KUCHING: Local boy Muhammad Irwan Yusuf Abdullah will be part of a skiing expedition to the North Pole next year where temperatures could be way below freezing at -43°C.

An avid extreme sportsman, Irwan, 36, has been selected to be a part of the expedition by Malaysian Seven Continents Exploration Club, also known as KE7B.

The group is best known for putting together extreme sports athlete Shahrom Abdullah’s 1,000km expedition to the South Pole earlier this year.

The difficulty of Irwan’s journey to the North Pole will depend on the weather. If all goes according to plan, he will ski about 220km in 21 days to reach the North Pole.

The alternative is for him to take a 111km route that would reduce the journey to 12 days.

“It’s going to be tough but this is my passion. I want to experience it. The challenge gives me motivation. I would like for my experience to give motivation to others, too.

“That’s why we do these things,” Irwan said here yesterday.

He said that he would be training at the Everest base camp next month before heading to South Korea in September.

“Later, there will perhaps be more ski training in Japan. I’ll have around nine months to prepare myself.”

Irwan is expected to embark on the KE7B expedition next March.

“I think the biggest challenge will be the below freezing temperature. The coldest I’ve experienced is -40°C in Greenland. I remember how difficult it was,” he said.

Asked about his motto, he said it was to never give up, always think positive and to always seek new experiences.

Irwan has competed in duathlons and also enjoys mountain biking and white water rafting.

This year, he will participate in the New Zealand South Island Bicycle Tour, the 100-mile Bromo Tengger Semeru Ultratrail Race, the Himalaya Bicycle Expedition and Japan’s Mount Fuji Ultratrail.-thestar