Overview

The aim of the expedition is to retrace Roald Amundsen’s 700 mile sledging route that he made from Herschel Island to Eagle in 1905. Nobody has successfully made this journey since Amundsen.

The expedition will take place in February and March 2016 in one of the coldest and most remote wildernesses left on the planet. There will be three sledges with 22 dogs, and it will take approximately 30 days to complete the journey.

When Amundsen made the journey in 1905 he was able to buy and trade for supplies as the north of Canada and Alaska was well serviced with trading trails and cabins. Today they are virtually nonexistent. The expedition team will make a comparative report between Amundsen’s and its own journey.

The team will initially sledge 100 miles from Eagle to Dawson to get to the Dempster highway then truck 350 miles to Inuvik and fly to Herschel Island where the replication of Amundsen’s journey will start.

We are linking schools in Alaska, Canada, Norway and the UK to carry out historical, geographical and environmental projects around the expedition. A further aim is to use the expedition as an educational tool to help raise awareness of global warming and its impact on the Arctic.

ROUTE OF THE EXPEDITION

The expedition will be making accurate weather observations which will be shared with the schools. They will be able to follow the progress of the expedition. The participating schools’ students will carry out geography projects, communicating with each other to compare the differences of their ways of life, their environments and any effects of global warming on their lives and the Arctic.