The three most incredible arctic expedition vehicles

Don’t you just hate it when you’re driving across a glacier in the middle of Greenland and one of your tires gets stuck in the snow? Well, worry no more because here are three of the most creative and amazing arctic expedition vehicles you should consider taking on your next trip into the frozen wilderness (warning – some vehicles may require time travel to obtain).

1) The Burlak

At number one on the list is the Russian-made Burlak expedition vehicle. It comes with a huge 170hp engine and six huge air-filled wheels capable of displacing 1,200 kg each, giving it a total floatable weight limit of 7.2 tons. It has a maximum cruising speed of 60 km/h on flat, solid ground and boasts a huge working space in the back, but the best thing about this vehicle is that it floats on water. It has a maximum cruising speed of 6 km/h on calm water which isn’t the fastest sailing speed ever but was made amphibious to cross small rivers and breaks in ice sheets as opposed to being an actual water transport. Also, it was made by the Russians who know their stuff when it comes to cold weather, and if it’s anything like their trucks, it will never break down. Here’s a quick video of the Burlak making short work of some harsh arctic terrain.

2) The Snow Cruiser

In the first half of the 20th century, there was a race to explore Antarctica so various countries could claim territory there and perhaps find something interesting. The problem was that the continent was so big and inland lacked anything that could be used for food or fuel, meaning everything had to be brought from outside. This meant that a huge storage capacity was needed to explore inland for any length of time, and led to a number of people coming up with vehicles they thought could handle the task. In 1939 one of these vehicles was actually built and landed in Antarctica in January of 1940 for a planned expedition to explore the area.

The designer took inspiration from various tracked vehicles after seeing how well they could handle the snow and thought to himself “I know, I’ll make one with large rubber wheels that weighs 38 tons, that should do the trick”. It goes without saying that it didn’t do very well and immediately ran into problems the second it drove onto the ice. The wheels were completely smooth and copied from a design used on swamp vehicles, but would sink as deep as 3 feet (0.91 m) into the snow and constantly got stuck. The crew found that driving in reverse created better traction and the snow cruiser made a 92-mile trip completely in reverse and then got stuck. A team lived in the vehicle for a few weeks and conducted research on the local area but didn’t drive it again. They had to be rescued since the vehicle was several feet beneath the snow and they had to leave it where it was. Over the years several attempts were made to rescue it but none were successful and the snow cruiser is said to still be lost beneath the snow to this day. Turns out a 38-ton vehicle with literally no traction on the wheels isn’t the best thing to use in -70 °C weather.

3) The Sno-Cat

In 1957 an expedition was launched to reach the South Pole that had been planned since 1955 and involved four of these Sno-cats. The expedition left Shackleton base in November and ran into problems straight away due to the weight of the vehicle compared to its size. The Sno-cat had excellent traction and was well-designed to handle the extreme climate, but the tracks and engine made it very heavy and it became prone to sinking in loose snow and wasn’t long enough to safely cross snow bridges without getting stuck. The above photo was taken of Sno-cat number 2 which had the nickname “Rock and Roll” for some reason, but as dangerous as this situation looks, the team was able to free the vehicle and continue onto the South Pole. After the expedition, Sno-cat number 2 was given back to the manufacturer who donated it to a museum where it sits to this day.