Camp Barneo () is a private temporary tourist resort located on

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

ice near the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

. When it is occupied for a few weeks in April, it is the northernmost inhabited place in the world. It was first established in 2002 and re-occupied annually thereafter, but it has remained vacant since 2018. When operating, the price for a visit starts at about $20,000. It is owned by the Swedish pharmaceutical billionaire Frederik Paulsen, heir to the Ferring Pharmaceuticals fortune.

History

The first Ice Camp Barneo near the North Pole was established in 2002. Since that time, the camp has been rebuilt from scratch every year because of the constantly drifting Arctic ice. For example, in 2007 Ice Camp Barneo was located at about (about 30 miles / 48 kilometers from the

). However, northerly winds caused the Ice Camp to drift towards the southeast at a speed of . The ice camp works under the patronage of the

Russian Geographical Society The Russian Geographical Society (), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection with research programs in fields including oceanography, ethnography, ecology and stati ...

and normally lasts for the month of April. The camp was founded by Russian Alexander Orlov. After his death, his wife Irina Orlova took over until selling the camp to billionaire Frederik Paulsen. Ice Camp Barneo should not be confused with the sequential Soviet/Russian "North Pole" drifting ice stations established by the Russian Academy of Sciences Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI). From 2002 to 2017, the starting and final point of all expeditions to Barneo was

Longyearbyen Longyearbyen (, , "Longyear Town") is the world's northernmost settlements, northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000, and the capital and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard. It stretches along the foot of the left bank ( ...

, the capital of the

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

archipelago of Norway. The town has necessary facilities including an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

, hotels of different levels, restaurants, a post office, a bank, and a supermarket. In 2016, following military exercises by Chechen paratroopers on Barneo, Norway enacted a flight embargo, which it later lifted. As a result, the 2017 event was expected to take place with a base in Russia. However, in March 2017 an expedition tour operator was taking bookings for 2017 and 2018 with flights operating out of Longyearbyen. In 2019, a political dispute between Russia and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

prevented tourists from flying to the camp. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were canceled as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Plans to reopen in 2022 were canceled after the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. After another cancellation for 2023, plans were announced to reopen in 2024, controversially departing from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

rather than Longyearbyen. But like all other years since 2018, the 2024 season was also canceled.

Notable visitors

* Dixie Dansercoer, polar explorer *

Albert II, Prince of Monaco Albert II (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) is Prince of Monaco, reigning since 2005. Born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, Albert is the second child and only son of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. He attend ...

* Miki Ando, figure skater * Eric Philips, polar explorer * Ramón Hernando de Larramendi, polar explorer

References

External links

Barneo Base

News from Barneo Apr 18, 2007

Vicaar International Projects and Expeditions site

Russian Geographic Society
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408215548/http://int.rgo.ru/no-category/ice-camp-%E2%80%9Cbarneo-2014%E2%80%9D/ , date=2014-04-08
Camp Barneo official Facebook page

Camp Barneo official website
Populated places of Arctic Russia North Pole

History

Notable visitors

See also

References

External links