Transglobal Car Expedition Completes Vehicular Pole-to-Pole Circumnavigation, Mostly

Driving across the Earth is never easy, but it’s been done. What had not been done until this week was driving around the globe, north to south and back, over its true poles.

On April 28, the Transglobal Car Expedition returned to New York City 16 months after it departed. The expedition achieved its goal to become “the world’s first wheeled surface circumnavigation of the Earth through both geographic poles.”

Global Circumnavigation Hurdles

In all, Transglobal drove 57,530 miles (92,586 km) in 38 countries, on five continents, and crossed five oceans with at least four vehicles at all times.

All surface circumnavigation attempts eventually run into water. How and where expeditions cross oceans opens up the door for debate on what it means to drive around the Earth.

And, we’ll save you the trouble of finding some holes in this group’s itinerary, as there are some major ones. They skipped much of Central America, including the Darién Gap, and only touched a few countries in Africa. These areas were skipped over because they are politically insecure regions and can be difficult for international travelers, especially those driving very expensive, highly branded vehicles.

However, what the team was able to achieve at the poles sets them apart from other attempts at surface circumnavigation. The overlanding expedition also achieved several other firsts along the way, both vehicular and scientific.

Transglobal Team

Members of the Transglobal team put a bow on the expedition and answered questions at the Classic Car Club Manhattan, from which it launched the expedition last year. Team member and professional driver Andrew Comrie-Picard presented a video and answered questions from those gathered at the car club and online.

Vasily Shakhnovsky and Alex Abramo thought up the Transglobal Car Expedition. Shakhnovsky is a Seven Summits mountaineer and Russian oil magnate who ranks among the world’s wealthiest people. Of the main team members, Shakhnovsky, Alexei Safonov, and cinematographer Max Badulin were the three members who journeyed the entire route.

The Transglobal team consisted of eight core explorers, with additional members to help with the Arctic crossing, including scientists, mechanics, and professional drivers. The expedition had additional support outside the vehicles for navigation, resupplies, and water crossings.

Before setting off on the expedition, the team spent 3 years planning and training. That included route-finding and learning to drive (and float) in extreme conditions.

Traversing True North

The expedition wanted to tackle the hardest challenge first: overlanding the geographic North Pole. Of course, they had to get there first.

On January 10, 2024, the team departed from New York City toward Yellowknife, Canada, which they reached 25 days later.

That set up the Arctic stage of the trip (Feb. 2-May 11), and the approach toward true north through the remote islands of northern Canada. That traverse took roughly 2 months.

On April 6, 2025, the explorers parked by the geographic North Pole, accomplishing their biggest goal.

The team then spent another 2 months crossing ice fields to get down to Greenland, where they had planned to measure ice sheet thickness as part of the expedition’s scientific goals. However, authorities deemed the risk too high for the explorers and potential rescuers and denied them entry. The team took an impromptu flight to Norway, thus ending the Arctic stage earlier than planned.

Ice & Ocean

In all, the Arctic stage was a 4-month slog over floating sheets of ice and poor visibility to get up to the pole from Yellowknife, Canada, and back down to Greenland. The most extreme part of the route was from Resolute Bay, Nunavut, to Station Nord in Greenland. There, the explorers “fought shifting ice and open water,” read one Instagram post from the expedition.

And like most expeditions, luck played a role. Despite starting the Arctic leg of its journey as early as they could to have light, by the time the explorers were about to reach Greenland, it was nearly too late. An up-to-2km-wide gap in the thawing ice was too wide for the vehicles to float across. For days, the team feared they were stuck.

But overnight, before rescue was called in and the vehicles abandoned, the winds blew the ice sheets together and froze enough to provide a route through to Greenland. Some floating was required, but the team managed the crossing. One day later may have been too late, explained Visliy Elagin, a seasoned polar explorer.

Amphibious Vehicles

To tackle the worst of the ice floes, the Transglobal Car Expedition used custom-built amphibious vehicles, called Yemelya. In those, the team took short plunges between ice sheets and drove over ladder-like bridges, similar to how mountaineers cross crevasses.

Team member and organizer Vasily Elagin created the Yemelya. He named it after a character in Russian folklore who wished for ever-easier journeys.

These specialized transports have six 51-inch balloon-style tires that can air down to 3 psi for traction on soft snow and obstacles. The rotation of those tires is the only thing powering the vehicle when it floats, with a speed of 2-3 km/h. The massive tires put less pressure on the ground than a person walking.

16 Months of Travel

The expedition had six stages, two polar stages, and others in North America, Europe, and Africa, before the final stretch from South America back to New York.

After the Arctic crossing, the European stage looked more like a vacation tour. It meandered for 3 months from Reykjavík, Iceland, to Málaga, Spain, before making the sea crossing to Morocco.

The African stage lasted 2 months, with extensive touring in Morocco before taking an expedition ship down to Walvis Bay, Namibia. The team then drove across Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa to end the stage.

