Expedition 2012 - North Pole to Svalbard
Timo Palo and Audun Tholfsen from Norway did a kayak/ski expedition from the North Pole to Svalbard (approx 1400 km) in spring/summer of 2012. Information about their trip is on www.arcticreturntour.com. System X sponsored the expedition with Werner paddles.
Audun Tholfsen
He is a Norwegian, who is born in Lillehammer 1972. Since the time of teenager he has immersed himself in the outdoors. Worked as a white water river guide and photographer for several years. After that Audun moved further north to Spitsbergen, where worked as snowmobile guide and dog musher. Previously he has done several ski trips in Svalbard and Norway. Together with Timo, they crossed Greenland icecap on skies. Audun spent ten months as crewmember on French sailing vessel Tara. She froze into the Arctic pack ice close to New Siberian Islands and drifted across the entire Arctic Ocean. Currently, Audun works in Longyearbyen to provide logistic solutions and field support in Arctic regions.
Timo Palo
Timo is an Estonian, born in Võru 1979. He is from the scenic southern-east part of Estonia. Skiing became his passion in early days already. After years of practicing biathlon and tasting of adventure sport, he is now fully concentrated to the polar regions. Working and studying in polar meteorology as a PhD student in University of Tartu, he has been participated on several scientific cruises and field work campaigns in the Arctic and lately also in Antarctica. Timo has previously done several ski trips in Svalbard, Norway and Khibiny mountains. In 2008 he and Audun crossed Greenland ice cap. Before Timo had crossed Estonia and Hardangervidda mountain plateau in Norway. He also worked as a crewmember on board of schooner Tara during her transpolar drift. Seasonally Timo has been working in Spitsbergen on the logistic and and field support in the same company as Audun do. Some years for now Timo has had a passion in outdoor photography, focusing on polar world.
UPDATE JAN 2014
The expedition has made it into the Guiness Book of World Records! ...... and Timo has written a book about their experiences.
