The Explorer's Grand Slam is an adventurer goal to reach the North Pole and South Pole, as well as climb the Seven Summits (Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson, and Puncak Jaya or Kosciuszko). Purists also include a submarine expedition to the bottom of the Marianas Trench, but this is not necessary by most popular accounts.
The original concept involved the polar trips starting from accepted coastal points, involving long sledging journeys. Over time the significantly shorter, easier, and less serious "Last Degree" polar trips – from 89 degrees to the pole (at 90 degrees) – have been claimed as the Explorer's Grand Slam (Last Degree). Currently, the climbing community and other leading organizations including the American Alpine Club, The Explorers Club, climbing companies such as International Mountain Guides, and the popular press all define the Explorer's Grand Slam as having accomplished the Seven Summits plus (at a minimum – the last degree of) the North and South Poles. There is some consensus that a True Explorer's Grand Slam means one will also have summitted all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) (14 + 7 + 2). Likewise, there is some consensus that a True Adventurer's Grand Slam is achieved by also visiting the magnetic north and south poles. [1] As of 2022, all terminology and guidelines regarding polar data records are being conducted under the Polar Expeditions Classification Scheme (PECS). [2]
In 1998, David Hempleman-Adams became the first person to complete an Explorer's Grand Slam. [3] [4]
In April 2005, Park Young-seok became the first person to complete a True Explorer's Grand Slam. [5]
In 2011, former Wales rugby union international Richard Parks became the first person ever to complete the (Last Degree) Grand Slam within a single calendar year, doing so within seven months. [6]
On April 16, 2013, Vanessa O'Brien became the first woman to complete the (Last Degree) Grand Slam under a single calendar year, doing so in eleven months. [7] [8] [4]
On April 22, 2013, Cheryl Bart became the first Australian woman and the 31st person worldwide to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam. [9] [10]
In 2014, Jing Wang became the fastest woman to complete the (Last Degree) Grand Slam in 142 days. [11]
In 2014, Ryan Waters became the first American to complete the True Adventurer's Grand Slam by skiing full-length, unsupported and unassisted North and South Pole expeditions and climbing the seven summits.
On April 21, 2015, Tashi Malik and Nungshi Malik became world's first twins and siblings as well as the first South Asians to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam (Last Degree).
On May 27, 2016, Colin O'Brady became the fastest person to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam (Last Degree), doing so in 139 days. He is the current world speed record holder for completing the Explorer's Grand Slam (Last Degree). [12] [13] [14] [15]
On April 12, 2017, Marin Minamiya became the youngest person to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam (Last Degree) at 20 years old. [16]
In chronological order:
David Hempleman-Adams 
Erling Kagge 
Fyodor Konyukhov 
Heo Young-ho Park Young-seok (first person to complete a True Explorers Grand Slam ) [5] 
Bernard Voyer [17] Cecilie Skog 
Maxime Chaya 
Ryan Waters [18] Stuart Smith
Johan Ernst Nilson [19] 
Wilco van Rooijen [20] In chronological order:
Haraldur Ólafsson (SP non-Coastal)
Khoo Swee Chiow (SP non-Coastal) Alison Levine (NP non-Coastal) [21] 
Mostafa Salameh (NP non-Coastal) [22] Newall Hunter (NP non-Coastal) [23] 
Zhang Liang (SP non-Coastal) [24] [25] 
Grazyna Machnik (NP non-Coastal) [26] Jaco Ottink (NP non-Coastal) [27] [28] 
Jérôme Brisebourg (NP non-Coastal) [29] [30] Mark Shuttleworth (NP non-Coastal) [31] In chronological order:
Sean Disney [32] Vaughan de la Harpe Sibusiso Vilane Arthur Marsden Andrew Van Der Velde Vernon Tejas Will Cross Lei Wang Neil Laughton [33] Jo Gambi
Rob Gambi Randall Peeters Wang Yongfeng Ci Luo Liu Jian Wang Shi Zhong Jianmin Jin Feibao [34] Wang Qiuyang Suzanne K Nance [35] Richard Parks 
Andrea Cardona John Dahlem Matthew Holt 
Arnold Witzig Len Stanmore [36] Cheryl Bart Vanessa O'Brien [7] [8] Sebastian Merriman [37] Jing Wang [11] 
Tashi Malik [38] [39] Nungshi Malik [38] [39] 
Omar Samra [40] Maria (Masha) Gordon Colin O'Brady [12] [13] [14] [15] John Moorhouse Victor Vescovo [41] Sean Swarner [42] 
Marin Minamiya [16] Michael W. Grigsby [43] [44] 
Julia Elinor Schultz [45] 
Muhamad Muqharabbin Mokhtarrudin [46] Mike Gibbons [47] [48] 
Nikolaos Mangitsis [49] [50] 
Josu Feijoo [51] [52] James Holliday [53] Joel Schauer [54] Alexander Pancoe [55] Leifur Svavarsson [56] Khai Nguyen [57] [58] [59] Taylor Sweitzer [60] [61] The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits and additionally reaching the North and South poles has been dubbed the Explorers Grand Slam.
Sir David Kim Hempleman-Adams, is an English industrialist and adventurer.
