Thirteen teams from as the UK, Canada, the US, Australia and someone flying the St. George’s Cross have set out to cross the Siberia on old school Ural motorbikes to the only town in the world sitting on the Arctic circle.

The February 12th, launch was captured by local Russian TV news, notably including British adventurer Chris Marsh from Team Ice Ice Maybe has his unfortunate loss control of his team’s Ural.

Contributing factors to this toboggan ride over a snowback and down a 15 foot ditch, may have Marsh’s taking hands off the handlebars to wave to people as the team set out. Luckily and most importantly Marsh was uninjured, but is more closely acquainted with the difference in a motorcycle’s handling when you have a side car with a team member shoehorned in, a ton of kit, studded tyres and the expectation of driving the entire setup in the snow.

Dan Wedgewood, part of the Adventurist team “Fighting to make the world less boring” (and there is a sentiment we can stand behind), has commented that despite the high spirits, “funnily enough it turns out the Ice Run really is very very dangerous and it’s pretty wild out there. And cold. Really really cold by the sounds of it…”

From the outset most of the teams got hopelessly lost, a potentially dangerous mistake in this terrain, but one picked up a local who agreed to guide them back towards a route that would actually lead somewhere. On the way they apparently drunk lots of vodka, ate bear meat and ‘shot guns a lot’, so things are suitably wild.

Will Kemble-Clarkson of Team Mechanical Mounties reported, “Initial northern approach blocked, helpful locals guided team across back-country, going slowed by stopping to eat bear meat and fire guns. Hairy encounter with drunk village led to all night push at -27 degrees Celsius. All vehicles busted but towed in column by local lorry and awaiting repairs.”

Will also reported “Oh and someone’s dog was munched by a wolf last week: The Siberian version weighs in at 100 kilos, which is a whole lot of fur and teeth.”

Other teams are having suitably interesting times as well, The Adventurists’ very own Rob Mills who normally manages their biggest adventure, the Mongol Rally, and his team mate Olly (a stuntman) have got themselves into all sorts of pickles already. The duo, known as Team Numb Nuts, got very lost, got towed by a truck which mangled the bike, then flipped the Ural so Olly got dragged along with his foot trapped under the bike. Olly was was OK, which given he’s a stuntman is probably a qualified statement. Like most of the teams, Team Numb Nuts, have ended up having unplanned -30C overnights camping as they keep getting lost or having impressive mechanical breakdowns and not making it to the villages they are aiming for each day.

Organizers The Adventurists believe that real adventure can only be had when you make things intentionally difficult, so the Urals used by all teams are second-hand, and unlike the brand new versions are likely to break down in the extreme environment. There is no back up, no set route and emergency rescue services in the region are almost non-existent. The journey is likely to be made exclusively on ice roads, through mostly unsigned areas and villages that don’t appear on maps. With their luggage and team mate shoehorned into the side car they have minimal room for equipment, tools or spares.

As a local policeman said to Will Kemble-Clarkson, a British Ice Run team member at the launch site: “Nobody takes the ice roads, they are only for lorries, bears and wolves…”

Team Numb Nuts, Rob and Olly, story told through SMS updates to the website relays the sense of the adventure:

Tuesday 14th February: Due to both bikes breaking down, we fell behind today. After rebuilding parts of both engines, we’ve made the decision to drive into the night to make up for lost time and catch up with the pack 100km in front. At least the lights on the bikes work!

Thursday 16th February: Still alive. Took a seriously dangerous wrong turn, turned out not to be a shortcut but a dangerous off road long cut. 3 days away from civilisation we would have been screwed if it wasn’t for some locals off-roading. Bikes broken and smashed to bits after being towed for 15km off road. Camped in -27 [degrees celsius] last 3 nights. Knackered.
 
Additional comment was made regarding the team arriving at a small village to havet repairs made to the bikes: “Thursday 09.40. Spoke to Olly. All four guys (Team Guinea Pig and Numb Nuts) are ok and are now in small village. Plan is to try to find truck to take them north to major town to get bikes fixed up and then continue on main ice road.”

Thursday 16th February: Also Olly came off the bike while it was being towed. It flipped over going into a ditch and got his foot caught under the carb and got dragged along under the bike until the truck driver realised what was going on. Luckily OIly’s ridiculously large snow boots protected him and his [sic] OK.”

Intriguing stuff for those of us stuck pushing a desk and dreaming of sub-arctic adventure. Those dreams can be fueled by following the Live Tracking Map and update stream on the Adventurists website and the adventures photo galleries of the launch and from the road.

NOTE: Each team is also raising at least £1000 for a charity of their choice and the adventure is generously supported by Ural, Oxford Products and Buff®.