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Breaking the Ice: Made for MTV
14:08 p.m. EST Jan 13, 2004
A heated debate arose just a night or two ago about a declaration that the joint Isreali/Palestinian expedition will decree when they reach the summit of their Antarctic mountain. The website calls it a debate, but it was probably more like an argument – people were leaving the galley, one person ended up in tears – intense. Today, with the fire quelled, the whole group is headed towards an Antarctic mountain that they plan on making a first ascent of. So far they’ve established their first camp and all is OK.
Reality TV
This expedition seems more and more like an episode of MTV’s Real World, except much more serious. Here you have a group of people that don’t know each other, and in fact dislike each other, at least fundamentally (the Israelis and Palestinians don’t generally get along).
A sick loft in Soho or the galley of a sailboat?
They are put in a confined space – in MTV’s case it’s a magnificent apartment in a hip city, for the Breaking the Ice team it’s a small sailing vessel set afloat in the extremely rough seas off Cape Horn. Then they’re given a mission – the Real World folks have to put on a fashion show in a surf shop, and the Breaking the Ice team has to scale an Antarctic mountain. OK, so they’re not quite the same.
When the booze flows
For the ‘Real World’, along the way arguments arise, crazy things happen - the Southern guy gets into a fight with the gay guy, people get drunk, guys and girls in the house hook up, guys and guys in the house hook up, and there’s crazy drama.
Sounds like something exclusive to the ‘Real World’, huh? A couple nights ago some Russians showed up on the Breaking the Ice ship with Vodka and the party started. (see pic) The website spoke of people being shirtless in Antarctica and lots of dancing and partying on the boat. Could you imagine if a Palestinian and Israeli got drunk and hooked up? ExplorersWeb thought the Global Extremes Everest reality show last year was intense – this expedition puts them to shame. And some countries are even getting daily video updates of the Breaking the Ice team.
The crew has endured two weeks together on a boat in rough sea – now they are on land and will attempt to climb a mountain together. The only thing left is to agree on what to say when they get to the top! It probably won’t be that easy. There will surely be some more hurdles along the way, both emotionally and physically. And if these guys surmount both of those, together – it’ll be a powerful message to the word. In the famous word of Mr. King*, “Can’t we all just get along?”
The Breaking the Ice group is part of the ‘Extreme Peace Missions’ organization. The idea behind the ‘Extreme Peace Missions’ group is that, “memorable extreme experiences can bring people together for life.” For this organization’s maiden project they chose the Israelis and the Palestinians.
4 of each are heading down to Antarctica via sailboat where they’ll attempt to make a first ascent of an Antarctic peak.
Image of the party people after some Russian Vodka courtesy of Breaking-the-ice.de.
* - Rodney King
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