Sir Ranulph Fiennes Attempting New Adventure Record

Famed British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes is about to embark on yet another mission. This time the many who has been called "the greatest living explorer" hopes to become the first person to cross both polar ice caps and climb the Seven Summits. And thanks to his already long history of undertaking major expeditions, he is already well on his way to accomplishing this goal.

Thanks to previous adventures, Fiennes has already skied across both the Arctic and Antarctic. He has also climbed Everest, Kilimanjaro, and Mt. Elbrus as well. That leaves him with Carstensz Pyramid in New Guinea (Australasia), Mount Vinson in Antarctica, Aconcagua in Argentina (South America), and Denali in North America to complete the tallest peaks on each of the seven continents. He hopes to wrap up each of those mountains within the next year, giving him the distinction of being the only person to accomplish all of these feats.

The 72-year old explorer is undertaking this mission as part of the Global Reach Challenge, an endeavor he has undertaken in an attempt to raise funds for Marie Curie, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting those living with a terminal illness as well as their families. To date, Fiennes' efforts have raised more than £300,000 ($393,000).

First up on the hit list will be Carstensz Pyramid, with that expedition getting underway soon. He'll have to wait until December of this year to attempt Mt. Vinson however, as the austral winter will prevent that climb from happening any sooner. As the highest mountain outside of the Himalaya, Aconcagua will pose a serious challenge, but the ultimate test will likely come on Denali sometime early next summer. Considering Fiennes has already successfully climbed Everest, he shouldn't find Denali to be particularly daunting, but the combination of unpredictable weather and unique technical hurdles still makes it a difficult proposition.

Reaching the North and South Pole and also climbing the Seven Summits is often referred to as the Adventure Grand Slam or Explorer's Grand Slam. Obviously, this has been done by a number of people in the past, but no one has skied across the entire Arctic and Antarctic, via the North and South Poles, before. That will give the British adventurer a leg up on the competition, and set his achievement apart from most others. It should be interesting to follow along with his journey and watch his progress unfold.

Good luck Ran!

Risky Antarctic Rescue Mission Completed Successfully

Before I left for Utah last week, one of the stories that we were watching closely was a daring and risky evacuation flight to the South Pole. At the time, all we knew was that a staff member at the Amundsen-Scott research facility had taken ill, and the situation was so desperate that two Twin Otter Aircraft has been scrambled from Kenn Borek Air in Canada to evacuate them. While it took some time to complete, that rescue operation did go off successfully, with everyone involved making it back safely.

Due to the fact that it is currently winter in the Southern Hemisphere, the flight was an incredibly risk one. Weather conditions are unpredictable and very dangerous in that part of the world this time of year, making it risky to come and go from the South Pole. Typically that means that anyone at the South Pole research station has to stay there until spring arrives in November. But in this case, the medical situation was so dire that it was deemed necessary to take the risk to bring out the patient.

That's exactly what happened last week, with the flight carrying not one, but two, South Pole staffers arrived back in Punta Arenas, Chile on Wednesday. That successful return followed several very long day, during which the pilots flew from Canada to South America, than crossed the Southern Ocean to reach the British Rothera Research Station, than continued on to the South Pole, and back again.

Two aircraft were required to complete the rescue with one making the full fight to the Pole, while the other stood by to lend a hand if needed. Fortunately, the entire mission came off without a significant hitch, and the two sick workers are now receiving medical attention. Their names and afflictions haven't been announced.

I'd love to hear more about this story and find out all the details behind it. Hopefully someone will do an in-depth article about what this adventure was like for the pilots. I'm sure there is quite a story to be told.

Evacuation Operation Underway in the Antarctic

The National Science Foundation has initiated an evacuation procedure from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station as one of the winter staff members there has taken ill. The nature of the medical emergency hasn't been divulged, but it is clear that it is serious enough for the NSF to call in help.

Canada's Kenn Borek Air has scrambled two Twin-Otter Aircraft, which are currently en route to South America before making the leap over to the Antarctic Continent. One of those planes will serve as a support aircraft should search and rescue operations become necessary, while the other will make a 1500 mile (2414 km) flight from the British Rothera Research Station to the South Pole.

The time table for this rescue operation will be heavily dependent on current weather conditions in the Antarctic, but it is believed that June 19 will be the earliest that plane can reach the South Pole. It is currently winter in the Southern Hemisphere, which makes for some incredibly inhospitable weather in Antarctica. Conditions can change very quickly, and it is not uncommon to have high winds and incredibly cold temperatures, sometimes falling to more than -100ºF/-73ºC. That could complicated an evacuation procedures over the next few days.

Because it is winter at the South Pole, the Amundsen-Scott station has a greatly reduced staff on hand to maintain the base. Typically those crew members are on duty there until November or so, when the regular crew returns to ramp up seasonal research operations. The winter staff usually knows that once they are in place there is usually no way for them to return home, so the nature of this medical evacuation must be fairly serious. Not only is the NSF risking the lives of the pilots performing the dangerous flight, but they're also risking the safety of their crew.

Hopefully everything will go off without a hitch in the next couple of days, and both the flight crew and the NSF staff member will be safely evacuated. It should be an interesting story to follow to say the least.

Climber Sets New Speed Record for Climbing Seven Summits

Climbing the Seven Summits remains quite a milestone in the world of outdoor adventure, but those hoping to do so in record time now have an impressive new mark to try to beat. American climber and endurance athlete Colin O'Brady reached the summit of Denali in Alaska this past weekend, wrapping up his quest to climb the highest peaks on each of the seven continents, a feat he accomplished in just 132 days.

O'Brady's Seven Summits bid started this past January, when he traveled to Antarctica to climb Mt. Vinson. He followed that up with Aconcagua in South America, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Carstensz Pyramid in Oceania, Elbrus in Europe, Everest in Asia, and Denali in North America. Those last two mountains were summited just eight days apart. The previous record for climbing the Seven Summits was 134 days, set by Vern Tejas back in 2010.

The Seven Summits speed record isn't the only one that O'Brady is claiming. Between climbing all of those mountains, he also managed to ski to both the South and North Pole, reaching the former on January 10 and the latter on April 19. That has given him claims of completing the "Explorers Grand Slam" as well. But, both of those excursions were last degree ski expeditions and did not cover the full distances to either of the Poles. Colin is claiming a record of 139 days to finish his entire project, which beats the previous record of 192 days.

O'Brady wasn't just going after speed records in his adventurous start to 2016. He also was working to raise $1 million for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation as well. That organization is working to combat child obesity by inspiring kids to be more active and eat healthier too. Colin didn't quite hit that goal, raising about $15,772 instead, but for this important cause, every dollar counts.

Congrats to Colin on claiming the speed record for the Seven Summits. It seems like it will take a tremendous effort to by another climber to beat this mark.