August 1, 2007
Journalism Alumnus to Trek Across Greenland Ice Cap
Brice Minnigh, a 1993 Belmont Journalism grad, is embarking Aug. 3 with two friends on a 700-km unsupported crossing of the Greenland ice cap, the world's second-largest after Antarctica. The trio will need to travel approximately 20 km a day in average temperatures of -20 to -30 degrees Celsius in order to reach their destination in 35 days, a time frame determined by the amount of food they will be able to carry with them on sleds.
Minnigh and fellow travelers David Jessop and Stephen Wright are no strangers to extreme adventure having previously taken on epic mountain bike journeys across rugged and remote regions, high altitude mountaineering expeditions and treks across vast areas of unexplored wilderness. In 2004, the team skied across the polar icecap to reach the North Pole.
Minnigh, a Belmont Fulbright scholar and a long-time reporter for various publications in China and Hong Kong, writes, “We'll start at sea level on the east coast, ascend the glaciers to reach the plateau, then haul our way up and over the ice cap before descending to the fjords along the west coast. This promises to be every bit as challenging as our North Pole journey, with even lower average temperatures and the worst winds outside of Antarctica - only this time we're trading the danger of open-water leads for crevasses.”
The three men will use their trip to raise funds for longtime charity partner ORBIS, a nonprofit humanitarian organization dedicated to blindness prevention and treatment in developing countries. This time the group hopes to equip eight village eye-care centers in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China with the tools and surgical equipment needed to help restore sight to thousands of needlessly blind children. To learn more about Minnigh’s Trans-Greenland expedition or to contribute to the team’s fundraising project, click here.
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