Ice Care News at Berner Zeitung

Von Paris nach Lauterbrunnen mit dem Velo
Von Martina Maurer. Aktualisiert am 19.06.2009

Am Freitag starten zwei Portugiesen eine Radtour von Paris nach Lauterbrunnen via Jungfraujoch und Aletschgleschter. bernerzeitung.ch hat José Tavares vor der Abreise getroffen.

José Maria Soares und José Tavares werden insgesamt fünf Tage im Rahmen des Projekts «Ice Care» unterwegs sein. Die 600 Kilometer vom Hauptsitz der Unesco in Paris bis nach Lauterbrunnen auf dem Rad und der Weg über das Jungfraujoch und den Aletschgletscher zu Fus stehen im Zeichen der globalen Erwärmung. Die beiden wollen mit der Tour aufzeigen, dass die Erderwärmung forgeschritten und die Konsequenzen bereits sichtbar seien.
Mithilfe eines GPS-Gerätes wollen Soares und Tavares über längere Zeit den Rückgang des Gletschers beobachten und daraus Schlüsse über die Klimaerwärmung ziehen. Das Projekt wird von Unesco, WWF Portugal und Guides von GrindelwaldSports unterstützt und begleitet.
Die Fortsetzung des Icecare-Projekts erfolgt im Dezember dieses Jahres mit der Besteigung des Kilimanjaro Gletschers (Tanzania) und in den nächsten Jahren mit dem Besuch der Gletscher des Ilulissat Icefjord (Grönland-Dänemark), Sagarmatha-Everest (Nepal) und Huascarán National Park (Peru).
Unter http://icecare.blogspot.com kann die Tour live mitverfolgt werden.

http://www.bernerzeitung.ch/region/thun/Von-Paris-nach-Lauterbrunnen-mit-dem-Velo/story/15267721

Q&A

When are you leaving?
Zé Diogo is there already. I’ll join him on the 19th. Nuno Frazão (environmental engineer) and Sandra Sousa (doctor from HPP Saúde) will meet us in Switzerland and we’ll cross the glacier together.

What’s the roadmap?
19th morning: Meeting at UNESCO’s HQ with the Deputy Director of the World Heritage Centre.
19th afternoon: start cycling the 650 km between Paris and Switzerland
20th until whenever: we will be crossing France on our bicycles, sleeping on the floor, doing an average of 130km per day (hopefully)
Around the 24th, 25th or 26th: we will start crossing the Aletsch on foot…it should take us 2 days to do so
We should be back to Portugal on the 30th

How can one follow the expedition?
Having the back-office support of SAPO and TORKE in Portugal, we’ll try to keep the flow of information as updated as possible.
We’ll be uploading fotos, videos, texts and GPS coordinates. This content will be available at several on-line platforms:
. www.icecare.org – official website, with fotos, videos, maps, text, etc.
. http://icecare.blogspot.com – English version of the blog with fotos and videos
. http://icecare.blogs.sapo.pt – Portuguese version of the blog
. http://fotos.sapo.pt/ - fotos
. http://videos.sapo.pt/ - videos

How can the melting be tracked?
Mainly using technology known to everyone…GPS
Glacier upper and lower limits and altitude will the registered using GPS (by GARMIN). Altitude will also be cross-referenced using met stations (by SILVA).
In the following years the same limits will be measured for comparison.The information will then be shown over satellite images, to make the retreat visible.

Getting ready....

Portugal Bike Tour 09

The day of our departure for the 600 km between Paris and Interlaken (Switzerland) is almost there. After that we’ll be crossing the Aletsch glacier (the longest in Europe, where the retreat of the ice is flagrant). We need to be in good shape and know all the equipment given by the supporting brands. As a preparation this tour through the interior of Portugal revealed itself useful, although this wasn’t the only motive to ride almost 1.000km. The promotion of the Ice Care project and crossing the country to meet a dear friend in Chaves, and hand to her my recent book ‘Aventura ao Máximo’, were also among those. Yes, revisit a person whom I had not seen for many years, seemed to me the best reason to justify the destination …
On the 14th of May I’ve left from Setúbal on a morning ferry. In Tróia I’ve started to ride, and ride, and ride, … for 8 days without stopping! From 6 to 8 hours per day. Until I’ve arrived … !!! Not without changing some of the initial plans: I wanted to reach the Algarve, but bad roads demanded more time. So, instead of reaching the Santa Clara dam (Algarve’s border) I’ve started to turn southeast in Ourique. Passed Almodôvar and only had a glimpse of the ribeira de Vascão, before turning north and continued through Mértola. Then, I followed always along the border, next to some of the Oldest Villages and, after Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, I rode strait to Chaves – my final goal (more photos at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=117593&id=613684777&ref=mf ).
If I managed to conquer the attention of 4 or 5 persons to follow our site and blogs, I’ll be happy. The equipment from brands such as Berg, Silva and TrangoWorld, had to be tested in real conditions, adjusted and optimized. The physical condition and the logistics – a sort of autonomy with stages longer than a 100 km – had to be proven. And they were! At last, a special word of thanks to the Firemen of Portalegre and Vila Flôr (respectively Mr. Alberto and the Chief Commandant), and to Quim (Firemen of Idanha-a-Nova), big fan of mountain biking, for their time and support given.
por José Tavares

Equipment
TrangoWorld: mountain clothing (polar and waterproof garment) and camping gear (‘Mountain TR 30’ sleeping bag and ‘skin micro-lite’ self-inflated mattress); Berg (bicycle ‘Torah 9.5’, helmet ‘Raden’ and other gear); Dual Brand (‘Ranger 3’ compass and head lamp Silva, Gerber multi-function knife).