I’m currently reading Julian Sancton’s riveting Madhouse at the End of the Earth: , an account of the trials of the Belgian/Norwegian/American expedition to Antarctica in 1897. The Belgica’s voyage was the first to make multiple landfalls on the continent and the first to overwinter South of 71 degrees of latitude. It’s a very human story, one that lays bare the hard lessons such extreme circumstances have to teach us. The relentless Antarctic winter exposes failures of leadership, plumbs the depths of what can be psychologically endured, and tests the limits of our frail physical forms. Some stumble and struggle in these conditions; others thrive (like the Belgica’s first mate, a man you may have heard of, Roald Amundsen), and some go mad. In 2024, it can seem like all the seas have been sailed and all the peaks climbed, but there are still opportunities for remarkable human achievement.
Recently, the Transglobal Car Expedition (TCE) and Russ Cook (known as the Hardest Geezer) claimed two astounding feats. Russ Cook is the first to run the entire length of Africa (you read that right), and the TCE reached the true geographic North Pole behind the wheel of their absolutely wild Yemelya vehicles.
Transglobal Car Expedition
After departing from the Explorer’s Club headquarters in New York in January, the TCE has been slowly creeping its way North across the seemingly immeasurable expanses of the Canadian Arctic and then over the swiftly disintegrating pack ice of the Arctic Ocean. The six-wheeled Yemelya trucks are also towing two trailers, and their massive tires not only offer traction on the ice and snow but also provide floatation and propulsion for the times when they inevitably plunge into the icy waters of the Arctic. As you can imagine, it’s an arduous journey since the team often had to walk ahead of the vehicles for miles for route-finding, to test the viability of the ice, and to probe for cracks. They reached the geographic North Pole on April 6, and now it’s a race against time back South to the relative terra firma of Greenland before the ice flows truly break apart.
The Hardest Geezer
Humans evolved to run, and, in fact, we evolved to run on the continent of Africa. From an evolutionary standpoint, we’re not meant to sit in chairs at desks writing blogs but rather to lope across the Savannah, chasing down our next meal or trying to avoid being one. Russ Cook took a cue from our ancient ancestors and, spanning 16 countries over 352 days, he ran over 9,940 miles from Cape Arghulas in South Africa all the way to the tip of Tunisia, ending his journey on April 10. Enduring sickness, attempted kidnapping, armed robbery, maddening visa issues, and even accusations of “cheating,” he wrapped up this incredible human achievement by saying, “I’m a bit tired.” He also raised over £600,000 for charity.
There are still mountains to climb out there; get to it.
Read more: Dumb or Dumber? A Half-Life Man Learns to Ride
Images: Transglobal Car Expedition, The Hardest Geezer, Wikimedia Commons
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