A Second Pole

From late December 2024 to mid-January 2025, the team completed its full traverse of Antarctica. That trip proved less perilous than the Arctic — it helps that Antarctica is a continent covered in glaciers rather than a series of floating ice sheets. However, the explorers still faced the challenges of rugged terrain and whiteout conditions, which members waited out in their sleeping bags.

“We had moments on the Transglobal expedition crossing the North Pole, [that were] really hard and tricky — in terms of off-roading and overlanding, gnarly and dangerous stuff,” Andrew Comrie-Picard told the Overland Journal podcast. In contrast, he considered overlanding Antarctica “a technical challenge, but not a moment-to-moment as much of a driving challenge.”

One of those technical challenges was avoiding tire failure. Comrie-Picard said they would run the beefy F-350s on tires inflated as low as 3 psi, but 4-5 psi through the day, and then 7 psi to save them. They brought four spare tires to cross Antarctica, and several were damaged early on during that crossing. The polar extremes were the biggest hurdles to clear, and crossing both on one expedition is claimed as another first.

The Home Stretch

The last stage of the expedition involved crossing South America and the lower sections of North America. It was another 8,700km itinerary and took 3 months to drive.

Along the route, the team drove from the desolate expanse of Patagonia, Chile, through Peru and into the Northern Hemisphere via Ecuador. The team then sailed from Colombia to Panama to avoid the dangerous Darién Gap.

From Panama, the team’s route mostly hugged the coast along the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans before heading northeast for its return to New York City.

The Vehicles

The expedition drove four types of vehicles: the aforementioned Yemelya for use at the poles, and the more road-ready versions of Ford trucks, which Arctic Trucks modified for use in the extreme conditions.

During a 2022 training exercise, the expedition lost one of its AT44 F-150s when it fell through sea ice. Transglobal retrieved it 5 months later so it didn’t stay in Inuit hunting waters.

AT44 XDS F-350 6×6

The AT44 XDS is a modified Ford F-350 Super Duty, powered by a high-output 6.7L Power Stroke turbocharged diesel engine with a 10-speed automatic (XCT 2:1 crawler gear) transmission. Its total output is 500 horsepower.

It has a conventional front suspension, eight-link airbag lift rear, and rides on 44-inch Nokian/AT wrapped around steel wheels. A central tire inflation system allows for precise tire pressure control while on the move. These cost $425,000 to build.

In Antarctica, three of these trucks were deployed with 12 people hauling 15,400 pounds when including the extra fuel towed behind each on a sledge.

AT44 F-150 Hybrid

The TGCE Ford F-150 runs a 3.5L V-6 hybrid engine with a 35kW electric motor, and a 10-speed automatic transmission for a total output of 430 horsepower.

Arctic Trucks used its custom suspension, special 44-inch Nokian/AT wrapped on steel wheels, and a central tire inflation system on these machines. Each truck also has a 51-gallon fuel capacity and costs $250,000 to build.

AT35 Expedition

Arctic Trucks adapted these Ford Expeditions, which have a 3.5L V-6 hybrid engine with a 35kW electric motor, and a 10-speed automatic transmission for a 430 horsepower output. Fuel capacity was just 32.2 gallons.

The suspension was kept stock, while the fenders were trimmed a bit to fit 35-inch BFG KO2 all-terrain tires. The total build cost was $97,000 each.

Yemelya 6×6 Amphibian

The amphibious Yemelya uses a Toyota 2.0L inline-4 diesel engine with a five-speed manual transmission. It has just 101 horsepower and a max speed of 31 mph.

These have an independent front and rear suspension and feature six 51-inch flotation tires wrapped around 21-inch wheels. They towed wheeled trailers with scientific instruments and up to 158 gallons of extra fuel.

An aluminum alloy body and frame kept the weight to just 3,152 pounds. Each was outfitted with a PTO winch and could sleep up to five. Only four Yemelyas were made, and no assembly cost was given.

Science Goals Met

Sponsored by CERN, Transglobal gathered data on sea ice, cosmic radiation, light pollution, and more. The expedition was the first to gather nearly 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of continuous pack ice thickness data of the Arctic Ocean.

It compiled this data over 3 years of testing and driving by using electromagnetic induction (EM). It provides a much better and more efficient sample than gathering drill sample data via skiers or planes.

Another first was measuring the flow of cosmic radiation at the North Pole (and along the route). These rays, some of which could have origins from the Big Bang, interact with Earth’s magnetic field, which is strongest at the poles. Such interactions are what cause auroras.

CERN’s CLOUD experiment has shown indications that cosmic rays may influence cloud cover by creating new aerosols. That has implications for the evolution of Earth’s climate. There is also the potential to harness these rays as a renewable energy source during the summer months.

The South Pole has the IceCube Neutrino Observatory for such measurements (and is a worthy rabbit hole to read more about).