Kiwi adventurer leads expedition across Gobi Desert
The 29-year-old Kiwi adventurer Chloe Phillips-Harris led a team of six New Zealanders, two Australians and an American 300km across the harsh ice fields of Gobi Desert during winter.
The 29-year-old Kiwi adventurer Chloe Phillips-Harris led a team of six New Zealanders, two Australians and an American 300km across the harsh ice fields of Gobi Desert during winter. The Gobi Desert is a large desert region in southern Mongolia and parts of northern China. It is over 1,600 km from southwest to northeast and 800 km from north to south. The group trekked up to 30km a day over 10 days with camels and most surprisingly they would snowboard behind the camels occasionally. The journey was made possible with the help of nomadic families, who hosted the team at night, and helped clothe them in traditional sheepskins and silks. The group also borrowed the camels from the local nomads. Accordingly, due to the fact camels can be taken only for a certain distance and not out of their home environment, they had to change the camels. The group went through windswept plains, mountains as high as 2 kilometers and icy sand dunes when the temperatures would dip to minus 40 degrees at some point. The Gobi is generally a cold desert, and winters are long. In average January low and high temperatures range between -24 and -11 degrees Celsius. However, temperatures in the Gobi can drop to much more frigid temperatures. Ms Phillips-Harris, the group leader says adventure for her is "fuelled by a curiosity, which started with training wild horses years ago" and her dreams have now come true, becoming the first person, she believes, to snowboard across the Gobi Desert.
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