Read the text. Choose the correct answer
Into the Great White North
As the group of five adventurers watched their small plane fly away, asudden wave of panic spread through them. They realised they were allalone and the only way out of the massive valley where they stood was tolaunch their canoes and paddle down the Kongakut River 209 km to theArctic Ocean. A plane was scheduled to pick them up there two weekslater. Despite being very experienced trekkers, the team was unsure ofwhat to expect as such a journey had never been completed before.
This adventure-hungry team are volunteers for an organisation known asAcross the Atlas which organises extreme adventure expeditions that raisemoney through sponsorships and donations. The money raised is thengiven to non-profit organisations and causes. The challenge this time wasto trek, ski and canoe across one of the most remote places on Earth: theupper Kongakut Valley in northern Alaska. The team's goal was to supportefforts to protect wildlife and conservation of this unique area of the world.Proceeds raised by the team would go to the Colorado CancerFoundation.
The first task of the trip was to climb the Alaskan Continental Divide whichruns from the base of the Kongakut River to the Arctic Ocean.Unfortunately, due to global warming, there was little snow, so the teamwas unable to ski the surrounding mountains as planned and had to settleonly on hiking the divide. The hike turned out to be a strenuous task,involving crossing raging rivers and climbing steep mountainous terrain.After a gruelling day covering 4,500 feet, the team reached the top to enjoystunning views of the surrounding valleys. They encountered hundreds offearless caribou that appeared to have never seen humans before.
With the continental divide conquered, the team assembled their inflatablecanoes for the journey downriver. To their amazement, the river wasextremely shallow in many sections so the team had to push and drag theirfully-loaded boats downstream. The first couple of days the team managedto travel only 3-5 kilometres per day instead of the estimated 24 km perday. This was very discouraging and tiring for the team. Fortunately, theriver finally deepened and narrowed allowing the canoes to pick up speed.The canoes eventually encountered some challenging rapids which werethe most difficult the adventurers had ever experienced. The team wasthrilled to see ancient glaciers on the river and at one point paddledthrough one to find themselves surrounded by blue ice.
Finally, the river met the Arctic Ocean and the team built shelters on thebeach and watched in the distance as waves crashed against driftingicebergs. The next day they set off in their canoes to meet their plane at thelanding strip. Along the way, they saw a polar bear. The bear began tofollow them for some distance, but eventually gave up. At the landing stripthey set up camp to enjoy one final evening in the Arctic wilderness beforemeeting the plane the next day. As they sat around the campsite for thelast time, the five adventurers knew how the first explorers musthave felt after discovering a new land!
Upon arrival at the Valley the team
- didn't know which direction to go.
- felt concerned about the task ahead.
- realised the plane had left without them.
- lacked experience for such a trip.
The Across the Atlas organisation
- hired the adventure team.
- is a tourist travel agency.
- is a wildlife conservation group.
- donates money to various charities.
The team didn't ski on the trip
- because the climb took the entire day.
- due to hundreds of caribou.
- due to the lack of snow.
- due to very steep mountains.
While canoeing, the team was surprised
- by the depth of the river.
- at the difficulty of the river rapids.
- by the glaciers floating on the river.
- at how far the ocean was.
When the team arrived at the Ocean,
- they encountered a polar bear.
- they camped on the beach.
- they paddled to the landing strip.
- they waited for the plane.