The Mamont Cup: All four teams successfully reach the North Pole 22.04.2015: The Mamont Cup teams have all returned to Longyearbyen, Svalbard after a

The Mamont Cup teams have all returned to Longyearbyen, Svalbard after a successful expedition to the North Pole.


With conditions in their favour at the start of the journey, the teams made speedy progress to the North Pole with Team UK arriving first followed by Team Baltic, Team Europa and then Team Arctic.  The expedition marked a true celebration of polar exploration with participants from across the globe taking part.


On arrival at the North Pole, the weather conditions changed and the teams had to sit out a huge Arctic storm before being safely flown back to Camp Barneo. They finally arrived at around 10am this morning (20 April) where they are waiting for another storm to pass before flying back to Longyearbyen on Svalbard Island, Norway.


This inaugural event saw four teams, led by world renowned polar explorers, ski the last degree to the North Pole. Team captains included David Hempleman-Adams who led Team UK consisting of wounded servicemen, French explorers François Bernard and Christian de Marliave, and an all-female team lead by Denmark’s Bettina Aller.


They were joined by competitors from Sweden, Italy, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine, Canada and the USA in a truly international celebration of polar exploration.


Upon reaching the pole, Team UK have successfully become the first team of wounded soldiers from the same regiment (Royal Dragoon Guards) to reach both the North and South Poles.


The expedition was not without its dramas, highlighting just how hard it is to survive in conditions on the Arctic Ice Cap.  Just one day into the expedition, Team Arctic’s cooker failed meaning that they could not heat any food or water to stay warm.


They had to be flown to join Team Europa to get the equipment fixed before continuing along the way:  you cannot survive long without hot water in temperatures as low as -26 degrees celsius. As well as this, Team Arctic member Christine Dennison unfortunately had to withdraw from the expedition due to a knee injury.


The expedition is sponsored by the Mamont Foundation who aim to raise awareness of the importance of continued research, and exploration of polar regions. Through this expedition they hope to encourage people to take a more active interest in the importance of polar regions. Foundation founder Frederik Paulsen took part as a member of Team Baltic.


To find out more about the Mamont Cup 2015, please visit http://www.foundation-mamont.com/expeditions/




Emily Conrad-Pickles-  logo Mamont Cup