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Speciality:<\/strong> Arctic Exploration, Anthropology<\/p>\n Best known for:<\/strong> The Thule expeditions<\/p>\n Knud Rasmussen is a throwback to the wild days of exploration, when hardy fellows went on adventures to learn about the blank spots on the map and the people who inhabited them. This is probably why Rasmussen won’t feature on many lists of explorers, as his legacy is one of knowledge over athletic achievement.<\/p>\n Son of a missionary, Rasmussen spent his early years in Greenland immersing himself in the local language, driving dog sleds, hunting, and picking up the dark arts of travel in the cold. Following some early expeditions at the turn of the 20th century, Rasmussen cemented his place in history with The Thule Expeditions, a series of polar exploration and ethnographic expeditions from 1912-1933. Most focused on Greenland, but the fifth and perhaps greatest of the Thule expeditions covered nearly 20,000 miles between Greenland and Siberia, including the first European dogsled journey across the Northwest Passage.<\/p>\n For this and his resulting ethnographic works, Rasmussen has been dubbed the “Father of Eskimology.” Although never formally educated, Rasmussen’s contribution to anthropology, polar exploration, and knowledge of the native people of the Arctic is recognized globally.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Specialty: <\/strong>Ocean expeditions<\/p>\n Best known for:\u00a0 <\/strong>Crossing the Pacific Ocean on a raft<\/p>\n In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl<\/a> and a small crew spent three-and-a-half months traveling across the Pacific Ocean. What makes this journey stand out is they did it on a raft.\u00a0 Heyerdahl was fascinated by how Pacific inhabitants had reached the remote Pacific islands. To test a theory (since discredited) that they came from South America, he built the Kon-Tiki<\/em>, a balsa raft from natural Peruvian materials. They sailed from Peru to Polynesia to prove it was possible.<\/p>\n He carried out two further expeditions, this time opting for reed boats. The first was a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, from Morocco to Central America. Again, this was to prove a theory, that the Egyptians might have influenced pre-Columbian cultures.<\/p>\n Next was a 4,000km voyage down the Tigris River and the Persian Gulf, across the Arabian Sea and into the Red Sea. It took four months. This time he wanted to establish the possibility that ancient Sumerians may have used similar methods to spread their culture.<\/p>\n Specialty<\/strong>: High-altitude climbing<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: New routes and first winter ascents on 8,000’ers, second to complete all 14 of them, and fastest to climb them before the age of fixed ropes<\/p>\n The Polish trailblazer, lord of winter, Jerzy Kukuczka, climbed all the 14 8000’ers in seven years, 11 months, and 14 days. He held the record for 27 years.<\/p>\n Kukuczka was one of the Polish Ice Warriors.<\/em> He climbed four of his 14 8,000’ers in winter. Three of them were first winter ascents, and he completed two of them in one season. Likewise, he summited 10 of his 14 8,000’ers via a new route, a record that remains unbroken.<\/p>\n While many remember the race between Kukuczka and Messner to bag all 14 8000’ers, both climbers pursued excellence on each climb, rather than mere speed. While Messner had a more individual approach to expedition planning, Kukuczka was a team player. But even as a member of large Polish expeditions, he left his imprint. He forged on when others turned back. He achieved nearly all his 8,000m summits on the first attempt, without the luxury of broken trails, fixed ropes, and well-equipped camps. Kukuczca was simply not interested in routes climbed previously by others, or in “playing for low stakes.” He only used oxygen on the highest section of the new Polish route on Everest.<\/p>\n Kukuczka has a long list of accomplishments. He soloed Makalu in alpine style via a new route in 1981. Together with Tadeusz Piotrowski, he opened a new route alpine style on K2, which has yet to be repeated. Also, he blazed new routes on Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak, Manaslu, Shishapangma, and Annapurna. He climbed Nanga Parbat via the previously unclimbed SE Pillar and Everest’s South Pillar.<\/p>\n Kukuczka died while climbing the mightly South Face of Lhotse. Leading a pitch at 8,200m, with a 2,000m drop below his feet, he fell. The second-hand rope he had bought at a market in Kathmandu snapped.