The Goliath Expedition

It’s believed that Karl left Pevek / Komsomolskiy on Sunday 28th October after the start being delayed for a number of days because of bad storms. The next leg will take him 500km to the town of Bilibino. While in Pevek Karl has been extremely well treated by the townsfolk, especially the representatives of the Bema Gold Mining Company who gave him a place to stay and also allowed him the use of their workshop to build the sled he will use on the next leg. Karl stated that the snow was beginning to settle nicely which will allow the sled to run freely.

On Saturday 6th October Karl arrived at Komsomolskiy after walking the 474 km / 295 miles from his last waypoint at the Valinistiy mining camp. The track created for the mining trucks had been a lot better than expected and Karl had been able to maintain a reasonable pace, although carrying all his equipment and rations in a rucksack had given him some testing times. He has now moved up to Pevek to pick up supplies that he’d sent ahead. Just at the moment there is some confusion as to the run out date on Karl’s permits, however hopefully this will be sorted out within a week. The weather had been very good for the last leg but had got progressively colder. It is now snowing, which is exactly what Karl wants as he is going to build a sled for his equipment and the next 500 km leg to Bilibino. To get a flavour of the walk please check out the ‘Latest Photos‘ page on Karl’s website.

Just let you all know that I reached my first way-point, the mining camp, on schedule on 9th September. It was a hard kick-start for my body, carrying a fair bit of weight (approximately 36kg/80lb) and I had some issues with muscle strains in my legs and back in the first few days which were a little worrying. But after a first week of ‘hell’ the body got broken in, things improved and I maintained the pace. This first 200km is just a warm-up though. I’ve been looking at the best options for the next move up to Komsomolskiy, (474km). The weight and volume of the 26+ days of food was a worry, however, there is transport headed north from here, not sure just when yet. It’s able to drop off some supplies at 167km, a small manned station and also at 359km where there are some field workers. Being able to ship food/ fuel to these points will help greatly in lightening the load. Everyone in Egvekinot and Amguema has been extremely helpful and the truckers on route have dropped off food for me as they passed. Geologist working at the mining exploration camp and this main camp welcomed me with open arms. I shall take 4-5 days off here to allow muscles to rest, my blisters and open sores to close. Weather has been very good for the first weeks, however, is changing rapidly now and the temperatures are dropping. Winter will be here soon. A real concern is making it close enough to Komsomolskiy before it snows too heavily. Beyond there it’s another game altogether by the sound of it. Perhaps by then there will be enough snow for me to use skis and some kind of sled. That would allow me to carry the month’s worth of food and fuel I will need to make it the 500+km to Bilibino.

Going north-west, going strong.
Karl.

On 9th September we received a message from Karl stating that he had reached the ‘Mining Camp’ on schedule and all was well. Picking up some of his forwarded supplies, he will move northwards to Komsomolskiy (395km / 17 days). As there are only tracks and it’s summer Karl can use neither his trailer nor sled so will have to backpack all of his equipment across country. With the great distances involved, his dehydrated rations will have to be sent ahead to towns along the route. Full map coverage of this phase across the Chukotka Region can be seen by clicking on ‘Karl’s Summer Route’ on the home page. For those who experience problems opening this link, please ’save’ it and open with PowerPoint Viewer. When prompted for a password, click ‘Read Only’.

By the 28th August, Karl will have made his way to Anguema, a small village north of Egvekinot, by a series of boat trips and flights. As Karl is taking a more northerly summer route for the present, it will be easier to start at Anguema. Being a village he passed through on the last leg, he can start there without breaking the expedition’s golden rule, (no advancement of the actual expedition route by any other means than walking / swimming). As there are no roads and its summer Karl can use neither his trailer nor sled so will have to backpack all of his equipment across country. With the great distances involved, his dehydrated rations will have to be sent ahead to towns along the route. The general administration up to this point has been a trial but hopefully most of that is behind it us for the time being and Karl can get down to doing what he does best…. walking home.

