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Land Rover Defender from the 1998 expedition

The year was 1986 and the Conservative government gave the go ahead for the Channel Tunnel, linking Britain with France, to be built. If it would soon be possible to drive between Britain and Continental Europe, a vehicle could then be driven from London to the most eastern point of the Russian mainland. Now, if it was also possible to drive across the sea-ice between Russia and Alaska, it might then be feasible to drive all the way from London to New York - and so the 'Transglobal Expedition' was born.

In 1993 Dr. Gordon Thomas, a well-established Canadian adventurer and Dr. Dmitry Shparo, one of Russia's most renowned Arctic explorers, decided to carry out a full reconnaissance directly across the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska. Using Russian snowmobiles, the 9 strong team set out in blizzard conditions with temperatures reaching -53°C. It soon became apparent that their sledges were too heavily laden to deal with the broken pack ice, so some kit was backpacked while the snowmobiles proceeded with virtually empty sledges. Eventually, with the help of GPS, the team made it to Big Diomede, the Russian island only 5 miles from Little Diomede on the American side. With smooth ice between the two, the team passed over the international border with relative ease.

Alaskan scenery

Because of large expanses of open water, the team required an airlift from Little Diomede to the mainland community of Wales on the tip of the seaward peninsula. Travelling east via Teller, they reached the town of Nome. The next stage took them to Fairbanks via the Unalakleet and Yukon Rivers. However, because of the narrowness of the Unalakleet River and the extremely deep snows they encountered, they deemed that this was not a suitable route for the 'Transglobal Expedition'. A new route across Alaska would have to be found.

The idea for this expedition was registered with the Royal Geographic Society in London, but this meant that others were in a position to read about the team's plans. One such person was Richard Creasey he very quickly mounted an attempt to lead the first team to drive all the way from London to New York via the Bering Strait. Using a combination of Ford Maverick and Mondeos, supported by vast Russian Ural 6x6 trucks, the team set out on the 27th December 1993.

In order to cross the Strait itself, a prototype tracked vehicle called an Arktos was used, designed to rescue oilrig crews operating in Arctic waters. Looking like two First World War tanks stuck together and weighing in at 10-tons, the Arktos was flown in from Alaska, to a suitable point in which to make the crossing. Within just 7 hours, one of the 2-ton tracks fell off the machine, which took a whole day to refit. At no more than a crawling pace, this northbound journey took days to complete, where upon they suffered a punctured hull on jagged rocks. This was repaired but after no more than a mile or so, even worse was yet to follow - the hull was punctured again, this time by thick ice and they started taking on water. Eventually the order was given to abandon the machine and a helicopter flew out to recover them.

In 1996, the Fiat motor company using 13-ton Iveco trucks, set out from Milan to achieve what Ford had not. They too made it to the edge of the Bering Strait, but opted to turn back as soon as they saw the extreme conditions that they would have to encounter.

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