German and Russian Travellers set off on Dog-Harness Expedition

On March 1 German Professor Gerhard Hampel and Russian traveller Victor Simonov set off on a Tixie-Yakutsk extreme expedition.

Two dog-harnesses will take the travellers across Siberia. Starting from the Arctic coast the team will cross several climatic and geographical regions, including polar tundra, Siberian hills, Central Yakutia's taiga.

The travellers are to cross the Verkhoyansk mountain ridge and the world's coldest place, the town of Verkhoyansk. The route partly runs across the ice-clad Siberian rivers of Lena and Yana.

For the first time the team is to travel 1,500 kilometres along a most challenging off-road route in a dog-harness without taking any other means of transport.

"The expedition focuses on exploring East Siberian nature, life and traditions of the local population and studying dogs' behaviour in extreme conditions," expedition's initiator Gerhard Hampel told a press conference.

Besides, having gained an insight into the territory, the Professor intends to "change Europe's idea of Russian Siberia."