Theme junkies out there may wish to know where the inspiration for ICE FLOW came from...

We were inspired by the exploits of Karl Bushby, a local ex-paratrooper, who is currently travelling from the southern tip of South America back to his home in Hull, East Yorkshire, here in England - on foot!

Billed as The Goliath Expedition, Karl's extraordinary trek will take him 12-14 years and includes...

36,000 miles
4 continents
25 countries
crossing a frozen sea
6 deserts
7 mountain ranges
One continuous journey

image©: www.goliath.mail2web.com

In 2006, Stage 5 of Karl's journey took him and his buddy Dimitri Kieffer across the Bering Straits between Alaska and Siberia, where they faced - amongst the many dangers - bitter cold, polar bears and drifting ice. On many occasions the team woke to find that they had drifted out of position overnight. Often the the ice was moving faster than they could walk - and in the wrong direction! Leaving Cape Wales on 17th March, Karl and Dimitri took 2 weeks to cross the 'short' gap of the Straits via Diomede Islands, finally making landfall in Uelen. However, they were promptly arrested by the Russians for visa irregularities!

From the Goliath Expedition website:
"Understandably, the Bering Strait could be considered the crux of the Expedition. At roughly the halfway point for Karl, the Bering Strait presented a very significant and life threatening challenge. In order to accomplish the ultimate goal of the Expedition, Karl would have to achieve something no other modern explorer had ever done before: the Goliath Expedition was going to have to cross a semi-frozen sea of churning ice and water, facing some of the most extreme conditions possible, and walk, stumble and swim across the Bering Strait from the US to Russia".

- Read Karl's fascinating account of the crossing here.
- See Karl's Bering Straits images here.
- See stunning BBC video of the Bering Straits crossing here, including Karl and Dimitri swimming the frozen waters between ice floes, crossing pack ice ridges and flirting with starvation.

News:
We have recently spoken to Karl's father Keith. Karl is currently in Mexico, waiting for the Russian authorities to allow him back to Siberia, so that he can continue his epic journey. The ICE FLOW rules have now been translated into Russian, as Karl wants to present a copy of the game to the Russian border guards. We look forward to seeing that picture!

We were thrilled to receive an e-mail from Karl's partner across the Straits, Dimitri Kieffer. He is currently in Seattle, awaiting the right conditions to return to Chutotka, Russia to continue his own Nexus Expedition: "Circumnavigating the globe through human power, connecting a multitude of different societies, civilizations and landscapes, Acting as a liaison between cultures one individual at a time". You can read further in Dimitri's excellent blog here. We have sent Dimitri a copy of ICE FLOW: It may not be as demanding as his Nexus trek, but we look forward to hearing his comments.

We hope to present Karl Bushby with a copy of ICE FLOW when he finally arrives back here in East Yorkshire; but we'll let him have a rest and a cup of tea first.

Karl Bushby's Goliath exploits to date have been published in two books:

Click on book covers for links to amazon.co.uk

Good Luck to Karl, Dimitri and their teams for the rest of The Goliath Expedition and Nexus Expeditions - from Ludorum Games!