The other night I was watching a special on the fateful 1996 Everest season chronicled by Krakauer in his book Into Thin Air that took (among others) the lives of famed guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. For those of you that don't know the story, it is one of the most heart-wrenching modern tales of survival and adventure ever written. I mention this because for those of you that know me you'll know I have three vices: coffee, good food, and an obsession for adventure tales. Anything that is remotely related to discovery, borderline delusional adventure activities, or the capacity for the human body to survive near-death physical efforts, has my interest piqued. Anyhow, the show got me thinking about two things: The greatest adventure/exploration stories ever, and what (if any) modern day adventures are left? To start, here is a list of what I consider to be six of the most incredible/fascinating adventure stories ever recorded:
1. Everest: The 1996 expedition, the Hillary/Irvine fateful attempt in 1924, and Messner's ascent alone and without oxygen in 1980
2. Lewis and Clark's exploration of the Western United States (and/or the trappers detailed in Give Your Heart to the Hawks)
3. Shackleton's odyssey in the Antarctic
4. Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to the Northwest Passage in 1845
5. The sinking of the whale-ship Essex in 1820, and the resulting survival story
6. The 14th century Moroccan wanderer Battúta's adventures as chronicaled in Travels
As for the last great unknowns and unexplored, here are my thoughts:
1. Everest still remains
2. The sub-glacial terrain of Antarctica (and sea life off the coast, see here)
3. The ocean floor (only 1% mapped)
4. The Northern Triangle Subtropical Forests of Myanmar
5. Regions of the central mountains of New Guinea
6. Parts of the Amazon (upper Orenoco)
7. The Greenland ice cap
8. The table mountains of southern Venezuela
9. Northwest Siberia
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