Khoo Swee Chiow is a Singaporean adventurer, author, consultant, and motivational speaker. Khoo is the first Southeast Asian and the fourth person in the world to complete The Explorers Grand Slam, that is, the North Pole, the South Pole, and the Seven Summits.
The Three Poles is an adventurer’s challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Mount Everest.
Naomi Uemura was a Japanese adventurer who was known particularly for his solo exploits. For example, he was the first person to reach the North Pole solo, the first person to raft the Amazon solo, and the first person to climb Denali solo. He disappeared a day after his 43rd birthday while attempting to climb Denali in the winter.
Ajeet Bajaj is the first Indian to ski to the North Pole and complete the polar trilogy which entails skiing to the North Pole, South Pole and across the Greenland icecap. Bajaj and his daughter Deeya Bajaj were the first Indian father daughter team to climb Mt. Everest. He completed the Explorer's Grand Slam on 05 June 2022 while completing the Seven Summits with his daughter Deeya.
Omar Samra is a British-born Egyptian adventurer, entrepreneur and speaker. He is the first Egyptian to climb Mount Everest, the 7 Summits and ski to both the Geographic South and North Pole. He is also the first Egyptian to complete the 7 Summits challenge on 31 May 2013, climbing the highest mountain on all seven continents. Samra is one of 40 known people to accomplish the "Explorers Grand Slam" challenge, which include climbing the highest mountain on every continent, the 7 summits, and skiing to both the South and North Poles. Samra has also been selected for Nasa's PoSSUM program along with 2 other Egyptians, Abdelraouf El Waqad and Ahmed Farid
Sibusiso Vilane is a South African adventurer and motivational speaker and the author of the book To the Top from Nowhere. An adventurer, marathon runner and mountaineer and expedition leader, he has also served as the Chief Scout of Scouts South Africa.
Pat Falvey is an Irish high-altitude mountaineer, polar explorer, expedition leader, author, corporate and motivational speaker. He works with individuals, companies and organisations throughout the world inspiring, mentoring and challenging them to be the best that they can be.
Wang Lei is the first Chinese woman and the first Asian American who have climbed the Seven Summits and skied to both the North Pole and South Pole, the so-called Explorers Grand Slam.
Alison Levine is an American mountain climber, motivational speaker and leadership consultant. She is the author of On the Edge: The Art of High Impact Leadership and the executive producer of a documentary, The Glass Ceiling. She has ascended the highest peaks on every continent and also skied to both the North and South Poles. In 2010, she completed the Adventure Grand Slam by reaching the summit of Mount Everest. She served as an adjunct instructor at the U.S. Military Academy.
Harry Taylor is a British mountaineer, security advisor and former SAS member. He founded ‘High Adventure’ with Loel Guinness, an extreme sports company specifically designed to set records in climbing, paragliding, and skydiving. His team set a world distance flight record for a paraglider at 150.6 km in Namibia. In 1991, with close friend Charles "Nish" Bruce he made a tandem skydive with oxygen from 27,000 feet over Badajoz in Spain. Taylor did a tandem paraglider flight from Cho Oyu 8,201m Tibet and was also the 1st British paraglider pilot to fly from Denali, Alaska.
Tashi and Nungshi Malik are the first siblings and twins to climb the Seven Summits and reach the North and South Poles and complete the Adventurers Grand Slam and Three Poles Challenge.
Ryan Waters is an American mountaineer, mountaineering guide, and polar skiing guide.
Colin Timothy O'Brady is an American professional endurance athlete, motivational speaker and adventurer. He is a former professional triathlete, representing the United States on the ITU Triathlon World Cup circuit, racing in 25 countries on six continents from 2009 to 2015.
Masha Gordon is a British businesswoman, explorer and mountain climber. Gordon spent 16 years working in finance and capital markets. She was managing director of Goldman Sachs and most recently led the emerging markets portfolio management team at PIMCO.
Vernon "Vern" Tejas is an American mountain climber and mountain guide. He is the current world record holder in the amount of time taken to summit all of the Seven Summits consecutively, having also previously held the same record. He was also the first person to solo summit several of the world's tallest peaks. Tejas was named one of the top fifty Alaskan athletes of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated in 2002. In 2012, he was elected to the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. Tejas plays the harmonica and guitar. He currently resides in Greenwich Village, New York.
Wang Jing is a Chinese mountaineer, author, entrepreneur and member of The Explorers Club in the United States. Wang Jing is best known for her feat in becoming the fastest woman in the world to complete the Explorers Grand Slam in 143 days and the fastest woman to climb Seven Summits with an assist from helicopters. The Explorers Grand Slam involves reaching the highest peak on every continent plus at a minimum of skiing the last degree (111 km) to the North and South poles. Wang Jing recorded this adventure in her book Silence of the Summit, which was published in English in December 2018.
Neil Adrian Denis Laughton is a former army officer, entrepreneur and adventurer. He has completed the Explorers Grand Slam of climbing the highest mountains on all seven continents and reaching both the North and South Poles. He holds a number of records for his activities on land, sea and air.
The Four Poles is an adventurer's challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole, the summit of Mount Everest, and the Challenger Deep.