<\/p>\n In the 21st century, Kukuczka’s records may be beaten on paper, but they won’t be equaled because the world has changed. While the mountains remain, technology, logistics, and climbing style have changed the game.<\/p>\n Specialty<\/strong>: Alpinism, High-altitude climbing<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: First to climb all 14 8,000’ers and climbing them without supplementary oxygen<\/p>\n High-altitude mountaineering’s most famous name for the last 50 years, Messner remains a strong voice in the mountaineering community at age 77. Born in South Tyrol (northern Italy but German-speaking), he broke boundaries on the Himalayan giants. In 1978 with Peter Habeler, he made the first ascent of Everest without supplementary O2. At the time, it was considered “impossible” for a human to survive at Everest’s summit altitude, but Messner was determined to climb the mountain “by fair means or not at all”. Two years later, he made the first solo ascent, from Tibet and in full monsoon season.<\/p>\n He cut his teeth in the Dolomites, quickly progressed to the Alps, the Andes, and finally to the Himalaya. Yet his first ascent of an 8,000’er was wrapped in drama. A member of a large expedition up Nanga Parbat’s huge Rupal Face, Messner and his younger brother Gunther continued when the rest of the team retreated. They had to descend in a blizzard, down the unexplored Diamir Face. Messner lost seven toes but Gunther never made it down.<\/p>\n Messner has tried to climb in what he considers a “respectful” style, lightweight expeditions, pioneering new routes, and always without supplemental gas. Of his 14 8,000’ers, he climbed five via new routes.<\/p>\n Specialty:<\/strong> Polar Travel<\/p>\n Best known for:<\/strong> First confirmed dogsled journey to the North Pole without resupplies<\/p>\n American Will Steger is one of the leading figures of modern Arctic and Antarctic travel, with a particular focus on dogsled travel. Steger made the first confirmed dogsled journey to the North Pole (without resupply) in 1986, completed a 2,500km traverse of Greenland in 1988, and then made the first dogsled traverse of Antarctica in 1989, a 5,500km slog across the coldest continent.<\/p>\n As well as giving lectures and writing, Steger has focused in recent decades on climate change advocacy. In 2006, he started the Will Steger Foundation to engage people about climate change solutions.<\/p>\n Specialty:<\/strong> Polar Travel<\/p>\n Best known for:<\/strong> First solo unsupported crossing of Antarctica<\/p>\n Without question the finest modern polar adventurer, and perhaps the best ever. In the 1990s, Ousland bagged most of the remaining polar firsts. These included the first unsupported full-length trek to the North Pole with Erling Kagge, the first solo and unsupported full-length trek to the North Pole, and the first solo crossing of Antarctica.<\/p>\n To pull off these feats, the reserved Norwegian prepared meticulously, innovated with equipment (i.e. a drysuit for Arctic Ocean swimming), and carefully selected only the best expedition partners. Formerly a member of the Norwegian special forces, Ousland has combined his physical and mental resilience with a keen eye for detail.<\/p>\n Ousland\u2019s most impressive expeditions have come in recent years. In 2006, he made the first unsupported full-length winter trek to the North Pole with the irrepressible Mike Horn (also featured on this list). In 2019, Ousland and Horn teamed up again to cross the Arctic Ocean by boat and ski in autumn-winter. Ousland declared this his greatest achievement, and Horn reckoned that it was the hardest expedition he had ever done. Specialty:<\/strong> High Altitude Mountaineering Best known for: <\/strong>The first summit of Mount Everest<\/p>\n This duo, one of the finest-ever expedition pairings, needs little introduction. On May 29, 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to summit Mount Everest, as part of the ninth British expedition. Their feat made the world stop and draw its breath for just a moment.<\/p>\n Hillary and Tenzing were originally slated as the second summit pairing. They got bumped up when Bourdillon and Evans turned around just 100m shy of the top because of a faulty valve in Evan’s bottled oxygen. Norgay had worked on more Everest expeditions than anyone else over the previous decade, and the pair had all the experience required.