Climb Everest? Old hat. Explore the Amazon? Too many loggers. Race to the South Pole? You would probably bump into a TV presenter. So, in search of a big challenge in a small world, Dan Martin has a suitably lunatic idea: a triathlon around the world. An extreme adventurer from England, Martin’s plan for glory is to swim across the Atlantic from the US to France; cycle from Europe through Russia to the Berling Strait; either sledge across the frozen strait or swim further south; and then trek and run to New York.
Martin’s global ambition reflects just how much the traditional frontiers of the world have shrunk. Last week Jordan Romero made a satellite phone call to his mother in California and said: “Mom, I am calling you from the top of the world.” Romero, an American, was on the summit of Everest. He is 13. Thanks to all the support and modern equipment that money can buy, he had become the youngest person to climb the world’s highest mountain.
Bonita Norris, 22, also reached the summit last week, becoming the youngest British woman to climb the Everes t even though, two years ago, she had done no mountaineering. Although Everest remains a serious proposition, the numbers that now crowd the peak symbolise the dilemna for those seeking to boldly go where no man has gone before. Are there any real challenges left on Earth? Leaving aside space, what frontiers remain?
Plenty, is the answer – if you are determined and crazy enough. As Ben Saunders, the British polar explorer, says: “There is this kind of myth that it’s all been done before and every man and his dog has been to the North Pole. Yes, it has become more accessible, but there are still some big challenges out there.” In 2004 Saunders became one of only three people to have made it to the North Pole alone and unsupported. Since then nobody else has succeeded. To some, the key to modern challenges lies in how objectives are achieved: solo, unsupported or faster, lighter, more stylishly than ever before. For others the challenge lies in exploring not unknown lands but the limits of endurance.