4-Xtremes: a couple from Switzerland is taking their truck on a superlative tour

It took five years for Andrea (30) and Mike Kammermann (32) to plan their project. 4-xtremes is set to be a journey of superlative scale. As part of their travels, the couple want to visit the four most extreme locations on the planet which can be reached in a vehicle. The vehicle accompanying them is an Axor which has been converted into an expedition truck.

Eleven months, 45,000 kilometres.

Andrea and Mike anticipate their tour taking eleven months and covering around 45,000 kilometres. Their route will start in Zurich and along the way are the four locations which gave the project its name: the hottest, the highest, the coldest and the lowest places in the world reachable by a vehicle. For the first destination, they're heading to the desert in Iran, where temperatures above 70 degrees Celsius have previously been measured. In north-east India, the all-wheel-drive Axor will then start climbing to extreme heights. The world's highest passable mountain road can be found there at more than 5700 metres altitude. Completely in the east of Russia, the Swiss pair wish to reach the coldest village on the planet after several months. The most extreme temperature measured there: –70 degrees. The final pin on their map will take the pair, their dog Amy and their Axor to the Dead Sea in Israel which lies more than 400 metres below sea level.

One of the partners of the 4-Xtremes project is the Swiss Red Cross, whose aid operation Andrea and Mike wish to support as part of their own project.

The first part of the series, with details of the mega-tour and the aid project, will be published on 11 June. Over the next few months on RoadStars, the pair will be reporting on their experiences along the route.So, stay tuned!

Photos: Alexander Tempel, 4-Xtremes