NORWAY: Kayaker Aniol Serrasolses has descended a 20-metre ice waterfall in the Arctic Circle - the biggest ever recorded descent of a glacial waterfall.
The 32-year-old Catalan adventurer paddled through the rapids and ice tunnels of the glacial river on the ice cap before descending the ice waterfall in Brasvellbreen, the Svalbard archipelago of Norway.
"The first time navigating through those rapids was absolutely incredible," Serrasolses said. "Like kayaking on another planet. It was actually crazier than I ever thought it would be... one of the roughest, most wild and virgin places I've ever seen.
"That feeling of levitating above the water. You could see the bottom with those textures, with those movements, with those shapes, and you were on top of your kayak totally transparent. You could look down and see everything."
To access the waterfall the crew had to climb up the ice cap using a ladder, and then walk 11 kilometres across the ice to access the glacial river, crossing streams and crevasses. As the first person to run the waterfall Serrasolses chose to name the descent "Philip's Ladder" as a tribute to the crew member who pulled the ladder for the duration of the 11km trek to allow the team to get from the boat to the waterfall. — REUTERS