<\/p>\n The partnership of the wily, tough Kiwi and the dependable, powerful Sherpa reflected a rapidly changing world. Feted globally for their achievement, Hillary went on to take part in 10 further Himalayan expeditions, Antarctic travels, and major philanthropic work in Nepal. Norgay went on to become the first Director of Field Training of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and founded a trekking company.<\/p>\n Specialty: <\/strong>Travel writing and photography<\/p>\n Best known for: <\/strong>Spending seven years among the Ma\u2019d\u0101n tribe\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Wilfrid Thesiger spent his childhood in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and said that this is where his lifelong love of travel and adventure came from. After serving in World War II, he returned to a life of exploration.<\/p>\n In November 1945, he completed a two-month crossing of the Rub\u2019al-Khali in the Arabian Peninsula, with Bedouin guides. Thesiger had been sent to the region by the British Middle East Anti-Locust Unit to find the source of locust infestations. But Thesiger had no intention of leaving after a few months. Instead, he stayed in the area for four years, exploring by camel.<\/p>\n He then traveled to Iraq, where he became the first European to make observations of life in the southern marshlands. He spent seven years with the Ma\u2019d\u0101n tribe, immersing himself in their way of life. An unusual skill allowed him to gain access to a number of villages and ethnic groups during his time there: He was quite skilled at performing circumcisions. He traveled with western medicines to treat injuries and began carrying out the procedure. In his seven years there, he is said to have done over 6,000 circumcisions.<\/p>\n After Iraq, he traveled around Afghanistan. He then settled in Kenya before ill health forced him back to England. He wrote multiple books on his years of exploration and documented them all through photography. His book, Arabian Sands<\/em>, is one of the all-time great travel narratives. After his death, his collection of over 38,000 photos was donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.<\/p>\n Specialty<\/strong>: Arctic travel<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: One of the longest-ever dogsled journeys<\/p>\n You likely haven’t heard of A.H. Joy. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer flourished in the 1920s and early 1930s, a time when Canada was scared of losing control of its High Arctic islands to other nations. To make a statement, RCMP posts were set up in isolated locations. Every spring, the officers made “sovereignty patrols” by dogsled to strengthen the country’s claim to the territory. They covered thousands of kilometers without incident, thanks largely to the Greenland Inuit who hunted food for them. It is ironic that Greenland\/Denmark, one of Canada’s chief rivals at the time, supplied the manpower to make these patrols succeed.<\/p>\n Joy was the greatest of the RCMP travelers in this era. He did several mammoth journeys in the late 1920s. On his greatest patrol, he dogsledded 4,000km in three months in 1929 from Devon Island to Melville Island and back to an RCMP post on Ellesmere Island. No drama, no frostbite, nothing bad happened. It was a tour de force of competent travel.<\/p>\n Eventually, Joy was “promoted” to a desk and sent south, away from his beloved Arctic. He killed himself the night before his wedding day, in the prestigious Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa.<\/p>\n Specialty<\/strong>: Arctic travel<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: Guiding explorers for over 20 years<\/p>\n The Tenzing Norgay of the High Arctic, Nukapinguaq guided almost every white expedition between 1915 and 1937. Among many others, he accompanied A.H. Joy on his epic sovereignty patrol to Winter Harbour on Melville Island. No one ever went hungry on one of Nukapinguaq’s expeditions. He was the greatest traveler the High Arctic has ever known.<\/p>\n His prime coincided with the era of great long-distance expeditions. In one five-year period, he covered 9,000km.<\/p>\n In 1953, aged 60 but still “extremely spry”, Nukapinguaq and his wife spent a winter on central Ellesmere Island. A new RCMP post had just opened, but times and personnel had changed. In a bitter irony, the constables reminded Nukapinguaq — a key figure in the sovereignty patrols of the 1920s and 1930s — that it was illegal for Greenlanders to hunt in Canada.<\/p>\n Photo: Chris Bonington<\/p><\/div>\n Specialty<\/strong>: High-altitude climbing<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: Everest Southwest Face, pure alpine style<\/p>\n We have chosen Doug Scott as the representative from a group of visionary British climbers who trail-blazed a pure alpine style on big walls around the world.