On the 15th August, after several days waiting in Nome, Karl managed to get on a flight back to Anadyr in Russia. After just a bit of fuss he was cleared by Customs and will be staying in the accommodation where he and Dimitri stayed last time while waiting for the next flight up to Egvekinot. This being the town he reached on the last phase of the trek, Karl, (who will be on his own again from this point on), can then start walking from there. As there are no roads and its summer Karl can use neither his trailer nor sled so will have to backpack all of his equipment across country. With the great distances involved, his dehydrated rations will have to be sent ahead to towns along the route. Karl hopes to make 800 miles on this next leg before he will need to renew his visa and special permits once again and is forced to leave Russia. Unfortunate, but a fact of life we’re afraid.

It would appear that the agent we employed to handle obtaining permits etc. caused us a bit of a problem. Even though Karl gave pretty specific instructions as to how long this next leg would take, the agent (with a choice of two or six months permits) chose the lesser. Karl had to return to Alaska and begin the permits procedure over again. However, our new agent submitted the application in the middle of June and hopefully Karl will be able to return to Russia in late July / early August. As well as preparing for the return Karl will be giving a series of lectures / talks (under the auspices of his footwear sponsor ‘Zamberlan’) at the following locations :

• 18th July 07
  Vancouver ‘Mountain Equipment Corp’ (MEC)
• 19th July 07
  Seattle ‘REI’ store
• 26th July 07
  Anchorage ‘REI’ store

There is no doubt the permit problem has been a pain, but it is not a disaster and the expedition continues, albeit with a couple of hiccups……

More developments we could have done without I’m afraid. It would appear that the agent we employed to handle obtaining permits etc has caused us a bit of a problem. Even though Karl and Dimitri gave pretty specific instructions as to how long this next leg would take, the agent (with a choice of two months or six months permits) chose the lesser. This means that K and D will have to leave Russia by the end of this month. Dimitri was in fact leaving anyway, to continue his ‘Nexus Expedition’ later in the year, but Karl will now have to return to Alaska and begin the permits procedure over again. Luckily friends in the administration will try to ‘fast track’ the procedure, however this could still take 45 days. Karl hopes to be back in Chukotka in late July. This obviously means yet another change of route which will probably be to the north of the one he was going to use. Given the availability of aircraft, Karl will probably return to Alaska on 21st May.

We can announce that Karl and Dimitri have decided that they won’t be walking together from this point on. Had they managed to start walking in early January as planned then things may have been different, however, because of the enforced late start to this next leg they have constantly had to change the plans and routes. Due to disagreements over the best course of action it would appear each walker has decided to do the next leg in the way they consider the best. They have both reached Anguema (approximately 480 kilometres / 296 miles from Uelen) and will walk down to Egvekinot. It’s believed that Dimitri will then take an aircraft to Anadyr and return to the US. He will then return to Russia later this coming summer and complete his journey on a more northerly route than Karl’s.

Although there is still snow and ice about it is rapidly starting to thin out and Karl believes that at Egvekinot he will have to send his sled and most of his equipment down to Anadyr to be stored there, while carrying on with just a rucksack.

After a 10 hour ride in an all-terrain vehicle Karl and Dimitri finally arrived in Uelen on 12th April. They over-nighted in the police station before (at long last) setting off on the next leg. The going at that stage was quite good, with the ice nice and solid. Heading north-west along the northern coast of the Chukotskiy Peninsula they passed through the villages of Inchoun and Enurmino…as well as spending 36 hours tent bound because of storms… before arriving at the village of Neshkan on 24th April, some 193 kms / 119 miles from Uelen. K and D found hauling the 240lb sleds over some of the hills taxing, but feel sure they’ll settle back into their stride before too long. They stayed in Neshkan until 27th April to help heal up some blisters that Dimitri had picked up. They are now heading inland, westwards, towards Amguema, approx 287 kms / 177 miles. After initially having their anti-bear flares seized, they were able to buy some small flares from a local shop and supplemented this with a bag full of fireworks! Any close contact with a bear could now prove very entertaining, especially at night. Having had to leave their satellite phones in the hands of the authorities, they were kindly lent a sat-phone by a governmental department. Unfortunately this only has one battery and consequently can only be used for emergency purposes. Hopefully, by the time that they arrive back in Anadyr the problems with their own sat-phones may have been resolved. They anticipate being out of contact for the next three weeks or so.