In July 2012, Dutch adventurer Yuri Klaver will attempt to cross Arctic North America and beyond by kayak and skis. Titled the Polar American Traverse, Klaver will travel over 10,000 kilometers in his journey and will follow a route similar to the one Roald Amundsen sailed in 1906 from Asia to Europe. If successful, Klaver will be the first person to cross Arctic America without machine support. In July 2012, Dutch adventurer Yuri Klaver will attempt to cross Arctic North America and beyond by kayak and skis. Titled the Polar American Traverse, Klaver will travel over 10,000 kilometers in his journey and will follow a route similar to the one Roald Amundsen sailed in 1906 from Asia to Europe. If successful, Klaver will be the first person to cross Arctic America without machine support.


Klaver will embark on the first leg of his expedition just north of the Kamchatka peninsula in Siberia. After an initial thousand kilometers Klaver will cross the Bering Strait to Alaska. Once reaching Alaska he will kayak as far north as possible and then cross the Brooks Range, using his kayak as a sled. He expects to reach the Beaufort Sea in May 2013, where he plans to continue eastwards along the Canadian coast.

Klaver plans to begin the second leg the expedition in the winter of 2014, when he will travel by snow kite along the Northwest Passage north of Baffin Island. In the summer of 2014 he will paddle southwards along the east coast of Baffin Island.

The final leg of the expedition includes a traverse to the Greenland ice shelf in the summer of 2015. When Klaver finally reaches the east coast of Greenland he will have covered 10,000 kilometers and will then kayak to Iceland if weather permits.

Kokatat is providing Klaver with a custom made GORE-TEX® Expedition dry suit. Kokatat’s dry suits, which are made in the USA and are individually tested to Kokatat’s stringent requirements, are relied on by some of the world’s most renowned explorers and expedition sea kayakers.

Klaver has completed a number of solo expeditions including a trip down the Indigirka River into the extremely remote far east of Siberia in 2011.

The expedition not only aims to set a world record, it also aims to preserve the spirit of exploration, to provide incentives for nature conservation and to show that the sustainable approach stands for effectiveness and reliability in the most demanding surroundings. The Polar American Traverse supports the natural environment by donating 40% of the generated sponsorship income to the World Wildlife Fund.

To follow Klaver’s progress and find out more about the Polar American Traverse and his other adventures visit OutdoorEmpathy.com.

For more information on this and other Kokatat sponsored expeditions visit http://www.kokatat.com/expeditions.

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