Italian Adventurer Plans To Spend A Year Living On An Iceberg

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By: Kraig Becker
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Italian adventurer Alex Bellini has accomplished some pretty impressive things in the course of his career. He estimates that he has run more than 23,000 km (14,290 miles), competing in such races as the legendary Marathon des Sables and Alaska Ultra. He has also rowed across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, amongst other challenging journeys. But his next adventure may be his most demanding yet. Bellini plans to spend a year living on an iceberg as it shrinks in size and eventually disappears altogether. He hopes that these efforts will help raise awareness of climate change.

The Adventure Journal had the opportunity to sit down with Alex and ask him about this venture. He says that for the most part, he’ll be completely alone on the ice, although he does plan to meet with journalists and bloggers for a time. He also says that he doesn’t want to be labeled as an environmentalist, but he remains an explorer instead. Bellini hopes that this adventure will allow him to share the urgent need for us to address climate change as he documents the death of an iceberg first hand.

In the interview, Alex also talks about his inspirations for this adventure, what it was like to row across the Pacific, but run into trouble just 65 miles from the finish line and how he’ll select his iceberg. In regards to that last point, he says that the iceberg is still being formed, but that it will exist northwest of Greenland “between 70°N and 74°N.”

It will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out. Living alone on an iceberg for a year should provide some unique challenges, particularly as the space begins to grow smaller and smaller. You can find out more in the video below and on Alex’s website. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter for more updates as well.

Alex Bellini . Adrift. LongVersion ENG from BigRock on Vimeo.

Kraig Becker
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