Kamchatka - A land far, far away with fire breathing mountains just waiting to be skied
In April 2013, Richard Hartley and Kiersten Rowland of Spanish Highs Mountain Guides are to join a team led by British snowboarder/mountaineer Julia Pickering attempting to become the first people to climb and snowboard down the largest active volcano in the Northern Hemisphere, Kamchatka in far eastern Russia. The team's main sponsor is outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer, Berghaus.
Klyutchevskoy Sopka 4750m is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain on the Kamchatka peninsula and the highest active volcano in Eurasia and one of the largest volcanoes in the world.
If the weather allows the team will also attempt snowboard descents of other nearby volcanos such as Ushkovsy. We fly to Petropavlovsk via Moscow and take 10 hour 6WD bus journey to Klyutchi. A Russian military base, Klyutchi was only opened up to foreigners in 2010. The following day we will travel by snowmobile to the northern foothills of Klyutchevskoy as far as the volcanologists hut at 1650m. Our biggest challenges are the weather and the volcanic activity.
Julia Pickering
Julia is an accomplished mountaineer and snowboarder, with numerous first descents including being the first woman to snowboard the three highest peaks above the Arctic Circle, and also Mt Bear in Alaska. She is sponsored by several major brands, including Berghaus, Prior Snowboards, and more.
https://www.berghaus.com/en/athletes/athlete_profile_4480.html
Film Funding
The team are actively looking for finance for film funding. If you wish to help and contribute please visit the Kickstarter page at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/73979172/kamchatka-first-snowboard-descent-an-epic-adventur
2XS Films
2XS Films is a specialist adventure documentary film production company based in England, and they have produced a number of major ski and snowboard films in Europe and North America. Last year they went with Julia and her team to film them climb Mt Bear in Alaska, and the resulting film "Taming the Bear" is currently touring the international Mountain Film festival circuit.
More on 2XS Films here: https://2xsfilms.com/mountain