Skipper heads for volcano’s heights

May 29 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

YACHT skipper Mark Richardson sets sail from the Tyne tomorrow for the only active volcano on Norwegian territory.

His destination is Jan Meyen, a 35km long island in the Arctic Sea 550 miles north west of mainland Norway.

Mark, 28, who lives in Whickham in Gateshead, will be taking a dozen Norwegian mountaineers to climb the volcano, which is 2,000 metres high.

Jan Meyen is the prize peak in the Norwegian equivalent of the Scottish Munro mountains, where climbers “bag” summits over a certain height.

“There is a cult activity of climbing mountains over 2,000m and Jan Meyen is the last peak for most of the participants to climb,” said Mark.

His 72ft yacht Polar Bear will leave its berth at Royal Quays in North Shields tomorrow and head for Bodo in northern Norway just above the Arctic Circle.

“We will be stopping at Lerwick in the Shetland islands on the way for fish and chips,” said Mark. Mark, who runs the Polar Front adventure sailing business, has been chartered by the Norwegian-based Eco Expeditions adventure travel company for two trips to Jan Meyen.

The charters are worth £20,000 each to Polar Front for a fully provisioned boat and crew catering for a dozen clients.

It will take around four days to sail from Lofoten to Jan Meyer, but with no harbours or sheltered areas the mountaineers will have to be landed by dinghy – if the weather allows. Six days will be spent making a base camp and climbing the volcano.