An adventurer from Hokkaido plans to set out in March from an island in northern Canada on solo, unassisted trek on foot across about 800 kilometers of Arctic ice to the North Pole. If he succeeds, Yasunaga Ogita, a 34-year-old resident of the Hokkaido town of Takasu, would be the fourth person in the world and the first in Japan to accomplish an unassisted trek to the North Pole.
Ogita plans to cover the distance from Ward Hunt Island in Canada to the North Pole in about 50 days, while pulling a sleigh loaded with food and fuel and weighing 100 kilograms at the start of the grueling trek. On 11 previous trips to the Arctic, Ogita has trekked a total of about 7,000 kilometers, including an about 700-kilometer crossing of the Arctic completed in 2000 in a party headed by Japanese adventurer Mitsuro Oba. The route he will take in his solo trek to the North Pole is affected by ocean currents to a larger extent than one starting from Russian territories, and is considered difficult. Ogita, however, expresses confidence. ''I will dare to challenge in severer conditions. I am going to succeed,'' he said. In 2008, Ogita moved from his hometown in Kanagawa Prefecture to Takasu, where an acquaintance lived, to prepare for his solo trek to the North Pole. ''There is only a fine line between adventure and recklessness. Making experiences and building knowledge will lead to adventure,'' Ogita said. Ogita and his supporters are soliciting donations from the public to help fund the effort's estimated 10 million yen bill, including the cost of chartering an airplane.
Published on Monday, 20 February 2012
