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Pole to Pole 2000
Pole to Pole 2000
Pole to Pole 2000 was a human-powered expedition that united eight young people from around the world to journey from the North Magnetic Pole to the South Pole at the turn of the millennium. Combining extreme exploration with humanitarian outreach, the project gathered millions of youth pledges for positive action, culminating at the South Pole just hours before the year 2001. project mission
Pole to Pole 2000 was a human-powered expedition created by the Millennium Leadership Institute in 100 Mile House, British Columbia, that sought to travel from the North Magnetic Pole to the South Pole at the turn of the millennium. The expedition brought together eight young people from around the world—representing North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia—to demonstrate global cooperation, leadership, and human potential. The project and the Millennium Leadership Institute is organized by Martyn Williams.
As December 31, 2000 approached, the project gained international attention, and the United Nations joined the initiative, contributing more than 60 million youth pledges collected globally. The team reached the South Pole approximately five hours before the beginning of the new millennium and symbolically placed the collected promises into the Antarctic snow—offering them as a message of hope from one millennium to the next.
The start
The start
Beginning in early 2000, the team traveled primarily by ski, bicycle, and foot, combining extreme polar travel with environmental and humanitarian outreach. Along the route, the expedition engaged schools and universities, including Brown and Harvard, inviting students to write “promises of action” describing how they would contribute to a better world.
North Magnetic Pole
North Magnetic Pole
Beginning at the North Magnetic Pole to team travelled back into Canada
Biking from Northern Canada, to Vancouver, then across Canada to Ottowa, then to New York, Denver, Los Angeles, Mexico and ultimately Southern Argentina
Each day, the team would travel in the bicycling section in a relay with one person starting in the morning early and handing over to another person so that during the day distances up to 400 miles could be accomplished. Two support vans accompanied the team
Once the team reached South America, the route went through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile before reaching Punta Arenas Chile, where the team would fly into Antarctica to begin their ski journey to the South Pole
The route through Central and South America
In Argentina the team helped with various clean up projects and were accompanied through some cities by thousands of young people who came out to support the expedition
In Antarctica the team skied to the South Pole, hauling sleds weighing about 150lbs each. Temperatures ranged from minus 10 C to minus 40C. Typical travel days were 9 hours. Typical wind conditions were headwinds of 10-20mph
The Goal of the expedition was to arrive in time to greet the new Mellennium which was Dec31 midnight 2000. The team arrived at the South Pole 5 hours before that and were able to present their promises of action collected from many schools and universities along the way, Including Brown University and Harvard University.
Along the route, the team had helped with various environmental and humanitarian projects, including:
Tree planting in Canada in various cities, including Calgary, Toronto, and Ottawa
Helping with clean-ups in California
Helping homeless in New York and Los Angeles
in South America, projects included various clean-ups in parks in Argentina and Peru.
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