Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogel Bam here. As of there are
Speaker 1: nearly eight billion human beings on the planet Earth. Vehicles
Speaker 1: of every kind roam the land, air, and sea, often
Speaker 1: in weather conditions that would have stopped humans in their
Speaker 1: tracks just a few decades ago. The world is in
Speaker 1: essence getting smaller, leaving few places unexplored. Given those circumstances,
Speaker 1: what exactly does it mean to be an explorer today?
Speaker 1: Some would say that exploration is part of human drive,
Speaker 1: as our curiosity pushes us to seek out new places
Speaker 1: around us, wherever we live just down the road or
Speaker 1: across the open countryside, and wherever we don't live, like
Speaker 1: under the ocean's waves, in deep caves and into the
Speaker 1: depths of the galaxy. Well, sure, some of us are
Speaker 1: fine with plush couches and plentiful pizza, but for others,
Speaker 1: the call of the unknown is irresistible, and these restless
Speaker 1: souls find that even in a shrinking world, exploration is
Speaker 1: very possible if you know where to look. There are
Speaker 1: adventures to be had everywhere, new sights to see, in
Speaker 1: places to experience. But if you want to go where
Speaker 1: no one has gone before. You can start by looking
Speaker 1: up or down. We spoke by email with Eric Larson,
Speaker 1: a polar explorer and mountain climber. He said, there are
Speaker 1: a variety of peaks in areas like Nepal, Pakistan and
Speaker 1: China that have yet to be climbed. Exploring the depths
Speaker 1: of the oceans would be one of the larger tracts
Speaker 1: of undiscovered terrain, if you could call it that. I
Speaker 1: know there are probably some areas of the Pacific Ocean
Speaker 1: that remained somewhat untouched, and definitely parts of the Amazon
Speaker 1: rainforest as well. Larson has launched some major expeditions. In
Speaker 1: two thousand nine and twenty ten, he journeyed to both
Speaker 1: the North and South Poles and the top of Mount Everest,
Speaker 1: all within three hundred and sixty five days, the only
Speaker 1: person ever to achieve this feat in under a year.
Speaker 1: It was grueling, though, and took a drastic toll on
Speaker 1: his mind and body. So why does he do it?
Speaker 1: He said? I really enjoy the physical and mental aspects
Speaker 1: of big expeditions, from the planning and preparation to the
Speaker 1: decision making and stress involved in executing these adventures. I
Speaker 1: like blazing my own trail as well, and being in
Speaker 1: places that I know no one has traveled previously. These
Speaker 1: kinds of adventures cost some people their lives. Take Percy Fawcett,
Speaker 1: who in nineteen disappeared trying to find a legendary city
Speaker 1: in the Amazon Rainforest, or Sir John Franklin and Francis Kosher,
Speaker 1: who met the same mysterious fate in the eighteen forties
Speaker 1: when they tried to find the fabled Northwest Passage. Larson
Speaker 1: himself has almost died multiple times. He said, I've had
Speaker 1: several very close encounters with polar bears. In two thousand
Speaker 1: five off the coast of Siberia on the Arctic Ocean,
Speaker 1: we had one jump on our tent while we were
Speaker 1: sleeping in it. We also were in some pretty sketchy
Speaker 1: situations in ten when trying to climb a peak in Nepal.
Speaker 1: It took us three different attempts, and we were in
Speaker 1: several situations where a wrong step would have meant death.
Speaker 1: And as if near death isn't bad enough, there are
Speaker 1: expeditions bills to be paid. Those kinds of journeys are expensive,
Speaker 1: and explorers often search for sponsors to defray the costs.
Speaker 1: In return for funding, the sponsors might ask for anything
Speaker 1: from placement of their logo on a jacket to engagement
Speaker 1: via social media, blogs, videos, live events, and more. And
Speaker 1: these sorts of sponsorships are nothing new. Going back to
Speaker 1: the turn of the twentieth century, explorers like Ernest Shackleton,
Speaker 1: who led three expeditions to the Antarctic, depended on largely
Speaker 1: private sponsors to fund their trips. The Shackleton struck deals
Speaker 1: to name glaciers, mountains, and boats after his donors, and
Speaker 1: even gave one woman's son a place on his team
Speaker 1: in return for a two thousand pound loan. The son,
Speaker 1: Philip Brocklehurst, wound up losing a big toe to frostbite
Speaker 1: on the trip, but it seems there were no hard feelings.
Speaker 1: The toe subsequently received a place of honor on the
Speaker 1: mantelpiece in the family manner. That expedition was part of
Speaker 1: a larger movement. At a dinner on May nineteen o four,
Speaker 1: attended by fifty men well known in the circles of
Speaker 1: exploration at the time, the Explorers Club was born and
Speaker 1: soon began inviting explorers and scientists to speak of their
Speaker 1: adventures and discoveries with the goal of promoting scientific exploration
Speaker 1: and field study. The Explorers Club is particularly known for
Speaker 1: its five Famous Firsts, a list of places conquered by
Speaker 1: members the North Pole in nineteen o nine, the South
Speaker 1: Pole in nineteen eleven, Mount Everest in nineteen fifty three,
Speaker 1: the Marianna Trench in nineteen sixty and the Moon in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine. These explorers were breaking entirely new ground.
Speaker 1: As of twenty however, most of the Earth has already
Speaker 1: been witnessed by human eyes. Larson said the leading edge
Speaker 1: of exploration today is more about pushing personal limits, trying
Speaker 1: to do adventures in new, unique and challenging ways. For example,
Speaker 1: while people have skied to the South Pole many times,
Speaker 1: in I tried to bicycle to the South Pole. He
Speaker 1: didn't make it, but there are plenty of other examples.
Speaker 1: Take the incredibly steep pitch of l Capitan's Dawn Wall
Speaker 1: in Yosemite National Park, some three thousand feet or nine tall.
Speaker 1: It's been climbed many times, but in Tommy Caldwell and
Speaker 1: Kevin Jorgenson were the first to free climate. Or there's
Speaker 1: Alex Hanoald who took it to a nerve shattering extreme
Speaker 1: when he climbed the Dawn Wall without any ropes whatsoever.
Speaker 1: In his climb, which is considered to be one of
Speaker 1: the greatest athletic achievements of all time, was documented by
Speaker 1: the National Geographic film Free Solo. Now, you don't have
Speaker 1: to take on these kinds of extreme adventures. If you
Speaker 1: don't want to, you can leave it to the experts
Speaker 1: and witness their bravery and perhaps dubious sanity from Afar.
Speaker 1: But no matter how as small the world gets, it's
Speaker 1: clear that there will always be people willing to push
Speaker 1: exploration just a little bit further. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. For more
Speaker 1: on this and lots of other exploratory topics, visit how
Speaker 1: stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio.
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