Fedor Konyukhov – Record breaking Russian explorer

Fedor Konyukhov – Record breaking Russian explorer
29 July 2016

Last week, record breaking Russian explorer Fedor Konyukhov broke yet another world record, flying around the world in a hot air balloon.

He ended the 34,000 km journey by crash landing in Bonnie Rock, 360 kilometres north-east of Perth, Australia. He completed the flight in just 11 days, 2 days shorter than the previous record. During the journey, he was exposed to -56C degrees at altitudes of 10,000m, with few opportunities to sleep.

He has always had a passion for travel and adventure. He completed his maiden exploration at the age of just 15, rowing across the sea of Azov, where his father worked as a fisherman. Later he graduated from Odessa maritime college, specialising in navigation. He also studied ship mechanics at Leningrad Arctic college.

5 extreme polls

Arguably he achieved his most famous feat when he became the first person to reach the 5 extreme polls of the earth.

  • North pole
  • South pole
  • The pole of inaccessibility in the Arctic Ocean
  • Summit of Mount Everest (Known as the Alpinist’s pole)
  • Sailing around Cape Horn, the Southern tip of the American continent (Known as the Yachtsman’s pole)

Of the 5 extreme polls, Konyukhov has reached the North pole 3 times, the summit of Mount Everest twice, and sailed round cape horn four times.

Not content with the already astounding number of feats, Konyukhov completed a number of dog sledge races, including the world’s longest dog sledge race – IDITAROD, a 1850km trek from Anchorage to Nome.

Konyukhov has proved to have talents beyond exploration too. He’s written 17 books, and since 2010 is an ordained Eastern Orthodox priest. On one of his climbs to the summit of Everest, he even brought with him the icon of St Nicholas.

Konyukhov is already planning his next adventure. In 2017 he plans to cross the Australian desert from east to west, on a camel.

Lawrence Toey, currently studying Russian at Liden & Denz. 

Posted by Lawrence Toye

Привет Everyone! My name is Lawrence, I’m 21, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK, and I’m pleased to say I’m the new social media intern at Liden&Denz Moscow for the next 5 weeks. This is only my first day in Moscow, so I still have so much to see and take in! I love learning languages and spent last year living in the Middle East and studying Arabic. When I started studying at politics and economics at university last September, I couldn’t resist doing a language course alongside. Even though I could’ve probably picked an easier language, I felt Russian would be the most rewarding. I was right! Despite the frequently confusing grammar, in particular the cases, I thoroughly enjoyed it. As I’ve finished university for the summer, I decided to come here to to Liden&Denz to improve my Russian, and learn more about Russian culture. This is only my first full day in Russia, and I’m really excited to write about my thoughts, insights, and experiences of Moscow and learning Russian.

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