Press /Media Contact:
Jessica Ceballos
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[email protected]
www.sebastiancopeland.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEBASTIAN COPELAND AND ERIC MCNAIR-LANDRY
COMPLETE TRIPLE NEW WORLD RECORD
ON ANTARCTICA CENTENNIAL
LOS ANGELES, CA, JANUARY 26, 2012 – on Jan 23 2012 at 22:30 hours, Sebastian Copeland and
Eric McNair-Landry made history with their 3rd consecutive polar first in as many months. The Antarctica
Legacy Crossing, led by Copeland, successfully completed a three-month transcontinental crossing of
Antarctica. The team started on November 5th, 2011, on the east coast of the continent and in total
covered 3,854 km (approx. 4100 adjusted km or 2,600 miles) on skis and kites, in 81 days. A book and
documentary will be forthcoming chronicling that mission completed on the centennial of the South Pole.
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The 1st record of the expedition came on December 27 , 2011 with the team’s reach of the Pole of
Inaccessibility (POI) 57 days after leaving the coast from the Novolazarevskaya Russian base station,
some 1,170 miles to the north. The successful completion of that crossing made them the first team in
history to reach the POI from the Eastern Coast of Antarctica, without outside support or motorized
transportation. The POI is the farthest point from any coast in Antarctica and is arguably the most remote
place on the planet. It is considered the hardest place to reach in Antarctica, A bust of Lenin, facing
Moscow, is all that remains of the buried Russian station that was abandoned since the late 1950’s,
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The 2 of Sebastian and Eric’s polar firsts was to link the POI to the geographic South Pole effectively
opening that.880 km route for the first time without motorized transportation or outside assistance
100 years ago explorers Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott made history with their first reach of
the South Pole. The Antarctica Legacy Crossing commemorates their extraordinary feat and courage,
with a historical crossing opening a never-before traveled course linking the Antarctic coasts east to west
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via two of its poles. That challenge was met on January 23 2012. The trip began in Cape Town on
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November 4 2011; from there a Russian Ilyushin 76 transported Sebastian and Eric, and their 800
pounds of food and gear to the eastern coast of Antarctica at Novolazarevskaya Station where they set
off on their three months journey, across the coldest continent on Earth. Among the many challenges
they faced was the herculean effort of pulling 400 pounds each up the glacier from sea level to 9500 feet
through treacherous hidden crevasse fields; -40C to -30C degree average temperatures outside of wind
chill; frostbite; broken ribs; altitude sickness; changing weather patterns that left them virtually windless
or pinned down by multi day storms; the bone rattling hard ice and the sastrugi they skied over at high
speeds with their kites; and much more. How Sebastian and Eric overcame these challenges has been
documented daily with photographs, on HD video, and the blog, and will now be assembled into a
documentary.
“There are few places on Earth that instantly conjure awe and a quiet respect. In 1911-12, Scott and
Amundsen etched their names in history by being the first to conquer the South Pole. This Legacy
crossing aims to honor their memory by linking, in one continuous trip, an East/West traverse of the most
inhospitable environment on Earth, setting tracks where no man has been before.”
Sebastian used iridium satellite technology to blog daily onto his website. Along with the daily entries, a
GPS signal also tracked the expedition’s progress onto a dynamic map. The daily entries with photos,
and the dynamic map are posted on his website at www.sebastiancopeland.com .
A tree will be planted for each kilometer traveled on this expedition, and the trip will be made Carbon
Neutral thanks to Climate Partner.
Other sponsors include HP, Napapijri, Revo Sunglasses, Lexar, Rossignol, Ozone Kites, Hilleberg tents,
Herbalife, Organic Food Bars and ColdAvenger.
ABOUT SEBASTIAN COPELAND
As an award-winning photographer, author, lecturer and environmental activist, Sebastian Copeland has
made the fight for the protection of the environment his life’s work. His photographic study of Antarctica,
assembled in the book Antarctica: The Global Warning, won him the IPA’s 2007 Photographer of the
Year award. In 2009, Copeland, a board member and tireless advocate for Global Green USA, traveled
the Arctic with expedition partner Keith Heger on a journey to reach the North Pole in hopes of raising
awareness on climate change and its effects on the Arctic region. The outcome of this voyage is the
riveting documentary Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul (2010). On Greenland, which he crossed in
2010 with partner Eric McNair-Landry, Sebastian set a world record for the longest distance traveled in a
twenty-four hour period on skis and kites, with 595 kilometers. As an international speaker on climate
crisis for over a decade, Copeland has addressed audiences at the United Nations, the World Affairs
Council, the General Assembly on Climate in New Orleans, the George Eastman House, Google
Headquarters and to Apple’s Senior Design Team amongst others. He has appeared on Larry King Live,
NBC, NPR, Air America, and Al Gore’s Current TV, as a champion of environmental causes. You can
follow Sebastian on Twitter at @sebcopeland, become a fan on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/SCopelandAdventures and visit the official site at
http://sebastiancopelandadventures.com/
ABOUT ERIC MCNAIR-LANDRY
Eric McNair-Landry studied engineering at Acadia University. In 2004-5 he took off a year of school to
join the family Kites on Ice Expedition and became the first American/Canadian to haul un-resupplied to
the South Pole. Eric has crossed the Greenland ice cap in its 2300 km South-North axis and holds, with
partner Sebastian Copeland, a world record for the longest distance traveled on kite and skis over a 24hour period, with 595 km. In 2011, Eric and his sister were the first to travel the length of the Northwest
Passage in winter on skis and kites. Eric is passionate about kiting. When there is no wind, he spends
his time in teaching himself computer graphics and website design.
Sebastian’s blog posts can be found at: www.sebastiancopeland.com
Sebastian on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/sebcopeland
Sebastian on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SCopelandAdventures
Sebastian Copeland Adventures YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/xSebastianCopelandx/