Russian Extreme Travellers Drive over 3,500 Kilometres Offroad in Expedition to Cape Chelyuskin

Members of the Russian extreme team RGO Expo led by explorer Bogdan Bulychev have completed the Arctic stage of the Cape Chelyuskin – Cape Piai international expedition after travelling from Yakutsk to the northernmost point of Eurasia and back. The expedition took place as part of the events of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023, which are managed by the Roscongress Foundation.

The expedition route passed through the cities of Mirny and Udachny, Taimyr Peninsula, Middendorf Cave, and the Byrranga Mountains, crossing the Arctic Circle along the Anabar winter road. The trailblazers were the first to travel the entire route to Cape Chelyuskin overland exclusively by car. More than 3,500 kilometres of the route was offroad.

“The Cape Chelyuskin – Cape Piai project has a common goal: to show that it is possible to travel around Russia. This can be done using any form of transport: if you have a car, you can go to a neighbouring region and it will be a journey. If you don’t have a car, get on your bike. If you don’t have one, you can go on foot. That’s also a journey. We see all the complexity of our world through travel,” Bogdan Bulychev, the leader of the expedition and a member of the Russian Geographical Society, said during a press conference in Yakutsk.

The project’s main goals are to promote tourism in Russia’s Far Eastern and Arctic regions as well as develop routes for foreign tourists. The expedition members passed through national villages, some of which are also ready to receive tourists.

The expedition team included four Russian travellers: Bogdan Bulychev (leader), Yevgeny Shatalov (navigator), Mirlan Turkmenov (second navigator), and Anton Golikov (photo/video operator). With the expedition to Cape Chelyuskin, the team completed the plan to reach the three most extreme points of Eurasia: they visited Cabo da Roca in 2018 and Cape Dezhnev in 2020. They plan to reach Cape Piai in Malaysia by car in 2024.

With the expedition officially completed on 10 April, the travellers held a meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian President in the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic Alexey Chekunkov, and Head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Aysen Nikolayev. The expedition members shared the results of their work, talked about plans for the near future, and discussed joint projects.

The trip was organized by RGO Expo expedition centre with the support of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic and Head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Aysen Nikolayev.

RGO Expo has already made several extreme trips in the past: to the North Pole by bicycle, across the ice of the Arctic Ocean to the New Siberian Islands, as well as a more than 40,000-kilometre trip on offroad vehicles through 14 countries of Europe and Asia. RGS Expo has conducted a total of more than 15 major international and Russian expeditions since 2015.

Russia is chairing the Arctic Council in 2021–2023. A cross-cutting priority of the chairmanship is to ensure responsible governance over the sustainable development of the Arctic. The comprehensive programme of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council aims to promote cooperation to improve the well-being and quality of life of the Arctic population, including the Indigenous peoples of the North, adapt the Arctic to the effects of climate change, conserve the biodiversity and unique ecosystems of the Arctic, ensure socioeconomic development, find solutions in matters concerning global energy and transport security, promote scientific cooperation in high latitudes, and strengthen international cooperation.