<\/p>\n He took part in some 50 major expeditions, driven by new routes, high difficulty, and ingenuity. Thirty of these expeditions culminated in first ascents.<\/p>\n Scott gained fame after his excellent first ascent of the SW Face of Everest with Dougal Haston in 1975. They summited but had to spend the night 100m below the summit, with no tent or sleeping bag. They made it back alive and with all their toes and fingers.<\/p>\n But there’s a world of mountains beyond Everest, and Scott took the best from it. He pioneered routes in Kenya, Baffin Island, and elsewhere in the Himalaya. He was part of the unparalleled first ascent to Shishapangma’s South Face in the purest alpine style, and the ascents on Pakistan’s Ogre and India’s Shivling, together with Chris Bonington.<\/p>\n Scott continued to climb while he could move his legs. His last activity, sick with cerebral cancer and in full lockdown from the COVID pandemic, was climbing the stairs of his home<\/a>, dressed in high-altitude attire and ice-ax in hand, to raise funds for a Nepal-based charity. He passed away some months later, aged 79.<\/p>\n Specialty: <\/strong>Sea kayaking<\/p>\n Best known for: <\/strong>Solo kayak across the Pacific Ocean, from California to Hawaii<\/p>\n In June 1987, Ed Gillet set out to kayak from California to Hawaii. It is a journey no kayaker has been able to replicate, despite multiple attempts. Over 64 days, he paddled across the Pacific Ocean in an off-the-shelf, 20-foot Tofino double kayak. Arriving three weeks later than planned, his family and authorities were sure he had perished.<\/p>\n Before GPS devices and satphones, Gillet relied on thrice-daily sextant readings to find his way. The journey was rife with challenges. His rudder broke in the first week, he lost crucial gear to rough seas, open sores spread over his body and forced him to take sedatives, with side effects that included panic attacks and depression. His food ran out after 60 days. For the final four days, he survived on bits of toothpaste.<\/p>\n Thirty years after the legendary journey, Dave Shively convinced Gillet to let him write a book of his story. In 2013, The Pacific Alone <\/em>was published.<\/p>\n Specialty: <\/strong>Astronaut<\/p>\n Best known for: <\/strong>The first man to walk on the moon<\/p>\n On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong uttered the words, “That\u2019s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,\u201d as his boot touched the surface of the moon. Alongside Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins, he spent four days in Apollo 11 before landing near the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquillity.<\/p>\n Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon. He and Aldrin left Apollo 11 for over two hours to explore, collect samples, and take photographs.<\/p>\n Armstrong joined the space program in 1962, and walking on the moon was not his only world first. In 1966 he was the command pilot of Gemini 8 and completed the first manual space-docking maneuver. Throughout his career, he was at the forefront of space exploration. After the moon landing, he moved out of the spotlight. He was not interested in being a public figure. He resigned from NASA in 1971 and moved into the academic world as a professor of aerospace engineering.<\/p>\n Specialty:<\/strong> Rock Climbing, Mountaineering<\/p>\n Best known for:<\/strong> Exploratory first ascents<\/p>\n American mountaineer Fred Beckey was once called the most accomplished climber of all time. Leading alpinist Colin Haley suggests that \u201cthe volume of climbing he has done, near and at the cutting edge, is leagues beyond anyone else. When World War II was in full swing and most people\u2019s attention was focused on battles outside the mountains, two teenage brothers from Seattle, Fred and Helmy Beckey, were quietly making a harrowing second ascent of Mount Waddington in British Columbia. No other human was to step atop Waddington for the next 35 years, such is its difficulty.<\/p>\n Fred Beckey\u2019s drive for difficult and audacious climbs prompted him to make first ascents of remote peaks all across America and around the world, as far back as the 1930s and, even more astonishingly, well into the 2000s. Beckey shunned a conventional family life to dedicate himself to the mountains, and live the life of a climbing dirtbag. He probably made more first ascents of mountains and climbing routes than any other explorer in history.