Synopses & Reviews
The thrilling true adventure of a deadly trek to the North Pole, a one-hundred-year-old mystery, and an inspiring tale of polar exploration
To the End of the Earth explores perhaps the greatest controversy in the history of exploration. Did U.S. Naval Commander Robert Peary and his team dogsled to the North Pole in thirty-seven days in 1909? Or, as has been challenged, was this speed impossible, and was he a cheat? In 2005, polar explorer Tom Avery and his team set out to re-create Pearys one-hundred-year-old journey, using the same equipment, to show that Pearys team could have done what they had always claimed and discovered the North Pole.
Navigating treacherous pressure ridges, deadly channels of open water, bitterly cold temperatures, and traveling in a similar style to Peary and Henson with dog teams and replica wooden sledges bound together with cord, Avery tells the story of how his team covered 413 nautical miles to the North Pole in thirty-six days and twenty-two hours—some four hours faster than the original pioneers. Weaving fascinating polar exploration history with thrilling extreme adventure, this is Averys story of how he and his team nearly gave their lives trying to determine if Peary and Henson were telling the truth.
Review
“[A] sparkling adventure saga . . . a captivating homage to a polar frontier thats melting into history.” —Publishers Weekly
“The towering pressure ridges, paper-thin ice, and brutal cold of the Arctic Ocean rightly make it the most hazardous landscape on Earth. Merely completing the 413 miles to the Pole in one piece is a truly remarkable effort. But for Avery and his team to travel in the style of the original polar pioneers, yet still manage to beat Pearys disputed thirty-seven-day journey to the Pole, is quite breathtaking, and testament their great courage, fitness, and determination. To the End of the Earth is a spellbinding account of one of the most important polar expeditions of recent times.” —Sir Ranulph Fiennes
“Their thirty-seven-day dash to the North Pole has wiped out ninety-six years of doubt about Pearys feat.” —Gilbert M. Grosvenor, President, National Geographic Society
Synopsis
April 2009 is the one-hundredth anniversary of perhaps the greatest controversy in the history of exploration. Did U.S. Naval Commander Robert Peary and his team dogsled to the North Pole in thirty-seven days in 1909? Or, as has been challenged, was this speed impossible, and was he a cheat? In 2005, polar explorer Tom Avery and his team set out to recreate this 100-year-old journey, using the same equipment as Peary, to prove that Peary had indeed done what he had claimed and discovered the North Pole.
Navigating treacherous pressure ridges, deadly channels of open water, bitterly cold temperatures, and traveling in a similar style to Pearys with dog teams and replica wooden sledges bound together with cord, Avery tells the story of how his team covered 413 nautical miles to the North Pole in thirty-six days and twenty-two hours—some four hours faster than Peary. Weaving fascinating polar exploration history with thrilling extreme adventure, this is Averys story of how he and his team nearly gave their lives proving Peary told the truth.
About the Author
Tom Avery is one of the brightest stars among the new generation of young explorers. As one of only forty-one people in history to have reached both the North and South Poles on foot and a veteran of over a dozen mountain and polar expeditions, Tom holds several exploration world records and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for leading “the fastest surface journey to the North Pole.” He lives in Wimbledon, England.
Visit the author at www.tomavery.net.