Dixie Dansercoer
Dirk "Dixie" Dansercoer (12 July 1962 – 7 June 2021) was a Belgian explorer, endurance athlete and photographer. He held records or won prizes for high altitude mountain biking, windsurfing, ultramarathon running, and expedition filmmaking.
Biography
- In 1980, as a student, Dansercoer spent a year in Moscow, Idaho, United States with AFS Intercultural Programs where he got his Dixie nickname.
- He is a graduated translator-interpreter.
- He served for 13 years as an air Steward with Sabena, the Belgian airlines[1].
- As a prize-winner he flew to Alain Hubert basecamp and befriended him.
- In 1997–98, he made a record-breaking crossing of Antarctica with Alain Hubert.
- In 2006, the European Space Agency commissioned him and Hubert to measure snow cover in the Arctic to calibrate measurements taken with the CryoSat 2 satellite.[2] The two left Arctic Cape, Siberia on 1 March 2007. They reached the North Pole after 55 days and Greenland in another 51 days, the first time anyone had walked from Siberia to Greenland.
- In 2008, he led the 'In the wake of the Belgica expedition', a re-enactment of the de Gerlache expedition.[3]
- In 2011–12 he ski-kited with Sam Deltour on the Antarctic ice cap on a pioneering 5,013 kilometres (3,115 mi) circular trajectory.[4]
- In 2014, Dansercoer and Eric McNair-Landry completed the first full circumnavigation on the Greenland ice cap with 4,040 kilometres (2,510 mi) as final distance.[5] During all of his expeditions parallel scientific missions were executed.
He provided polar guiding services through his companies Polar Circles and Polar Experience, with trips to both the Arctic polar regions and Antarctica.
Dixie Dansercoer co-founded in 2011 with a few explorers a travel agency.
Together with ultra-runners he also co-founded 'Polar Running Expeditions' in 2018, a new type of fast-paced polar expeditions.
Dansercoer is a father of four. One of his children was born in 2002 while he was away on the Ultimate Artic Crossing[6].
Death
Dansercoer died on 7 June 2021 during an expedition in Greenland.[7] He died after falling into a glacier gorge. It is unclear if his body can be recovered.[8]
References
- ^ https://www.auteurslezingen.be/author/15310 Consulted on June 11th, 2021 14:37
- ^ "Scientists and polar explorers brave the elements in support of Cryosat-2". ESA. 19 April 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- ^ "Dixie Dansercoer arrives in Antarctica". Expatica. flandersnews.be. 4 January 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- ^ "Flemish polar explorers break record". Flanders Today. 1 February 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
- ^ Furniere, Andy (16 June 2014). "Dansercoer finishes record-setting expedition in Greenland". Flanders Today. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
- ^ IPF website explorapoles.org consulted on June 11th, 2021.
- ^ "Poolreiziger Dixie Dansercoer (58) omgekomen". Het Nieuwsblad (in Flemish). Retrieved 8 June 2021.
- ^ Poolreiziger Dixie Dansercoer (58) sterft na val in gletsjerspleet tijdens expeditie op Groenland
- Quraishi, George (2007). "Explorers Attempt Longest Arctic Crossing". National Geographic Adventure. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
- Anderson, Alun (14 November 2007). "Interview: 100 days on thin ice". New Scientist: 54–5.
External links
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