Victoria Island 2005

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The Ocean Frontiers 1000 Hour Day Expedition

So here’s the deal – back in July 2005 Clark Carter (then 21) and Chris Bray )then 22), plunged deep inside the Arctic Circle to do what no one ever had – travel unsupported across Victoria Island, the world’s ninth largest and largely unexplored island. Their route - from the most Easterly tip of the island to the most Westerly – would take them past approximately 1,000km of incredibly varied terrain – everything from mud, rock and grass to frozen coastlines, high plateaus, lake-strewn marshlands and even sheets of ice and snow. As nobody had ever done such a thing in that area, Clark and Chris had an interesting time devising a suitable cart/kayak that would not only get them across the countless lakes and rivers as well as over the tundra, but was also capable of supporting 200kg of gear each. So together they set to work designing and building two PAC’s (Paddleable Amphibious Carts), which were essentially fancy aluminium kayaks with fold-down wheels.

Sponsored by leading organisations including Australian Geographic, Gore-Tex, Air Canada and more, their adventure received large amounts of media coverage including weekly live TV news interviews via satellite, broadcast internationally. The expedition was heralded as a great success, despite the fact that after 58 days alone, Clark and Chris were not on the other side of Victoria Island, but were only around one-third the distance across! They had such an incredible time though – including being chased by arctic wolves, hiding from polar bears, enduring blizzards and witnessing some amazing unseen landscapes - that they vowed to one day return to continue their journey to traverse Victoria Island.

Visit the 1000 Hour Day Expedition website.