmentalist wackos are getting more entertaining by the minute. Their actions and statements are by emotions, not science. They steadfastly ignore contradictory empirical and observational evidence, because it doesn’t confirm their childish theory of runaway global warming.
There’s not a shred of scientific evidence to support the theory of catastrophic CO2-induced global warming. The alleged warming is the product of manipulated thermometer data and “tuned” general circulation models that ignore the impact of the sun, clouds and ocean oscillations.
We should be more worried about the next major global cool-down, which may be just around the corner. A colder world would be much more dangerous to mankind than a warmer planet.
Their timing is perfect. NCEP is forecasting unprecedented July cold in the Beaufort Sea for the first week in July.
stevengoddard says:
June 23, 2013 at 3:19 pm
Their timing is perfect. NCEP is forecasting unprecedented July cold in the Beaufort Sea for the first week in July.
Are you sure about that?
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/
Your map doesn’t show any information for the Beaufort Sea.
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/ncep-forecasts-continued-record-cold-over-the-arctic-ocean/
Apparently there is a wee bit of a conflict between the forecast map at the link, and the map you posted on your blog.
While others, but certainly not this blogger, would accuse you of shenanigans, Reggie will give you the benefit of the doubt and attribute the differing versions to a recent update, albeit an update that does not show “unprecedented” cold temperatures.
http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp2.html
I hope they freeze to death. It is just what idiots like these deserve and it may be the only way to stop this stupidity.
You want climate disruption martyrs?
Envionmentalist-sicles …. tastes like BS 😉
Perhaps greeniesicles is better or ganolasicles? Come on folks … what have you got?
I think they are called “boobcycles”.
I do not wish for anyone to be harmed or killed. I wish the Canadian governemnt would step in and stop it.
Just as the Government can stop people from parachuting from buldings and other stupid and dangerous stunts, the government has the authority to prevent this
I think the government should let them proceed, but advise this team that they will be billed for the costs of any search, rescue or recovery efforts needed.
As far as I can see, the rowboat has a wood frame and an epoxy hull. Any Idiot could see that a sharp ice berg could cut the thing in half like it wasn’t there. The government is turning a blind eye because greenies have egged them on.
You’re overlooking the fact that this would make for an almost eerily appropriate Darwin Award. Enough to make Joe Romm spit out his false teeth.
+10 🙂
“Until recently, it was not possible to row across the Northwest Passage but melting sea ice has changed all of that”
It was clear in 1845.
“Along the way, they’ll contend with deadly threats such as unexpected storms, wild animals and bitter cold.”
Note that the climate of Nunavut is . . . unchanged.
I don’t want them dead. I want their extremely cold, but alive, bodies to be pulled from the arctic before their imminent death by a fossil fuel powered ship. I want them to have a chance to see the extreme cold in the arctic, and wake up from their delusions.
I wonder if it will end like this Global Warming trek to the pole ended…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031200997.html
A North Pole expedition meant to bring attention to global warming was called off after one of the explorers got frostbite. The explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, on Saturday called off what was intended to be a 530-mile trek across the Arctic Ocean after Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment.
————-
One night they measured the temperature inside their tent at 58 degrees below zero, and outside temperatures were exceeding 100 below zero at times,
and…
Bancroft’s 1986 trek across the Arctic with fellow Minnesota explorer Will Steger, this time she and Arnesen were prepared to don body suits and swim through areas where polar ice has melted.
I wonder how much insurance their grant givers, Camping and Education Foundation, and a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant, has on each of them?
http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/11/six-young-explorers-embark-900-mile-canoe-expedition-to-the-arctic-gear-packing-list/
http://www.campingedu.org
Who cares about their safety, its their stupid choice to try and use AGW as a lever for fame . The only thing that irritates me is the headlines about melting ice will far outweigh the story of failure to prove so,
“its their stupid choice to try and use AGW as a lever for fame”
These gentlemen are seasoned adventurers and have already earned their fame.
Kevin Vallely, along with teammates Ray Zahab and Richard Weber ,broke the world record for the fastest unsupported trek from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole.
Paul Gleeson and a rowing partner completed an 85 day, 2500 mile transatlantic rowing voyage in 2006
Peter Wolf and a partner canoed from the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia to Vancouver, British Columbia, a 171-day epic journey that involved a 400-kilometer portage across the Rocky Mountains.
Awesome. They can never set foot in the water, portage the whole way, and claim they completed the trip.
That was my thought above when I wrote-
“The 3000-kilometre portage, carrying hundreds of kilograms of gear and an eight-meter rowboat…”
I guess it is too much to ask that this ‘exhibition’ to the North Poll ends up out like this 2013 expedition to across Greenland’s seas of amber grain, but I can hope can’t I?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/01/british-man-dies-greenland-arctic
Well, they should be speeding along by now?