<\/p>\n Beckey was also a scholar of the mountains. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of thousands of peaks around the globe. He took a keen interest in geology and the environment before it became popular to do so. This translated into a literary legacy of 13 books, which have inspired successive generations of climbers. Beckey defiantly continued climbing until he passed away in 2017 at the age of 94.<\/p>\n Specialty: <\/strong>Maritime archaeology\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Best known for: <\/strong>Discovering the Titanic shipwreck<\/p>\n In 1985, Robert Ballard solved a mystery; Where was the Titanic<\/em>? The ship sank in 1912 but despite numerous attempts over seven decades, its location eluded everyone.<\/p>\n Though this is what he is best known for, finding the Titanic<\/em> was not his goal. He was testing a new submersible he designed and this was just an exciting way to test its capabilities.<\/p>\n Ballard was a pioneer in the field of oceanography and submersibles. He developed multiple submersibles and discovered thermal vents in the Galapagos Rift and submarine volcanoes on the Pacific Rise.<\/p>\n One of his submersibles was the Argo<\/em>. It was a sled that could send live images back to a monitor on the surface, and it was this that he used to find the Titanic<\/em>. After a month of searching, he recorded the first images of the ocean liner on September 1, 1985. His videos revealed that the famous ship had split in two. He later visited the site himself in another self-designed submersible, Alvin.<\/em><\/p>\n Specialty: <\/strong>Underwater exploration<\/p>\n Best known for: <\/strong>Co-inventing the aqualung<\/p>\n Scuba diving changed the face of underwater exploration, and Jacques Cousteau was at the forefront of this. In 1943, with Emile Gagnan, he invented the first fully automatic compressed air aqualung.<\/p>\n He was not a trained scientist but was drawn to the ocean and her mysteries. The aqualung was not his only invention. He also built a number of underwater cameras and a small submarine that could explore the seafloor. Many of his inventions became commonplace tools for oceanographers.<\/p>\n In 1950, he converted an old British minesweeper into a research ship which he named Calypso<\/em>.<\/p>\n Throughout his life, he was spearheaded ocean research and is credited with popularizing oceanography as a research field, and scuba diving as a sport. He produced a myriad of documentaries that chronicle his life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Specialty: <\/strong>Astronaut<\/p>\n Best known for: <\/strong>The first person to reach outer space<\/p>\n On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to journey into outer space. The Soviet pilot and cosmonaut spent one hour and 29 minutes orbiting earth in Vostok 1.<\/p>\n Gagarin graduated from the Soviet Air Force cadet school in 1957, and just four years later carried out his only space flight. The journey catapulted him into the spotlight and brought him worldwide fame. Though he never carried out another space flight, he continued to train other cosmonauts. In 1968, he was killed during a routine training flight, when his two-seat jet aircraft crashed.<\/p>\n Specialty: <\/strong>Central Asia<\/p>\n Best known for: <\/strong>Creating the first detailed maps of the Trans-Himalaya range in Tibet<\/p>\n After being hired as an interpreter for a Swedish-Norwegian expedition to Iran, Sven Hedin knew he wanted a life of travel and adventure. He went on to visit Persia and Turkestan. Then crossed the Ural Mountains and the Pamirs.<\/p>\n Hedin did not stick to one type of expedition. After his initial mountain journeys, he spent three years in the Gobi Desert. In 1905, he returned to higher altitudes to explore the Trans-Himalaya. From his journey, he created the first detailed map of the mountains in Tibet.<\/p>\n His other interest was archaeology. From 1927 to 1933, he carried out research in western China that uncovered 327 archaeological sites. In what is a present-day desert, he found evidence of an extensive Stone Age culture. Many published works detail his findings.<\/p>\n Specialty: <\/strong>Archaeology<\/p>\n Best known for: <\/strong>Discovering the only confirmed Viking settlement in North America<\/p>\n In 1961, Anne Stine Ingstad retraced a Viking voyage along the northern tip of Newfoundland with her husband Helge Ingstad. Though Helge is often credited for the discovery of the 1,000-year-old Viking outpost, it was in fact Anne who coordinated and supervised the excavation of the site.