What Does It Mean to Be a Modern-Day Explorer?

Some would say that exploration is part of human drive, as our curiosity pushes us to seek out new places around us, wherever we live just down the road or across the open countryside, and wherever we don't live, like under the ocean's waves, in deep caves and into the depths of the galaxy. Well, sure, some of us are fine with plush couches and plentiful pizza, but for others, the call of the unknown is irresistible, and these restless souls find that even in a shrinking world, exploration is

very possible if you know where to look. There are adventures to be had everywhere, new sights to see, in places to experience. But if you want to go where no one has gone before. You can start by looking up or down. We spoke by email with Eric Larson, a polar explorer and mountain climber. He said, there are a variety of peaks in areas like Nepal, Pakistan and China that have yet to be climbed. Exploring the depths of the oceans would be one of the larger tracts

of undiscovered terrain, if you could call it that. I know there are probably some areas of the Pacific Ocean that remained somewhat untouched, and definitely parts of the Amazon rainforest as well. Larson has launched some major expeditions. In two thousand nine and twenty ten, he journeyed to both the North and South Poles and the top of Mount Everest, all within three hundred and sixty five days, the only person ever to achieve this feat in under a year.

It was grueling, though, and took a drastic toll on his mind and body. So why does he do it? He said? I really enjoy the physical and mental aspects of big expeditions, from the planning and preparation to the decision making and stress involved in executing these adventures. I like blazing my own trail as well, and being in places that I know no one has traveled previously. These

kinds of adventures cost some people their lives. Take Percy Fawcett, who in nineteen disappeared trying to find a legendary city in the Amazon Rainforest, or Sir John Franklin and Francis Kosher, who met the same mysterious fate in the eighteen forties when they tried to find the fabled Northwest Passage. Larson himself has almost died multiple times. He said, I've had

several very close encounters with polar bears. In two thousand five off the coast of Siberia on the Arctic Ocean, we had one jump on our tent while we were sleeping in it. We also were in some pretty sketchy situations in ten when trying to climb a peak in Nepal. It took us three different attempts, and we were in several situations where a wrong step would have meant death. And as if near death isn't bad enough, there are

expeditions bills to be paid. Those kinds of journeys are expensive, and explorers often search for sponsors to defray the costs. In return for funding, the sponsors might ask for anything from placement of their logo on a jacket to engagement via social media, blogs, videos, live events, and more. And these sorts of sponsorships are nothing new. Going back to the turn of the twentieth century, explorers like Ernest Shackleton, who led three expeditions to the Antarctic, depended on largely

private sponsors to fund their trips. The Shackleton struck deals to name glaciers, mountains, and boats after his donors, and even gave one woman's son a place on his team in return for a two thousand pound loan. The son, Philip Brocklehurst, wound up losing a big toe to frostbite on the trip, but it seems there were no hard feelings. The toe subsequently received a place of honor on the mantelpiece in the family manner. That expedition was part of

a larger movement. At a dinner on May nineteen o four, attended by fifty men well known in the circles of exploration at the time, the Explorers Club was born and soon began inviting explorers and scientists to speak of their adventures and discoveries with the goal of promoting scientific exploration

and field study. The Explorers Club is particularly known for its five Famous Firsts, a list of places conquered by members the North Pole in nineteen o nine, the South Pole in nineteen eleven, Mount Everest in nineteen fifty three, the Marianna Trench in nineteen sixty and the Moon in nineteen sixty nine. These explorers were breaking entirely new ground. As of twenty however, most of the Earth has already

been witnessed by human eyes. Larson said the leading edge of exploration today is more about pushing personal limits, trying to do adventures in new, unique and challenging ways. For example, while people have skied to the South Pole many times, in I tried to bicycle to the South Pole. He didn't make it, but there are plenty of other examples. Take the incredibly steep pitch of l Capitan's Dawn Wall in Yosemite National Park, some three thousand feet or nine tall.

It's been climbed many times, but in Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgenson were the first to free climate. Or there's Alex Hanoald who took it to a nerve shattering extreme when he climbed the Dawn Wall without any ropes whatsoever. In his climb, which is considered to be one of the greatest athletic achievements of all time, was documented by the National Geographic film Free Solo. Now, you don't have

to take on these kinds of extreme adventures. If you don't want to, you can leave it to the experts and witness their bravery and perhaps dubious sanity from Afar. But no matter how as small the world gets, it's clear that there will always be people willing to push exploration just a little bit further. Today's episode was written by Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other exploratory topics, visit how

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