Adventurer Julia Pickering is on her way to the far east of Russia to attempt become the first person to complete a snowboard descent of Kamchatka Peninsula (4,750m), the highest active volcano in Eurasia. Once at the summit, her plan is to snowboard down the volcano, which has been almost continuously active since 1697.
The 1,000km long Kamchatka Peninsula is situated between the Okhotsk Sea to the west and the Bering Sea to the east, and is a remote and isolated land that juts into the Pacific Ocean on the far north eastern edge of the Russian Federation. Klyutchevskoy Sopka is the highest mountain on the peninsula and has an average of one eruption every other year making it one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
Klyutchevskoy Sopka was first climbed as far back as 1788 by Daniel Gauss, but no other ascents were then recorded until 1931, when several climbers were killed by flying lava on the descent. As similar dangers still exist today, few ascents are made.
Julia, who is from Cumbria, was the first woman and second person ever to climb and snowboard down the three highest peaks in the Arctic Circle, and last year became the first person to make a snowboard ascent and descent of Mount Bear in Alaska.
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