Sea Rovers conquer Bering Straits

5:30am Friday 22nd August 2008

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Two Yorkshiremen have become the first people to cross the Bering Straits between Russia and Alaska in a road vehicle.

Dan Evans, 38, of Cononley, adapted the vehicle with the help of his Skipton-based roll cage manufacturing company.

And he went along with team leader Steve Burgess, 52, of Mirfield, when he drove the Land Rover Defender 10,379 miles in 50 days to the Easternmost tip of Russia arriving there in April.

Instead of trying to cross the water when it was covered with ice, as previous explorers had tried to do and failed, the men waited for the summer when the ice had melted.

They then strapped two huge floats on the sides of his car, added a motor and propeller on the back and sailed across the 56-mile stretch of water, pausing on the island of Little Diomede as the weather closed in, before continuing a few weeks later when conditions improved. The team landed on the beach of Wales, Alaska, on August 8.

Dan said: “It’s an amazing relief now we’ve returned. Crossing Russia was extremely hard work as there was a lot of paperwork to do.

“The actual crossing went just about faultlessly.

“It felt fantastic when we made it across – my wife and daughter are very proud.”

Steve said: “It’s been a phenomenal trip.

“I can’t say it was all enjoyable – I wouldn’t do it again – but it has been incredible. We were on ice roads virtually all the way from Moscow – thousands and thousands of miles.”

He had driven across icy tundra and frozen riverbeds with temperatures as low as minus 46 degrees Celsius in some of the most remote places on earth.

“Landing on Wales was brilliant”, he said. “It was the culmination of nearly nine years’ work, and to be the first to get across was incredible. I’d watched other people before me try to do it – rich people, big companies, and I thought: ‘How am I going to square up to these people?’ But I showed them how it’s done.”

Despite the achievement so far, the explorers’ epic journey is far from over.

The team originally planned to travel from Cape Town in South Africa to Cape Horn in South America over land except for the Bering Straits. Unfortunately, crossing Russia took up too much of their resources so they had to forego the Africa leg.

However they want to raise more funds to continue the trip, driving through Alaska, all the way down North and South America to Cape Horn.

Steve and his team are raising money for Woodhead Mountain Rescue, a search and rescue service in England and Wales.

To sponsor them visit http://www.justgiving.com/cape tocape.

email: tanya.orourke @telegraphandargus.co.uk