<\/p>\n The discovery provided the first conclusive evidence that Vikings made it to North America 500 years prior to Columbus. The couple sailed along the northern tip of Newfoundland and were led by locals to L\u2019Anse aux Meadows, the location of the outpost. At first glance, there was no sign of Viking inhabitancy, but Anne began digging. Once her husband had seen the outline of the old turf wall, Anne completed the rest.<\/p>\n Over several summers, she continued to lead excavation work there. She uncovered the foundations of eight buildings and a stone spinning wheel, suggesting that women had been among the group.<\/p>\n Specialty<\/strong>: Archaeology<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: Being one of the models for Indiana Jones<\/p>\n Whether in Asia, the Arctic, or South America, the energetic Junius Bird seemed to venture everywhere. He specialized in the primitive cultures of the Western Hemisphere. During the 1930s and 1940s, he discovered the earliest human remains found in South America at the time. Bird is recognized as one of the inspirations for the character Indiana Jones, maybe simply because of the rakish fedora, maybe because of his high-spirited approach to field archaeology.<\/p>\n Bird didn’t begin as an archaeologist but as a deckhand to famed arctic skipper Bob Bartlett. In this brief clip<\/a>, a grinning, bearded Bird, center, playfully nuzzles Bartlett with his chin whiskers.<\/p>\n Bird\u2019s most famous expedition took place in Chile. There, his team discovered human remains, along with skeletons of extinct horses and giant sloths. The discovery indicated that Paleo-Indians inhabited the southern tip of South America by 9,000 B.C., earlier than previously thought. For many years, Bird also curated the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.<\/p>\n Specialty<\/strong>: Climbing, high-altitude pioneer<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: The quest for Everest’s first ascent and subject of an all-time expedition mystery<\/p>\n George H.L. Mallory is the mountaineering equivalent of a knight in shining armor, galloping on his white horse to face the dragon of Chomolungma.<\/p>\n He was an outstanding Cambridge student, a charming gentleman, a loving fiancee, a bold soldier who survived the horrors of the Somme, and a natural-born climber. When Britain’s Alpine Club organized a reconnaissance expedition to Everest in 1921, Mallory was one of the first names on the list.<\/p>\n That year, Mallory mapped a possible route from Tibet to the highest point on the planet. In the second venture, one year later, he aimed to reach the top. The expedition brought with them cutting-edge technology: supplementary O2. But Mallory and his mates didn’t use it. Still, they reached 8,250m, before eventually being forced back.<\/p>\n On June 8, 1924, Mallory and Sandy Irvine set off from their last camp at 8,100m toward the summit. An expedition member in Base Camp claimed he had spotted them in the afternoon when the clouds broke for just a moment. But that was all. Mallory was lost and a legend was born.<\/p>\n Already popular, the mysterious end of the young explorer turned him into a legend. The uncertainty about whether he might have reached the (first ever) summit of Everest has fed hours of debate, and thousands of pages in books and articles.<\/p>\n Mallory’s body was found in 1999 at 8,155m. It was determined that the cause of death was a fall. Irvine’s body has not yet been found. Mysteriously, the climbers who found Mallory’s remains uncovered several personal items among the rags of his clothes, but not a camera. Mallory departed toward the summit carrying a pocket Kodak camera which he would surely have used to take summit pictures if they had reached that far. Since then, Mallory’s camera, which could be with Irvine’s body, is the most sought-after object on Everest.<\/p>\n Specialty:<\/strong> Mountaineering and sailing<\/p>\n Best known for:<\/strong> Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, first ascents of Paldor and Batian\u2019s West Ridge<\/span><\/p>\n H.W Tilman fought in World Wars I and II and was an excellent mountaineer. In 1938, he led a reconnaissance expedition to Mount Everest and climbed to 8,290m without oxygen. He also went on several expeditions to the Nanda Devi sanctuary, and made the first ascent of Paldor, a Nepal \u201ctrekking peak\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “The Major”, as he was known, made a mark on the other side of the world by being the first to ascend the West Ridge of Mount Kenya\u2019s highest peak, Batian. He ascended more African peaks like Kilimanjaro, Speke, Baker, and Mount Stanley.