Preparations for the Arctic Crossing, "Chasing Ice" awareness for Global warming.

The start of the Arctic Crossing expedition is now planned for July 15. This will be my most challenging crossing so far. Icebergs, remote location , weather and solo  and unsupported  200 nautical miles across the Arctic ocean. 

I will be flying July 15 to Canada, Montreal and than onward to Ottawa, then Ilqaluit and than a small airplane to Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut. This is a small airport and village with 500 inhabitant. 

Here I will test the gear and wait for a good weather window to cross from Canada to Greenland. So the actual crossing will start between July 16-23.

I have been studying the weather maps and gathering the gear after I came back from 4 weeks racing and traveling in Europe. This expedition involves a lot of different aspects. Paddle Gear, Navigation, food, safety, transportation to this remote location. 

PATAGONIA came along this adventure as my new sponsor and supplied me with warm clothing for this trip. Very stoked, very good gear

Other than my last 2 crossings I will be using a drysuit from SUPSKIN this crossing which will keep me dry and also warmer and more comfortable. 

I will have one thick and hooded Patagonia wetsuit in case of emergency.  

Although I have a Epirb for extreme emergencies I also decided to bring a satellite phone this time. Since this has been my biggest challenge sofar I wanted to give peace of mind to my wife (Dagmar) and daughter (Soleil) and I can give daily updates of my progress. 

With this crossing  I would like to create more awareness for global warming. As I said earlier my inspiration  for this crossing came from a documentary I saw 6 months ago. In 'Chasing Ice',James Balog shows, through 25 stationary cameras at 25 glaciers world wide, how fast glaciers are melting. He supports this with evidence that this is mainly due to global warming.