A team of die-hard Land Rover enthusiasts recently took the evergreen Defender to one of the coldest places on earth.
Sponsored by Land Rover and The Royal Geographical Society, the Defender travelled more than 20 000km through countries including Denmark and Norway.
They have been as far north as the top of Norway and Finland, hundreds of kilometres above the Arctic Circle, and along the Trans-Siberian Highway. So far temperatures have been as low as -58 degrees C.
Their final destination, the Oymyakon region, but also known as the Pole of Cold, earned its title when a temperature of -67,7 degrees C was recorded in February 1933.
The team – led by experienced British adventurer Felicity Aston – were recipients of the sixth annual Land Rover Bursary. They include Manu Palomeque, a photographer and film-maker, and Gisli Jonsson, a highly experienced cold-weather engineer, mechanic and winter driving advisor.
The team will now set out to cover the 15,000km back to the UK. Their return route will take them through Altai in southern Siberia, into Kazakhstan and then back through southern Scandinavia, eventually returning to Harwich and London. Once back in the UK the team plan to run an exhibition of their findings across the UK, as well as publishing their findings and photography from the trip.