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In his later years, he sailed his own yacht, the Mischief, on climbing expeditions to Greenland. He vanished at sea near the Falkland Islands, aged 79.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Specialty<\/strong>: Exploration, mapping, climbing<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: Pioneering light style, Nanda Devi<\/p>\n Eric Shipton was a hard-core traveler, an avid mountaineer, and an explorer, but also a diplomat in the years after the Second World War. He was the first westerner to see places that are now dream destinations for trekkers, such as the Barun and Rolwaling Valleys in Nepal, and others currently closed to foreigners, such as China’s Kashgar and Nanda Devi Sanctuary. He even took the first well-known picture of a “yeti” footprint.<\/p>\n Huge expedition teams were popular at the time, but Shipton believed in small, flexible teams. At 24, he was a member of the team that achieved the first ascent of India’s Mount Kamet, at 7,756m then the highest summit ever climbed. It was only logical that he also took part in several expeditions to Everest.<\/p>\n Shipton was a member of the 1951 expedition which spotted and mapped the route through the Khumbu Icefall on the Nepali side of the mountain. Unfortunately, and much to his dismay, his preference for smaller teams got him kicked off the 1953 Everest expedition, which eventually bagged the first ascent.<\/p>\n Specialty<\/strong>: Alpine and high-altitude climbing<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: North faces in the Alps, K2<\/p>\n Aficionados of mountaineering history often pick Walter Bonatti as their favorite climber. The Italian’s allure goes beyond statistics. It’s not just what he climbed, but how. It’s about attitude, honesty, spirit, and his genuine love for adventure.<\/p>\n Walter Bonatti was a gifted rock climber. From age 19, he followed in the footprints of his idol, Ricardo Cassin. He repeated Cassin’s routes in the Alps, such as the Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses.<\/p>\n His skill led to a position on Ardito Desio’s expedition to K2, which aimed for the first ascent. But the expedition did not go well. Bonatti was accused of using O2 meant for the assigned summiters, Laceddelli and Compagnony. It was also suggested that he neglected the Pakistani Madhi, with whom he spent a night in the open at 8,000m. In fact, the opposite was true. It took Bonatti years, two books, and a lawsuit to prove his innocence. He never forgave his climbing comrades.<\/p>\n After K2, he climbed more strongly than ever, as though driven by rage. He soloed the Dru’s Southwest Pillar in 1955 and bagged the first ascent of the hyper-difficult Gasherbrum IV in 1958. In 1965, he soloed the North Face of the Matterhorn in winter.<\/p>\n And then he quit. He simply gave up climbing, though he did continue to lead a life of adventure as a magazine journalist. He died peacefully in 2011 at age 81. But the mountaineers of his and subsequent generations have not forgotten him.<\/p>\n Richard Bangs. Photo: Lisa Niver Rajna<\/p><\/div>\n Specialty<\/strong>: Expedition whitewater kayaking<\/p>\n Best known for<\/strong>: Adventure literature and films<\/p>\n In college, Richard Bangs spent his summers as a Colorado River guide in the Grand Canyon. Soon, he was on to bigger and better things. In 1973, he and a crew successfully ran Ethiopia\u2019s Awash River. The expedition solidified his reputation as one of the world\u2019s best river guides.<\/p>\n Soon, the group founded Sobek Expeditions, which helped Bangs and his partners rack up 35 first descents.<\/p>\n He went on to a prolific career in writing and film directing. He has published 19 books, including The Lost River: A Memoir of Life, Death and the Transformation of Wild Water<\/em>, which won the National Outdoor Book Award. In 2005, he co-directed the IMAX film Mystery of the Nile<\/em>, which chronicles the 114-day first full descent of the Blue Nile from source to sea.<\/p>\n Peter Freuchen hamming it up later in life, with his second wife. Photo: Irving Penn<\/p><\/div>\n Specialty:<\/strong> Arctic exploration<\/span><\/p>\n Best known for:<\/strong> Arctic exploration, researching Inuit culture, popular writing Danish explorer and writer Peter Freuchen stood a hulking two metres tall, made himself a fur coat from a polar bear he killed, and amputated his frostbitten toes with pliers. A famous storyteller, he once claimed to have fashioned a dagger from his feces to cut his beard free from a piece of ice on which it was stuck. He also won the $64,000 Question<\/em> game show.