Rune Gjeldnes

Rune Gjeldnes (26) Norway

He was born in Surnadal, 20th of May 1971. Grew up in the vicinity of mountainous Trollheimen, and has spent all his leisure in the mountains on a variety of activities, including mountaineering and river paddling, gaining valuable experience in all seasons. In 1992 he joined the Royal Norwegian Navy, and has been working at the Unit Marinejegerkommandoen/ Norwegian SAS/SBS for 5 years. There he gained his Arctic experiences through all the training and exercises in all kinds ofwinter conditions. He participated in the "Greenland Umanaq - Isertoq expedition" in 1994, together with Torry Larsen. This was a 870-km crossing of the Greenland Inlandice and was meant as a training trip for a bigger challenge, The G2 Expedition, Greenland lengthways. An unsupported ski expedition, with a total distance of 2928-kms. At the time it was the longest unsupported ski expedition to have been attempted. Together with Torry Larsen, Rune achieved this unsupported ski expedition in 1996. Winter 1997 brought Rune and David Hempleman-Adams together to attempt the first joint British-Norwegian North Pole expedition. Though unsuccessful in achieving their goal last year due to broken sledge, this has only made them both more determined to reach the North Pole this year. Rune and David are joining together for 6 different projects this year calling it "A year of Adventure" - a truly British-Norwegian alliance .