PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AMERICAN BIKES ANTARCTICA

PATRIOT HILLS, ANTARCTICA -- January 10, 2003 -- An American extreme athlete

hopes to be the first person to bike to the South Pole (Antarctica), providing daily audio dispatches

over the internet (ICEAXE.TV) via a satellite phone.

Doug Stoup is currently in Patriot Hills, Antarctica for the ICE BIKE Expedition (Jan. 10 - 24),

during which he plans to trek around the Ellsworth Mountain region. Stoup will be test-riding a

custom- built ice bike designed by Dan Hanebrink (an aerospace engineer who has been designing

and manufacturing unique and highly effective bicycle and motorcycle parts for 30 years).

While there have been bikes on the continent of Antarctica before, they have mainly been

used as short range transportation from one building to another. Stoup is hoping to be the first

to traverse the continent (solo and unsupported) -- dragging all of his supplies on a sled attached

to the ice bike.

"The ICE BIKE Expedition has been a dream of mine since January 2000 when I became the

first American man to ski from the coast of Antarctica to the Geographic South Pole (62 days

and 730 miles of skiing)," Stoup explains. "I was able to dream up a way to travel faster on a

bicycle hauling a sled... It (the bike) has no plastic parts -- leather seat, no bushings in the

shocks, just springs, seat post suspension, disk brakes, and fat tires, or duro tires). I will run very

low pressure in the tires when covering softer snow and on the harder surface I will inflate the

tires to gain speed and distance."

A filmmaker, aerial rigger, snowboard mountaineer and climber, Stoup plans to bike northwest

up the Horseshoe Valley to the Marble Hills. He'll camp there for the first night and continue

up the northwest side of the Heritage Range for several days stopping at Kelley Peak 1710m,

Sponholz Peak 1730m, Moulder Peak 1860m, and Mt Rosenthel 1840m. Stoup will then loop

over to the southeast aspect of the range and bike south to the Mineret 1613m, Beltzel Peak and

Mt. Fordell 1670m. He hopes to be back in Patriot Hills Camp around the 24th of January.

Doug Stoup has climbed 3 of the 7 summits and extensively explored the continent of Antarctica.

Last year, Stoup was expedition leader for The North Face Beyond Endurance Expedition, leading

5 professional ski, snowboard mountaineers and film crew on a 19 meter sailing vessel from the

Faulkland Islands to the South Georgia, featured in Warren Miller's 2002 feature film, STORM.

For additional information, visit the website at http://www.iceaxe.tv or contact Tony Caravan

at (814) 536-2065. During the expedition, select media interviews will be considered from

Antarctica.

###

Downloads for media (only):

Photo credits: Doug Stoup / WWW.ICEAXE.TV