Lewis Gordon Pugh: Adventurer Plans To Kayak To North Pole

Lewis Gordon Pugh is planning on kayaking to the North Pole beginning in August.  If his name doesn’t sound familiar, it should to some of my loyal readers.  Pugh made some headlines last year when he became the first person to swim at the North Pole.  His efforts to bring attention to global warming by swimming at the North Pole soon erupted into a bit of controversy, as first reported by ExplorersWeb.

Lewis Gordon Pugh’s latest expedition will be based on the same theory.  If Global Warming doesn’t exist, he shouldn’t be able to kayak straight to the pole.  His hope is that he can’t get there.  If he does, it just proves that the arctic ice is melting at a faster pace.  That is his thoughts.

Lewis Gordon Pugh will be taking off on this adventure on August 29th.  He will begin his kayak adventure from the Norwegian Island of Spitsbergen, then hopefully arrive at the Pole three weeks later.  He will cover a distance of 745 miles.  If he reaches his goal’s destination, Pugh could become the first person to ever kayak to the North Pole.

Pugh is known as “the human polar bear” around the adventure circles.  He has gained that nickname after embarking on quite a few swimming adventures in sub-freezing temperatures.  His swim last year, in the freezing waters at the North Pole, lasted 18 minutes.

Once Pugh reaches his destination by kayak, he will proceed to establish 192 flags, one representing each country of the world (even though I am pretty sure there are over 300 countries now in existence).

Lewis Gordon Pugh has been training with Robert Hedegus, a seven-time world kayaking champion, in Hungary.  Hedegus will be pacing Mr. Pugh’s kayaking adventure.  Sir Richard Branson’s son, Sam Branson, will also be taking part in this expedition and recording it, along with his observations, on his own blog documenting the expedition.

You can follow along with Lewis Gordon Pugh’s arctic kayaking trip by logging on to his personal website.

You can also read a nice interview by Mr. Pugh that he recently conducted with Wales Online.