2 Detained for Crossing Bering on Foot

AP ^ | 4/4/6 | MARIA DANILOVA

[SmithL]

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian authorities have detained an American and a British citizen in the far east after the pair made a rare crossing by foot of a frozen 56-mile stretch of the Bering Strait, officials said Tuesday.

The two were arrested in Chukotka province for failing to register with the authorities, Andrei Orlov, spokesman for the Federal Security Service's (FSB) northeastern border guard division, said on NTV television. All visitors are required to register with police within three days of their arrival in Russia, even if they have visas.

Russian authorities did not identify the two or say when they were arrested.

But one of the adventurers, Briton Karl Bushby, said on his Web site that he and Dimitry Kieffer of Anchorage, Alaska, reached Chukotka province Friday. It took them 15 days to walk the 56 miles from Alaska to Russian territory.

The Web site said Bushby, a 36-year-old former paratrooper, made the crossing as part of a round-the-world walk that began in 1998 at the southern tip of South America.

Bushby's father, Keith, of Hereford, England, confirmed the two had arrived in Russia on Friday and had been detained sometime after that, though he did not know exactly when.

In a posting dated Friday, March 31, Karl Bushby's Web site said he and Kieffer were in the village of Uelen, near the point where the Bering Sea meets the Chukchi Sea, about 560 miles northwest of the provincial capital Anadyr.

Keith Bushby said the travelers were headed south down the coast en route to the city of Provideniya, about 380 miles northeast of Anadyr, to officially register with Russian authorities. But they were stopped on their way there in the small village of Lavrenty, about 500 miles northwest of Anadyr....

[null and void]

I suppose we all have our Bering to Cross...

[MeanWestTexan]

This certainly is "proof of concept" of the Bering Strait migration for American Indians.

[Smokin' Joe]

so much for the land bridge

Exactly. Even with 'global warming' it appears a crossing is 'fair game' any winter, with or without an ice age.

[doc30]

Ouch! That Hurt!

[null and void]

Yeah. tee hee hee...

[Centurion2000]

It took them 15 days to walk the 56 miles from Alaska to Russian territory.

What a couple of weaklings. This should have been a two-three day march at MOST.

[bert]

Helmet cam..... hahaha

Life on Free Rebublic is fantastic.

[Palladin]

Cool! That's what I call a Great Adventure.

[Palladin]

AAARGH! Worst pun of the day!

[ArrogantBustard]

What a couple of weaklings. This should have been a two-three day march at MOST.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it ...

Or perhaps you were being sarcastic?

[Palladin]

Sorry--that was a response to #21.

[null and void]

'sok.

I'm *blushing*

[Captain Rhino]

Fifteen days does seem a bit long even when you consider the heaved and broken condition of the pack ice. Must have had to do quite a bit of cutting back and forth and probably covered much more than the straight line 56 miles. However, they are really damn lucky not to have been attacked and eaten by polar bears. Several previous attempts have been turned back after encountering them.

[Centurion2000]

Not sarcastic at all ....
4mph walking for 8 hours is 32 miles.
3mph walking for 8 hours is 24 miles.

[Zeppo]

Luckily for them, the polar bears are all stranded on small ice floes, at least according to the photos publicized by the Anthropogenic Global Warming lobby...

[mwl1]

These folks needed Cynthia McKinney with them to get past the security.

[ArrogantBustard]

I understand your point. BUT: Sea ice is a heaved, broken, shifting nightmare, particularly so in the Bering Sea. Leads can open unexpectedly, for no obvious reason, and force lengthy detours. The weather is brutal, and whiteout conditions are common. The day is short.

I'm not about to second-guess them. I'm not an expert on Arctic operations; I've had colleagues who are. Everything takes 'way longer, and is immensely harder to do up (down) there.

[johnny7]

How many armies do you get for taking Kamchatka?

[noblejones]

>>
I suppose we all have our Bering to Cross...
<<

DING! DING! DING! You win today's prize for best pun!

[propertius]

they don't walk in a straight line my dear chap. The ice sheet is not continuous so they had to zigzag -- quintuple the distance at least in treacherous conditions. They often would have been clambering up sheer cliffs of ice as well.

This is the first recorded case of anyone crossing the Strait from east to west -- an astonishing feat that we should laud, not sneer at.