Youth team to ski to the North Pole
© RIA Novosti. Ramil Sitdikov

Youth team to ski to the North Pole

The ninth Russian youth expedition Skiing to the North Pole will start on April 11, headed by travelers Matvei Shparo and Alexei Seikin. The team will include seven girls and boys aged 16-17, according to a news conference held at the TASS news agency.

The polar explorers will begin their trip from the Barneo drifting station at 89 degrees north latitude and ski to 90 degrees. They will have to cover 110 km in about seven days. At the final point of their trip, the explorers will plant the flags of Russia, their regions and educational institutions and bury a capsule with a message to future generations.

According to Shparo, preparations for the expedition lasted over six months. Only seven participants were selected out of 400 applicants since January 2015. Preference was given to students. The Ministry of Education and Science also held an online quiz, Do You Know the Arctic?, among the applicants, involving 81,990 people from all of the Russian regions.

The youth team underwent physical and psychological tests and tried their hand at a winter camp in Karelia.

"Last year, we supported the Skiing to the North Pole expedition <…> It was not just an educational project, but a heroic deed for young people. They are kind of heroes, and therefore serve as a good example for other children in the country," said Alexander Stradze, director of the department of state policy in youth and children's education of the Ministry of Education and Science.

Yury Konstantinov, vice president of the International Academy of Youth and Children's Tourism and Local History, said that there are plans to hold many activities in Russia to promote children's tourism, including the Arctic Olympiad on Spitsbergen (Svalbard).