<\/span><\/p>\n After dropping out of university, he traveled to Greenland where he and Knud Rasmussen established a trading post in far northwest Greenland. He studied Inuit culture and joined Rasmussen on the famous Fifth Thule Expedition<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n2. Thor Heyerdahl<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27012300\/76ede057e0743090ea527516aa7dd6ee.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n3. Jerzy Kukuczka<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/23091523\/Kukuczka.jpg\")
<\/p>\n4. Reinhold Messner<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/23085235\/Reinhold_Messner_at_Frankfurt_Book_Fair_2017_26_cropped-729x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n5. Will Steger<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27011119\/38f312-20110513-will-steger-with-dog.jpg\")
<\/p>\n6. Borge Ousland<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27011519\/ousland.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n7. Ed Hillary & Tenzing Norgay<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27011756\/Edmund_Hillary_and_Tenzing_Norgay.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n8. Wilfrid Thesiger<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27012015\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-26-at-6.19.19-PM.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n9. Alfred Herbert Joy<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/21192215\/Joy1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n10. Nukapinguaq<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/21210835\/Nukapinguaq4.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n11. Doug Scott<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/23100120\/doug-s.jpg\")
12. Ed Gillet<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27012531\/gillet.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n13. Neil Armstrong<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27012756\/ss-140719-apollo-11-01_0.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n14. Fred Beckey<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/29151841\/FredBeckey-Lhotse-1955_Photo-FredBeckeyArchives-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n15. Robert Ballard<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27013106\/Robert-Ballard.jpg\")
<\/p>\n16. Jacques Cousteau<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27041128\/jacques-costeau-001.jpg\")
<\/p>\n17. Yuri Gagarin<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/03151809\/Yuri-Gagarin-2-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n18. Sven Hedin<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27041401\/Sven-Anders-Hedin.jpg\")
<\/p>\n19. Anne Stine Ingstad<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27041503\/Anne_Stine_Moe_Ingstad_1918-1997.jpg\")
<\/p>\n20. Junius Bird<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/21214417\/junius-bird-9c6e271e-091f-4b27-a856-a1d06d3b579-resize-750.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n21. George Mallory<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/23103808\/george-mallory-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n22. H.W. Tilman<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/25005410\/HaroldWilliamTilman.jpg\")
<\/p>\n23. Eric Shipton<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/30145719\/IMG_8924-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n24. Walter Bonatti<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/23192756\/Walter_Bonatti_1965b.jpg\")
<\/p>\n25. Richard Bangs<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/21202323\/1280px-Richard_Bangs-1024x682.jpg\")
26. Peter Freuchen<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/25011331\/Peter-Freuchen-and-Dagmar-Cohn-by-Irving-Penn.jpg\")
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/30145542\/image0.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/25141835\/IMG_9555-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20011535\/Dame_Freya_Madeline_Stark_1923.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27041736\/francis.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27015242\/IMG_9556-1.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/www.explorersweb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/27014951\/IMG_9557.jpg\")
<\/p>\n