British Adventurer Ripley Davenport will attempt the first recorded solo and unassisted traverse across the vast landmass of Mongolia, on foot from east to west, starting in April 2010.
This effort to push the frontiers of human capabilities, challenge ecological values and inspire youth to reach beyond their perceived limits and engage their dreams.
The Expedition will involve walking 1700 miles / 2750 km’s across the Eastern Mongolian Steppe, Gobi Desert and the Altai Mountain Range, while hauling provisions and equipment weighing in excess of 200kg in a wheeled trailer, specifically designed for the journey, in 90 days or less. …
Kraig Becker posted an interview with Davenport, 90 days in advance of the start, on The Adventure Blog.
besthike.com 
While I respect and enjoy self-propelled adventure a great deal, this trip headline is really off.
Humans have been walking far greater distances than this since the species came into being. Millions of people, millions of times have walked distances greater than this, “unassisted”. Obviously … the people who walked across the Bering Land Bridge to settle the Americas weren’t stopping at the local Safeway for supplies.
What he’s actually doing, is “carrying all his own food from the start.” The problem is, trying to generate publicity by saying “I’m carrying all my own food from the start” has no marketing ring to it; it can’t build any hype.
That’s because the obvious question arises: What’s the point of schlepping all your food for the entire length of the trip, 1,700 miles? It doesn’t make any sense to do that. Look at that wagon … pulling a 500 pound wheeled wagon across the steppes? It’s going to be a nightmare. Meanwhile, many of the locals could easily do the same “unassisted” thing he’s doing, by merely shouldering a knife, rifle, and fishing pole. Far more elegant and ecological.
Hope he has a good trip!
It turns out that Ripley Davenport (not his birth name) is a well documented fraud. http://ripleydavenport.net
He counter claims you are out on a smear campaign:
Click to access fatwa.pdf
I’ll leave the post up. With your comment and link.
So he does. And in a world where false equivalencies substitute for facts and rigorous thinking, it’s an approach that, sadly, has served him pretty well. Now he claims to have MS. A cyberstalked MS sufferer makes a very sympathetic figure, if it’s true. Since you’ve been to the .net website, here’s another to round out the picture. http://kentmadinanswerslauradavenport.wordpress.com/
Davenport has made very specific claims and now pretends that he didn’t make them. As recently as late last year he was actively fabricating a Flickr account filled with purloined images to bolster those claims. http://ripleydavenport.net/RipleyFlickr.htm
Davenport has made outlandish claims and has not a shred of evidence he even visited the regions, much less did the travel. He wraps himself in victimhood and refuses to answer the simple questions that would clarify his claims and silence his critics. I, on the other hand, welcome scrutiny and questions from all interested parties. It’s gruesomely ironic that someone whose “career” consists of fabrication and Walter Mitty-esque fantasy is a Schools Ambassador for MSIreland.
The Davenport’s response is the equivalent of a person stopped for a traffic violation who cries “police brutality!” when asked to produce a license.
I encourage you to, as you say, leave the post up.
Thank you for a few hours of very informative reading on the links provided – and some, quite amusing in places too. Am I of the understanding that (Davenport) instead of publishing any factual claims on his website for sponsors and public alike to see proof of and thus ‘enhance’ his following, has instead spent untold time and hired lawyers to try and deflect any questioning? It doesn’t make sense unless he is concealing something. Surely it would take an hour to upload any pictures or other documentation which would ultimately benefit Mr Davenports career, although I see he tried to do that on Flikr with someone else’s holiday snaps….Not a smart move for someone intent on clearing his name… ;/
Exactly. Mr. Davenport (with assistance from his wife) has chosen to Cry Wolf and depict me as a “stalker” rather than produce simple proof of his claims. For instance, he has publicly claimed that he has two advanced degrees, Conservation Biology and Environmental Science. Confirmed those would be easy but the Davenports clutch their pearls and say they won’t respond to “demands” as a matter of principle. They are lying through their teeth.