We are proud to introduce Alex Hibbert as new friend of the Luminox brand and support him on his next two expeditions in January and February.
Alex Hibbert is the world record-holding polar traveler who has skied further on an unsupported Arctic journey than anyone in history. In July 2008, he completed his 1374-mile, 113-day ‘Long Haul’ return crossing of a new ice sheet route along with team-mate George Bullard. They received no resupplies or physical support and completed the final week on almost no food.
In the winter of 2019, Alex Hibbert will make a pair of world record attempts in different regions of the Arctic. The main focus will be, on both journeys, an athletic and technical challenge against the clock - distilling Alex's hundreds of days of experience into fast, intense experiences. In the truest sense that #EverySecondCounts, Alex's every navigational decision, equipment choice and extra hour of effort on skis will dictate his success or failure.
Expedition One: Western Greenland, north of the Arctic Circle
In early January, still in the mid-winter with limited sunlight, Alex will travel between the coastal Inuit community of Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq, the airstrip from where he'll fly back to Europe. This route is the famed 165km Arctic Circle Trail, considered by the few who attempt it each summer to be one of the most challenging and stunning anywhere on Earth. Alex will make the journey in winter, when the valleys, mountains and lakes will be shrouded with snow and conditions are most demanding, and will only encounter another person in the unlikely event that a local Greenlander makes the journey by sled that early in the season. At first the route is steep and mountainous, becoming more exposed, and colder, further inland. He will have to deal with the chance of blizzards, thin lake ice, deep snow drifts, and intense cold. With the typical time taken on foot being a week or more, Alex will aim to more than halve the time taken to complete the ACT, and set a World Record. The likely dates on the trail are 11-13th Jan.
Expedition Two: Svalbard, High Arctic Island group (Norway/Russia)
Following on from his journey in Greenland, the next month and still in the grip of the Arctic winter, Alex will venture yet further north into the High Arctic and take his quest for speed up another level. He has identified a route on the main island of the remote polar island group of Svalbard, home to polar bears, caribou and a few hardy locals. This journey will be a test of his fitness, efficiency and instinct honed over years of polar travel as he attempts to set the 24hr polar ski distance World Record - that is, the longest distance achieved by a skier in a polar region and with a virgin, natural snow surface. With much of the route to be covered in the darkness, Alex will need to combine the enormous physical challenge of resisting fatigue with strong navigation and a wariness of the island's population of polar bears. He will begin a few kilometers away from the activity of the town of Longyearbyen and head east through a large valley, before turning north towards a partially frozen fjord. There, he will skirt the mountains and ski south before completing the route back to Longyearbyen. During the 24hr period, Alex will stop only briefly to eat and drink, and will take only the lightest of supplies in a small custom sledge. This World Record attempt will aim to set a new bar for athletic performance in the icy regions, and is projected to begin around 25th Feb.
You want to know more about Alex and his expeditions? Follow us and Alex on social media and join his races against the clock.
Meet Alex on Social Media:
https://twitter.com/alexhibbert
https://www.instagram.com/alexhibbert/
Meet us on Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/Luminox/
https://www.instagram.com/luminoxworld/
Q&A session with Alex Hibbert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thMrUxg5oU4