Explorer Tom Avery on Solving the North Pole's Century-Old Controversy

Text by Keith Rutowski; Photograph courtesy of Tom Avery

On April 6, 1909, a team of polar explorers led by Americans Robert Peary and Matthew Henson claimed to have reached the North Pole in just 37 days. Critics found the speed unthinkable. They cited inconsistencies in Peary’s notes and the supposedly insurmountable challenges of navigating the Arctic Ocean as evidence against him. The debate continued until 2005, when renowned explorer Tom Avery, now 33, and four others, set out to debunk the rumors by directly replicating the journey. Last week, on the anniversary of the Peary and Henson expedition, Avery organized a ceremony at the two explorers’ gravesites in Arlington National Cemetery. And in his new book, To the End of the Earth, Avery details how he and his team may have finally put the century-old controversy to rest with them.

Avery’s team made base camp on Ellesmere Island in March 2005. They proceeded to follow the same path, use the same breed and number of dogs, and ride sleds built from the same design Peary had used 100 years ago. Despite the windchill bottoming out at negative 63 degrees Celsius and a host of other obstacles, the team made it. And not only did they reach the North Pole in 37 days, they made it there roughly five hours faster than Peary and Henson’s time, thus marking the fastest surface journey to the North Pole, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Although it may never be proven for certain whether or not Peary had reached the pole, Avery and his team’s near-identical sojourn had successfully attested to its possibility.

This is exactly what Avery and his team had set out to do. It’s no coincidence that the book—like the expedition four years ago—was released in the same month as Peary and Henson’s journey. For Avery, the expedition had been about more than books and world records all along. “If we’ve helped to get people talking about Peary and Henson again, and if the world now sees their achievements in a more positive light than they did before our expedition, then I’d be content,” Avery says. “That’s all I really want.”

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Weakness is a Crime, and Other Lessons From America's First Fitness Guru

If you've been an adherent to the Atkins or South Beach diets, the new book Mr. America (Harper Collins) might just help you slim down for swimsuit season—and for good—while providing a glimpse at the birth of preventative medicine and tabloid journalism in New York City.

The new biography by ADVENTURE Contributing Editor Mark Adams follows the remarkable life of Bernarr Macfadden, America's first (and largely forgotten) fitness guru. Macfadden believed any ailment could be solved with starvation and that physical weakness was a crime. Most of his antics, such as starting his own religion, regularly eating sand, and skydiving into the Hudson River at 83 years old (see a video), were truly stranger than the sensational headlines pumped out by his publishing empire, which employed the likes of Ed Sullivan, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Walter Winchell.
 
To further understand the teachings of his subject, Adams even turned himself into a Macfadden lab rat: He fasted; he walked great distances daily; he sometimes existed on milk alone. It's not surprising that such commitment has been rewarded with glowing reviews from the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

ADVENTURE: Bernarr was cooking up his concepts early in the 20th century, long before there was any medical research to support them. What are the most significant, life-enriching tips he got right? What did he get terribly wrong?
Mark Adams: The most obviously beneficial part of Macfadden's health-improvement system was the idea that a person could seriously change his or her own health by eating less and exercising more. Today we'd call this notion "preventive medicine," and companies reimburse gym memberships to encourage it. But a hundred years ago, the medical establishment thought Macfadden was nuts. Remember, we were deep into the era of patent medicines—snake oil, that is—and weren't too far removed from the era of bleeding people as a cure-all. Bed rest was big at the time. I found it touching that one of the last things Macfadden did before dying in 1955 was to send President Eisenhower—who'd just suffered a coronary—a letter telling him to ignore the advice of doctors who were sure to tell him to avoid any exertion. As it turned out, Ike's doctor was one of the first to realize that exercise was a huge part of the rehabilitative process.

As for Macfadden's biggest blunders, his absolute refusal to believe that germs could cause harm to anyone who ate sparingly and exercised regularly probably hasn't done his reputation any favors. He really dug in his heels on that one, right about the time penicillin was being developed. Oops.

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Deep Survival with Laurence Gonzales Everyday Survival Nationwide Book Tour

Meet Laurence Gonzales and have him sign your copy of Everyday Survivial during his upcoming nine-city book tour.

Monday, September 22
7:00 p.m. Talk/Signing
Bookstall
811 Elm Street
Winnetka, Illinois

Wednesday, October 1
7:30 p.m. Talk/Signing
National Geographic
Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, October 7
7:30 p.m. Talk/Signing
Tattered Cover
1628 16th Street
Denver, Colorado

Wednesday, October 8
7:30 p.m. Talk/Signing
Boulder Bookstore
1107 Pearl Street
Boulder, Colorado

Friday, October 10
6:30 p.m. Talk/Signing
Third Place Books
17171 Bothell Way N.E.
Lake Forest Park, Washington

Saturday, October 11
2:00 p.m. Talk/Signing
Elliott Bay Book Company
101 South Main Street
Seattle, Washington

Monday, November 3
7:00 p.m. Talk/Signing
Half King
505 W. 23rd Street
New York, New York

Saturday, November 8
4:00 p.m. Talk/Signing
Collected Works Bookstore
208B West Sanfrancisco Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Sunday, November 9
3:00 p.m. Talk/Signing
Bookworks
Flying Star Plaza
4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Video in the News: Jennifer Lowe-Anker on Hope, Passion, and Living Life to the Fullest

This morning, The Today Show's Ann Curry interviewed Jennifer Lowe-Anker about her new memoir, Forget Me Not. Jenni's story captivated many after her first husband, Alex Lowe, died in an avalanche on Shishapangma in October 1999. Conrad Anker, his best friend, survived the accident. In their grief, Jenni and Conrad—much to their surprise—fell in love, married, and are now raising Alex's three sons together. This love triangle of sorts has sparked much curiosity over the years. Here, see the couple speak for themselves about building a life together.