Ramón Hernando de Larramendi

In recent years, Larramendi has led a dozen expeditions in Antarctica and Greenland with his WindSled vehicle, whose ultimate goal is to be used for polar scientific research.

In 1985, at the age of 19, Larramendi made the crossing of the Pyrenees on skis,[3] from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, in 53 days, which he repeated in the following year on his own.

[5] For three years, from February 12, 1990, to March 25, 1993, he travelled 14,000 km, from Greenland to Alaska, through the Northwest Passage, a trip in which he only used dog sledding and kayaking.

In 2000, after a first test in Canada, he traveled back to Greenland with a first prototype of the vehicle to record a 600 km crossing for the TVE program 'Al filo de lo Imposible'.

Also noteworthy was the one that took place from May 15 to June 25, 2016, after reaching the Greenland ice summit,[13] located at 3,240 m altitude, carrying 2,000 kilos of load on a 2,000 km route that took 38 days.

In 12 days of crossing with skis and sleds, the expeditioners reached the Geographic South Pole without the aid of animals or engines after having travelled 250 km.

It was the first expedition of the explorer in which the vehicle was used for its original purpose: to explore and collect scientific samples for the French Institute of Glaciology and Geophysics of the CNRS-IJF in Grenoble, the Institute of Environmental Diagnosis and Water Quality of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Barcelona, and the Limnopolar group of the Department of Biology of the Autonomous University of Madrid.

Since 1998, he began to collaborate with RTVE's program 'Al filo de lo imposible', with whose team he made an expedition on skis in which they reached the Magnetic North Pole.

The WindSled is a wind vehicle designed by Ramón Hernando de Larramendi[17] with the aim of becoming a useful mobile platform for researchers dedicated to the scientific exploration of the polar lands, of which it has already covered more than 18,000 km.

Its basic structure consists of several wooden platforms with crossbars and rails (following the model of the classic Inuit sleds), kites of different sizes and tents conceived as a space for habitability and work.

The current model consists of four modules and it's configured as a convoy of 10 to 15 meters in length by three wide, with capacity for six people and a load of 2,000 kilos.

The project aims at launching an international and / or national scientific program in which the WindSled vehicle will operate as a mobile laboratory that generates zero emissions in the fragile polar ecosystems.

Ramón H. Larramendi has launched a development project for the Thule region, in the northwest of Greenland, in which he combines his interest in preserving the traditional Inuit lifestyle with the research on the impact of climate change in this territory.