Three-Man Team Attempt First Unsupported Crossing of Iconic Arctic Route

Expedition leader Alex Hibbert, 28, is planning to ski, swim and walk the 1,800-mile journey with fellow adventurers Jamie Anderson, 30, and Benno Rawlinson, 28.

The trio will shun huskies to undertake the entire trip on foot, but will be accompanied by two dogs acting as polar bear watchdogs - including Alex's trusted canine sidekick Tala.

He said: "Tala is a fully domestic dog. She's a mix of a number of types of dog, which is great for her health. She has the necessary traits of courage, stamina and a thick double coat so will hopefully settle in well.

"We need to find her a boyfriend in Iqaluit or Qik - their job will be not to haul anything, but instead to stay vigilant against curious polar bears."

The team will travel to the Canadian Inuit settlement of Qikiqtarjuaq to begin their journey, mostly travelling a couple of miles offshore to benefit from the thickest, most stable ice - and enabling them to use the land to navigate by.

While the exact route is heavily dependent on the changing sea ice, the trio will travel through the central Northwest passage before finally skiing into a local settlement between 25 May - 10 Jun - most likely in Inuvik, where hit TV show Ice Road Truckers is filmed.

Hibbert is also hoping to regain the record for longest ever polar journey without support, which he jointly held from 2008 to 2012, before having his record beaten by Norwegian skier Aleks Gamme in 2012.

And although Hibbert has previously spent time with the Polar Eskimo community of the Qaanaaq region to hone his cold-survival skills, he is in no doubt that the trip will push the team to the limits of their endurance.

The long-haul journey will take up to 130 days, necessitating almost a metric-ton of supplies, including 520 freeze-dried packet meals, nearly 400 packs of chocolate buttons, more than 50 litres of super-clean petrol, eight cameras, and two shortened, modified pump-action shotguns.

Hibbert said: "Apart from the mental stamina to keep positive and motivated each day, the challenges of an epic sea-ice journey are neverending, and include dynamic moving sea-ice, pressure ridges of fractured ice floes, open water, storms, whiteout conditions with zero visibility, curious polar bears, running out of food against a need to make daily mile targets, and the sheer physical toll on our bodies of trying to ski further than any human in history."

But despite the dangers the explorers will face on the ice, Hibbert is clear about the enduring mystique of the the Northwest Passage.

"The history of the European obsession with finding a sea route through it is undeniably a magnetic draw," the Portsmouth-born writer, photographer and speaker said.

"The men and women who strived, many dying, and some perhaps resorting to cannibalism, in search for it can't fail to capture imaginations.

"But forgetting the past for a while, as modern polar travellers really must do if we're to progress, I think it's because aside from the two Poles, it is a known target, something alluringly unobtainable.

"It's mostly a summer thing - people trying to sail it as it is really a passage only for boats and ships. In the winter, it's a more abstract problem to take on. That's my drive and hopefully that combination of new and old will continue to capture the public.

"As part of my quest for a 'complete' polar career, the High Arctic of Canada was a natural next step on from my previous journeys. The North West Passage is truly iconic, topical given the recent discovery of Franklin's wrecked ships, and frankly, it's a crazily long and dramatic sea ice route, which is magnetic for a polar skier."