The XXII Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, began on February 7, 2014. Exactly one year before, on February 7, 2013, the "Amarok Polar Expedition" began, bringing the Olympic spirit to Russia's distant eastern territories.

61 days later, on April 8, 2013, Rainer Zietlow and his international team reached their destination: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city on the Kamchatka Peninsula. This feat set a new Guinness World Record.

The 15,798-kilometer route, completed by motor vehicles, is the longest distance ever traveled in one direction in Russia. The tour led through some of the least explored regions in Russia's vast expanses. The nine-person expedition team—consisting of eight Russians and German Rainer Zietlow—crossed the Arctic Circle multiple times in three modified Volkswagen Amaroks, repeatedly encountering rough terrain.

Expedition leader Alexey Semakin and his deputy, Rainer Zietlow, planned the route from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky via Yakutsk, Pevek, and Anadyr to take ten weeks. In doing so, the "Amarok Polar Expedition" became the first expedition to cross the Koryaksky elevated plain and the Sredinnyy mountain range on Kamchatka Peninsula. For the drive in deep snow and temperatures below 50 degrees Celsius the Amaroks had been equipped with special "Bigfoot tires".

On February 7, 2013, the departure date of the "Amarok Polar Expedition," a representative of the Winter Olympics presented the team with an Olympic message for the people they were to meet along the way. In turn, the team brought back exhibits to Sochi that exemplify the cultural diversity of the most remote corners of eastern Russia. The challenges of this extraordinary expedition for men and vehicles were covered in several documentaries by a camera team from Russian state television.