A New Zealand expedition will attempt to be the first in the world to sea kayak the rough waters along the Borchgrevink Coast in Antarctica’s Ross Sea.
The Adventure Philosophy team of Mark Jones, Marcus Waters and Graham Charles will spend about six weeks dragging and paddling their sea kayaks 800kms along the coastline from Ross Island to Cape Adare.
The Furthest South expedition team is one of eight groups awarded Hillary Expeditions Grants by SPARC to help them carry out world-first and world-class adventures in the outdoors.
Another expedition will attempt to make the first speedflying descent off an 8000 metre peak in Tibet. Mal Haskins and Dugald Peters will attempt to ski tour and climb Shishapangma, before making a speedflying descent off the mountain.
Other expeditions include paddling a waka ama from Dunedin to Gisborne, kayaking remote rivers in Papua New Guinea, further exploration of New Zealand's first 1000m deep cave, and first attempts climbing new routes and mountains both in New Zealand and overseas.
The grants range from $10,000 to $20,000 out of a total $100,000 fund. SPARC allocates Hillary Expedition Grants every two years.
SPARC Chief Executive Peter Miskimmin, who sat on the selection panel, said the adventures planned by the expedition teams were truly awe-inspiring.
"All New Zealanders are fascinated, and feel proud and inspired by Sir Edmund Hillary's feats. These grants honour that history,'' Miskimmin said.
"The people on these expeditions will need to be physically and mentally tough. They'll need to plan well, yet be ready to deal with the unexpected. They are the high-performance athletes of outdoor recreation and I hope that, like Hillary, these adventurers go on to create their own inspiring stories for New Zealanders,'' Miskimmin said.
"They will put New Zealand on the map, and I wish them well with the challenges ahead.''
SPARC introduced the Hillary Expedition Grants scheme in 2002. Objectives of the initiative include encouraging inspirational adventures, inspiring others to challenge themselves in the great outdoors, and reinforcing that New Zealand is a nation of great adventurers and achievers.
The expeditions involve extreme adventures and world-class challenges in the outdoors. They include activities such as tramping, mountaineering, rock climbing, cross-country skiing, white-water and sea kayaking, mountain biking, and sailing.
Previous expeditions have included crossing the Greenland ice cap, big wall climbing in Pakistan, making first ascents including of a previously unclimbed tower in the Aisen Province, Chile, and new routes on peaks in Antarctica.
Background Information On The Wxpeditions
Adventure Philosophy's Furthest South Expedition
The expedition is scheduled to start on 31 January, 2012. The team of Mark Jones, Marcus Waters and Graham Charles will travel to Antarctica on board the ice-strengthened Spirit of Enderby. During their six-week kayaking expedition, they will have communications with the Spirit as it travels back to New Zealand, but will otherwise be unsupported. In 2001, Adventure Philosophy members were the first to paddle to the Antarctic Circle from Antarctica's northern most point. This time, they will start their journey from Ross Island, near the historic huts of Antarctic explorers Scott and Shackleton. They will steer a course north, paddling some 800km along the Borchgrevink Coast in the Ross Sea, a journey which has never been attempted in a small craft. Their challenges will include the ice conditions, negotiating the Drygalski Glacier tongue (which protrudes 50km from the coast), subzero temperatures, moving pack ice, tricky landings (and a lack of landing spots), and katabatic winds.
Turanganui A Kiwa Hoe
Three six-person crews will take turns paddling a waka ama from Dunedin to Gisborne, covering 600 nautical miles or 1100km along the way. Each crew will paddle four hours followed by an eight-hour break with the aim of keeping the waka ama going continuously. The expedition team hopes to paddle between 150km to 200km a day, depending on weather conditions. This means they should complete the trip in five to eight days. The expedition will have a support vessel providing eating and sleeping quarters for crew members when they are not paddling. The expedition is scheduled to take place in March 2012.
Speedfly8000
The goal of the Speedfly8000 expedition is to ski tour and climb Shishapangma in Tibet to make the first speedflying descent of an 8000m peak. Speedflying is a new sport combining the disciplines of skiing, paragliding and sky diving, and it is not uncommon for participants to fly at speeds of more than 100kmh very close to the ground. Mal Haskins and Dugald Peters are both experienced paragliding pilots. Mal is also a professional mountain guide. Dugald needs mountaineering experience but the pair have been speedflying off peaks in New Zealand to train for their Tibet expedition, which is scheduled for March 2011.
The Extreme Caving Team
A group of cavers, who became the first in New Zealand to discover a 1000m deep cave have been awarded a second Hillary Expedition Grant to explore their discovery further. The Extreme Caving Team's previous Hillary Expedition Grant allowed them to explore the deep cave in the Ellis Basin system in Mt Arthur Kahurangi National Park. This grant will help them buy the technical equipment needed to explore deeper inside the cave systems of Mt Arthur. Who knows what lies beyond? Will the system become one of the 10 deepest caves in the world? The group, led by Kieran Mckay, aims to find out. Their expedition is scheduled to begin in January 2011 and will take two months, with follow-up trips throughout 2011.
Backyard And Beyond 2011
Expedition team members will be attempting two significant unclimbed routes in New Zealand's most remote mountains during a 25-30 day expedition from Christchurch to Paringa via the Southern Alps. During December 2011 and January 2012, the team members will mountainbike 200km and travel a further 200km by foot across the Southern Alps to complete their mission. The team of Shelley Hersey, Jamie Vinton-Boot, Paul Hersey and Hugh Barnard will split their travel into two 10-12 day stages, planning to make significant first ascents of an unclimbed mountain face during each of the two stages.
Gradient And Water
During three weeks in April and May 2011, a group of four young white-water paddlers intend to attract world-wide attention when they attempt a world-class white-water expedition in Papua New Guinea. They will put their physical and mental strength to the test when they set out to achieve first descents of 10 class V stretches of river in an area of the Huon Peninsula. While there have been attempts in the past, the paddlers say no one has been able to complete a successful expedition in Papua New Guinea, and they want to be the first. Jordan Searle, Barny Young, Simon Davidson and Matt Burton plan to start their expedition on 16 April, 2011.
Blondinis On Tour
Tim Church and Yvonne Pfluger have their sights set on unclimbed peaks in an area not often visited by westerners in the Shaluli Shan Range in Sichuan, south-west China. They will start their expedition in early October 2011, spending about six weeks exploring the area. The mountain ranges of western Sichuan have been open to foreigners for a few decades and most climbers have focused on the unclimbed peaks above 6000m. Research has revealed there are several significant peaks, which are just under 6000m, waiting to be climbed. Tim and Yvonne will aim for a cluster of 5700-5800m peaks located northwest of Yangmolong Massif and south of the Sichuan-Tibet highway, with their first objective being the 5867m Xianqingqieke.
New Zealand Solu Khumbu Alpine Style Expedition
Three climbers will attempt new, technical mountaineering routes on two mountains in the Solu Khumbu region in Eastern Nepal. Ben Dare and Andrew Finnigan will join up with Edinburgh-based Steven Fortune for the trip, which is scheduled to begin at the end of March 2011. The climbers will spend about seven weeks, climbing during the favourable pre-monsoon season in April and May. They will attempt new routes on Kusum Kanguru (6369m) in the Charpati Himal which is on the boundary of the Makalu Barun National Park, and on 6186m Kyajo Ri which is the highest peak within the Khumuche Himal in the heart of the Sagarmatha National Park. Alpine style climbing is where the climbers carry their food and equipment as they go rather than set up a line of stocked camps.
Details of previous expeditions can be found at:
http://www.sparc.org.nz/en-nz/recreation/Hillary-Expedition/
