Matvey Shparo: “Our expedition is a story about looking beyond the ends of the earth and beyond the horizon”

Today, the Great Arctic Expedition started from Cape Shcherbinin under the leadership of the famous polar explorer Matvey Shparo. For nine days, a group of schoolchildren will ski on the ice of the Arctic Ocean to Cape Chelyuskin to meet the second part of the detachment there. Together with young polar explorers, MK correspondent Olga SAPRYKINA went to Cape Shcherbinin, who will report on the expedition.

Early in the morning the fate of the expedition was still in doubt. To get to Cape Sherbinin, the starting point of the BAE 2023 Great Arctic Expedition, you must first fly there by helicopter from Khatanga. So, Khatanga on this Saturday morning met us with a blizzard and gusty wind. For some time it was not clear whether they would even give permission to fly.

But, apparently, somewhere in the heavenly office they realized how important it was for these seven schoolchildren to start on the road today, so by the time of departure, the blizzard, as if on schedule, subsided and the sun came out. But in fact, the fate of the expedition was decided a few months ago, when a competitive selection for participation was announced. Hundreds of schoolchildren from all over Moscow participated in difficult tests, where there was a lot – from the “Arctic dictation” to a trial trip around Karelia. As a result, 14 people were selected: the seven most enduring were in the group “Pioneers” (it was they who went on skis on a journey of 100 kilometers today), the smartest – in the group “Arctic Science” (they will be thrown to Cape Chelyuskin by helicopter from Khatanga already tomorrow, there they will be engaged in scientific research at the Fedorov Joint Hydrometeorological Station together with local polar scientists while waiting for the skiers). It is noteworthy that participation in the expedition for the schoolchildren themselves is absolutely free, although many would definitely give a lot of money to go to the very ends of the Earth like this, and even under the guidance of Matvey Shparo himself.

This expedition is the main brainchild of Matvey. At some point, he, a polar explorer, who, thanks to his trips, entered the Guinness Book of Records and at the same time into the history books, realized that his experience and knowledge should be shared with the younger generation. The first hike with children took place back in 2008. True, then it was trips to the North Pole. Then there was a break for two years due to the pandemic, and later there were understandable problems with logistics. After all, to get to the North Pole, you need to fly to the islands of Svalbard, then – to the drifting ice. Now this is an almost impossible task, so from now on the BAE takes place in Taimyr.

“Going here, I immediately remembered Vysotsky,” Matvey Shparo told MK before the start. – He has a wonderful song about driving on the highway to look beyond the horizon – whether there is anything there or not. And now our expedition is just a story about looking beyond the ends of the earth, beyond the horizon. Not in terms of what we will see there ice-ice-ice. In fact, the guys who go on this difficult journey look beyond this horizon and find themselves there – renewed, with some new tasks of their own. Last year, those who participated in the BAE admitted that their worldview had completely changed, even their outlook on the future had changed.”

How the current participants will come to the finish line will be monitored by MK and transmitted from the scene.