The Active Feed: First Solo Arctic Traverse Ever

Move over Amundsen, Peary and Nansen. Ten years after his solo trek from Canada to the North Geographic Pole, British explorer Pen Hadow plans to "take polar exploration to a new level." That entails more than doubling his earlier mission in an attempt to make the first unsupported solo crossing of the entire Arctic Ocean via the North Pole, starting February 2013 in Russia and finishing the (expected) 100-day expedition by crossing into Canada. He will travel sans resupply points, machines, dogs or wind kites, schlepping all of his own gear and swimming long distances between ice floes.

Hadow says his journey isn't pure exploration—it's also in the name of science. Over the course of 1,000 miles, he plans to collect environmental data about ice ridges and pressure ridges at the edges of ice floes to share with collaborating scientists.

"It's all about combining the spirits of adventure and science to get the important message out there that the Arctic Ocean environment is rapidly changing, and the impacts will be coming to many of us sooner rather than later," he says. 

Via Gadling and PenHadow.com.