tonyhaile.com
The polar world is lucky to have many of its greatest exponents given the kind of accolades they deserve, Borge Ousland, Robert Swan and Sir Ranulph Fiennes to name but a few. However, there are also some who have achieved incredible things and yet go largely unsung.
Geoff Somers was a great mentor to me and a whole generation of polar expeditioners and was a key member of the longest Antarctic traverse in history and yet is largely unknown. Even more of a travesty however is the relative anonymity of Sir Wally Herbert, possibly the greatest true explorer that Britain produced in the post-Scott and Shackleton era.
In 1968/69 Sir Wally Herbert made the first ever surface crossing of the frozen Arctic Ocean. En route he and his team became the first expedition to successfully reach the North Pole by surface travel, without the assistance of airlifts. Upon arrival at the Pole, Wally and his team continued on their journey across the Arctic Ocean, finally reaching Spitsbergen 15 months after leaving Alaska. To this day, his accomplishment has never successfully been repeated.
Furthermore, nobody alive today has made a greater contribution to the surveying and mapping of the Antarctic continent. The man, quite simply, is a legend. This October a group of the expedition world’s great and good will be joining together to attempt to redress the balance. A testimonial evening will be taking place at the Royal Geographical Society on 18 October to honour this great man.
The evening should be a fantastic one and you can buy tickets online from www.voyageconcepts.co.uk. If you are in town, I would strongly recommend going. It would be a chance to mix with the who’s who of the world of exploration and to let a real trailblazer know just how important his life’s work has been.
