Facing a BEAR
Youngest Arctic sailor talks of his encounter
A15-YEAR-OLD adventurer has revealed how he was chased by a polar bear on a record-breaking trip between Alaska and Russia.
Tybalt Peake became the youngest sailor to conquer the Northwest Passage during his epic voyage earlier this month.
Tybalt, who had berthed with his two crew mates Frances Brown and Christina Sheller aboard the Snow Dragon II in a remote ice floe, said: “I did have a close encounter with a polar bear.
“I was walking up a ridge and came across a sleeping polar bear. It was about 600kg although they grow to 1,000kg.
“It woke up yawning and followed me. We carried a rifle and flares, so I fired a warning shot and he went off.”
Tybalt also spotted nine more distant polar bears, hump-backed whales and walrus during his adventure – but the most hazardous part of the trip was the shifting ice itself.
The crew were trapped on board in a fjord for three days at one point until the ice broke up.
Tybalt’s adventure began when he met Frances and Christina when they stayed at his family’s B&B in Capel Curig, Conwy. They got chatting and he clinched a deal to join them on the expedition.
Their journey took them along the Northwest Passage – a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America and Canadian Arctic archipelago.
Tybalt admits he’s learned a lot about surviving in such a tough environment, where temperatures plummet to –62°C in winter.
Tybalt said the proximity of the magnetic North Pole hampers compass readings and sailors also have to use lead-weighted rope to check water depth.
Buoyed by his success, he now hopes to tackle the Matterhorn, a 14,692ft peak on the Swiss-Italian border.
He has his sights set on finding the final resting place of his great great great uncle Lord Francis Douglas, who died on the formidable mountain in 1865 along with three others. His body was never found.
“His body is lost on a glacier and I will try to look for him,” said the teenager.