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Tim and Colin: A Siberial Stroll (of sorts)
Sep 27, 2004 19: 29 EST
Last the guys were in Provydenya celebrating being the first people to row across the Bering Sea, Colin was also celebrating the paperback release of his book Amazon Extreme ("adventure writing at its best, a spectacular feat; and unforgettable"). Buy the book. The guys rowed the Bering in a wreck from E-Bay for Christ sake. They need your money.
Currently they are off to Anadyr and have hiked 150 km through Siberian wilderness:
The tank never showed so we robbed a trapper's cabin
"First the bad news. The team has had to make 2 days of food rations stretch into a week.
Unfortunately the vehicle that was supposed to make food drops at points along the way was delayed due to mechanical reasons.
This vehicle, called a vestiho, is basically a tank with the canon removed. It runs on tracks and is enormous, and is the only vehicle that can traverse this rugged land in these conditions.
Fortunately the land is abundant with berries, which the team was able to supplement their diet with. Also they came across an old trappers cabin which had an emergency stash of food that consisted of 5 year old bread. By stewing the bread in water to soften it and eating berries they were able to last the 5 extra days it took for the tank to arrive. Now they have food and are continuing with full stomachs.
"Four enormous grizzy bears have been spotted, but fortunately they are timid of humans"
The rest of the journey is going very well. The backpacks are holding out wonderfully and the land is navigatable. The team is surrounded by snow capped mountains. About 5 cm of snow lies on the ground and the snow now falls for much of the day. The daytime temperatures are not yet too cold and hover at about -5°C.
The team is traveling between 20 and 35 km a day, generally waking at 7 AM and walking by 9 AM to make camp at about 6 PM. There is lots of wildlife. Four enormous grizzly bears have been spotted, but fortunately they are timid of humans and run away as soon as they become aware of the human scent. (Yeah right, just ask Johan and Mikael. Ed note.) There are plenty of wolf tracks and foxes have also been seen.
The team is very happy to be moving and headed towards Moscow once again. Your support and letters of encouragement have been instrumental in keeping them motivated. Each one of them is relayed to the team and we will do our best to respond to them all. Now that they do not have e-mail access, the messages will be read by satellite phone. Please keep the e-mails coming."
No sails, no engines - just raw human energy. From Vancouver to Alaska, across the Bering Sea and into Siberia, two BC adventurers Colin Angus and Tim Harvey have rowed and bicycled their way since June 1. The trip is a 11 month, 18,000 km journey that will take them to Moscow using only human powered modes of transportation.
Currently they are at in Siberia, after crossing the 400 km Bering sea in a rowboat purchased on E-Bay only a few months ago. The 18 ft rowboat was packed solid with 1500 lbs of gear and provisions - everything needed in Siberia. In addition to food, they are carrying Arctic expedition clothing, four season tents, -50°C sleeping bags, skis, winterized bikes, ocean survival suits (just in case), and other essential gear they'll need to cope with temperatures that regularly drop below -60°C.
Colin and Tim started out cycling, the bicycles each carrying 140 lbs of gear, clocking 120 km a day. Grizzly bears and blistering heat were are all part of the daily routine, in Yukon the were almost caught in forest fires reducing visibility to 30 meters. In order to stick to their schedule, they decided to canoe from Whitehorse towards Fairbanks along the Yukon River. The voracious forest fires created a river journey that Colin described as "the liquid road to hell". The flames crept up to both sides of the river, creating a constant smoke that obscured the river banks and made breathing difficult. "It's like being in pea soup with iridescent displays of light."
They cooked, ate, and slept in the canoe (bought in Whitehorse for $200). The boat carried more than 700 pounds, including both bikes and all the gear. This made it quite unstable and left little room to sit, let alone sleep. Strong headwinds assaulted the overburdened and undersized canoe for five days. They could not afford to wait a week until the weather system passed. The constant 24 hour daily paddle took on new meaning as they were both forced to paddle the canoe to keep its nose pointed into the waves and stay on a forward course. After nearly sinking and 48 hours without sleep they reached Fairbanks.
In Fairbanks, the bikes underwent a transformation to enable them to endure the hardships of Siberia and a rowboat conversion was finalized. Next, the rowed over to Siberia. Currently they are on a loong winter walk to Moscow.
Colin Angus
Colin Angus and pals traveled the 7,000 km length of the Amazon River in a raft - from the first trickles of melting snow in the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean. In five months, they crossed a desert, climbed mountains, shot rapids and ducked bullets, and 119 days after setting out from Lima on Sept. 13, they navigated the entire length of the river.
Based in Vancouver, Colin has spent the last twelve years pursuing a life of adventure. Colin sailed across the Pacific Ocean (much of it solo) as a teenager, organized the self-powered expedition down the Amazon, and most recently completed a descent of the 5,500 km Yenisey River through Mongolia and Siberia.
Colin has authored two books for Random House and co-produced two documentaries for National Geographic, one of which garnered awards at the Banff and Telluride Festivals of Mountain Films.
Tim Harvey
Born and raised in BC, Tim has long enjoyed exploring the coastal wilderness by kayak and canoe. Tim spent seven months in Central America, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency to work as a photographer on biological inventories of threatened marine and wetland ecology.
Image of Colin, Tim, and Yulya departing Provydenya, courtesy of the team.
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2004
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