How one man set a Guinness World Record at the Gates of Hell
Digital Reporter
Wednesday, June 6, 2018, 1:09 PM - The Weather Network's storm chaser and adventurer George Kourounis has documented the most dangerous and challenging corners of the Earth. He has chased tornadoes, outrun avalanches, scaled North Korea's mountains, and most recently claimed a Guinness World Record.
After two years of planning and preparation, Kourounis set out with a film crew on an expedition funded partly by National Geographic to Turkmenistan’s Darvaza gas crater, also referred to as the "Gates of Hell."
He became the first person ever to successfully reach the bottom of the crater in November 2013, which has been recognized by the Guinness World Records.
At 30 metres deep and about 70 metres wide, the crater’s depths have been engulfed in flames since 1971.
"It's hard to understand how difficult it was," Kourounis said. "When you stand at the edge the heat is unbelievable. And when I first saw it with my own eyes, I stood there and I didn't know if it was going to be physically possible to do this."
Expedition leader George Kourounis holds flag #150 from the Explorers Club in front of the Darvaza flaming gas crater.
The mission was to not only make contact with the bottom, but to conduct some soil sampling. The adventurer had 17 minutes worth of oxygen to collect the soil from the crater's depths. With the help of a microbiologist from the University of Illinois, the samples were eventually brought to Chicago for DNA testing to see if the hellish conditions could actually support life.
"It's kind of like looking for alien life here on Earth," said Kourounis. "It took a while for all of the results to be processed, but yes we found several different types of bacteria living at the bottom of the crater. Some of them were never seen before in the DNA database, so we found new life indeed. A lot of them were similar to the kind of extremophile bacteria that you may find in volcanic hot springs, deep sea volcanic vents, or underground coal mine fires."
Wearing a protective heat suit and a self-contain air supply, George Kourounis hangs from fire-resistant ropes over top of the Darvaza flaming gas crater.
The crew used fire resistant ropes and a pulley system to descend into the centre of the crater.
"The reason I did it that way was because we determined that the hot air was rising at the edges of the crater, and cooler air was sinking in the middle. It was kind of like a convection oven, like a doughnut of heat."
Kourounis measured the centre of the crater to be 50oC. However, beneath his feet a whopping ground temperature of 400oC was recorded.
Silhouette of an expedition member enjoying the view of the Darvaza flaming gas crater at night.
"So, that's more than enough to bake cookies. You would burn them if you cooked them at that temperature," he laughed. "Being at the bottom of the crater was probably the closest thing you can experience to being on another planet," Kourounis said. "The orange glow, the sound, being in my heat-protected suit feeling very much like an astronaut."
Aside from the extreme heat, Kourounis was presented with several other challenges, including venomous spiders and snakes.
"You could actually shine your flashlight at night and see the reflection of a spider's eyes shining back at you. That was kind of creepy," he said. "Then we had other issues as well. The government of Turkmenistan is quite oppressive. We were monitored the entire time, we were spied on."
Despite the many obstacles, the expedition was a success. With these so-called Gates of Hell now behind him, Kourounis has plans to return to the volcanic craters of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu for his next adventure.
Colorful sunrise at the Darvaza flaming gas crater.
"There's one crater that's on this island that we know no one has ever stepped to the bottom of, we think," said the adventurer. "So, perhaps another phone called with the folks at Guinness may be in order."
