THE THIRD RUSSIAN YOUTH EXPEDITION
TO THE NORTH POLE

The third Russian Youth Expedition to the North Pole took place from April 16 to April 22, 2010. The young adherents of travelling, sport and healthy mode of life from seven Russian regions for the third time made an assault of the boundless space of the Arctic. The team of the Expedition covered 110 km – the last degree of the meridian along the drifting ice of the Arctic.

On April 22 in the morning the flags of Russia and the Russian regions, whose representatives were included in the team of the Expedition, and the flag of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games Sochi-2014 were hoisted at the North Pole.

Four girls and three boys were chosen in the team out from five hundred teenagers of their age. They demonstrated good physical fitness, courage and persistence in achieving their goal. Quite suddenly the warm weather in the Central Arctic in spring 2010 broke down close pack-ice perennial ice fields and piled up hummocked ice ridges. Overcoming of these obstacles and searching the way around took a lot of strength of the team. The constant unfavorable drift of the ice, a lot of leads and open water became the real test of courage and the team's spirit of the young explorers, which they endured honourably.

Matvey Shparo and Boris Smolin, aces of the Arctic crossings, were the leaders of the team of the young explorers. The names of Matvey Shparo and Boris Smolin are recorded in the Guinness Book of the World's Records.

Also see YouTube.com:

• This is our Arctic!
• The second Russian Youth Expedition to the North Pole
• Training M.Shparo and B.Smolin in the Longa Strait (spring 2007).