Swiss solo Arctic training expedition abandoned

Thomas Ulrich has carried out other training expeditions in the North pole visualimpact.ch / Jonas Jaeggy

A Swiss adventurer who was trying to make it as the first person to cross the Arctic on foot and unsupported has abandoned a training trip, which would have seen him complete half of his target distance. 

Thomas Ulrich guided a group to the North Pole from Russia and then set off solo towards Canada to finish the journey he had planned to make entirely alone in 2016. 

He travelled 80km in three days in tough conditions. Ulrich’s expedition manager, Hans Ambühl told swissinfo.ch that Ulrich faced “white-outs and stormy winds” along the way. He was walking and using skis and a kite to pull him along. 

On Friday, April 17 however, Ulrich contacted Ambühl via his satellite phone and told him he was stopping the test expedition and would return to Barneo ice base, Russia, before flying back to Switzerland via Spitsbergen. 

Ambühl said he was “very surprised” at the decision, but explained Ulrich had faced a number of physically and mentally demanding situations in the first few days of being alone on the ice. 

“He had already used up a good amount of luck to get out of several critical situations without physical injury. One of them was a wide crack in the ice that opened just six feet (1.8 metres) from his tent overnight – he discovered it [by chance] and moved his camp.” 

Ulrich made a similarly-fated attempt to achieve his dream of crossing the Arctic alone in 2006 – that expedition was called off almost before it began, as extreme weather left him stranded on a piece of ice shortly after setting off, awaiting rescue by helicopter. 

Since then the adventurer has been working with a mental coach to prepare himself to try again. 

Ulrich reached Barneo ice camp on Monday. Ambühl said he was uncertain what would happen next regarding the expedition, adding, “that is what test expeditions are for: to find the weak points”.