Chinese Explorers Reach North Pole on Foot

Land occasionally gets exposed at North Pole in summer. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

To commemorate the 100-year anniversary of mankind’s reaching the North Pole, two Chinese explorers concluded their North Pole expedition successfully by reaching the Pole on foot at 17:04 on April 23.

After a three-day and two-night expedition from the base in Russia, 30 km (28 miles) from the Pole, the two explorers became new legends in the history of Chinese civilian outdoor exploration.

The two explorers, Wen Xu, from Tianjin, and Feng Yili, from Jiangsu province, are the winning contestants among tens of thousands of those in the “Red Bull Polar Exploration” competition, jointly sponsored by the Chinese Red Bull Corporation and the Travel Channel.

Twenty-two- year-old Wen Xu is the leader of the mountaineering team of the China University of Geosciences. He started mountaineering at age 15 and was able to quickly adjust to the North Pole’s harsh living conditions in this expedition. During the second half of the ordeal, he constantly encouraged and helped partner Feng Yili, who was dragging her own 35kg (77 lbs.) supplies.

The good teamwork between the two was exactly what had earned them the eligibility to take on the challenge during their training at Longyearbyen Base in Norway.

Read this article in Chinese.