This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) |
Tarka L'Herpiniere | |
---|---|
Born | Yeovil, England, United Kingdom | 19 September 1981
Nationality | British |
Occupations | explorer, athlete, motivational speaker, filmmaker |
Known for | Ultra Endurance World First Expeditions |
Website | primaljourney |
Tarka Michel Bernard L'Herpiniere (born 19 September 1981[ citation needed ]) is a British explorer, ultra-endurance athlete, motivational speaker, and filmmaker who holds several endurance records.
L'Herpiniere spent his early years climbing, skiing, skydiving, paragliding and BASE jumping before turning his hand to large-scale expeditions. Initially, these were mountaineering expeditions including Mont Blanc, Aconcagua, and Cho Oyu before developing an interest in the polar regions. In 2004, after several successful small scale expeditions to the Arctic, he attempted to become the youngest person ever to reach the North and South Poles, unaided and in succession, but due to sponsorship withdrawal, the project could not be completed.
In 2006, he attempted to summit Mount Everest without oxygen. At the North Col (7,020 m) L'Herpiniere developed HACE and had to be evacuated. In 2007, he, along with his now wife, became the first person to walk the entire length of the Great Wall of China. [1]
In 2008, L'Herpiniere cycled over 8,000 km through Africa on a 30-year-old bicycle with no brakes or gears to promote the charity Re-Cycle.[ citation needed ] In 2009, he completed the longest crossing of the Southern Patagonian Ice Cap by a British team.[ citation needed ]
In 2014, L'Herpiniere, along with Ben Saunders, replicated Captain Robert Falcon Scott's 1,795 mile trek across Antarctica from Scott's cabin on the coast, to the South Pole, and back. [2]
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(February 2023) |
L'Herpiniere was born in Yeovil, England shortly before moving to Tignes in the French Alps. He is the eldest of three siblings and returned to England to be educated at Cheltenham College after obtaining a sports scholarship. In 1996, he was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst before attending Brunel University and the University of Bath.
He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a mentor of the British Schools Exploring Society and has used his expeditions to support a number of charities including: Make-A-Wish Foundation, Cancer Research, Practical Action, Merlin, and Re-Cycle.
He was married to Katie-Jane (Cooper) L'Herpiniere. They became engaged during an aborted attempt to cross the Patagonian ice cap from north to south unaided in 2009. [3] She was also his companion on his trek across the Great Wall of China.[ citation needed ] Now divorced.[ citation needed ]
Year | Expedition |
---|---|
1995 | His first summit of Mont Blanc (aged 13 or 14). [4] |
1997 | Cycled 1000 miles from Cheltenham to Nice, France (aged 16). [5] [6] |
1999 | Ran 8 marathons in 8 consecutive days down the west coast of France carrying all his equipment. [5] [6] |
4-man team to summit Mont Blanc. [6] | |
2001 | 35-day expedition to the North / East coast of Svalbard . [7] |
Winter mountaineering expedition to the Andes . [5] | |
2002 | Expedition Leader of a 23-day expedition to Cornwallis Island. [4] |
2003 | Solo expedition to Devon Island. [7] |
Solo Svalbard expedition. [4] | |
2004 | Solo 27-day expedition to Russia. [4] |
2005 | Unsuccessful Bi-Polar expedition. [5] [6] |
Unsupported crossing of the Alps from France to Switzerland . [4] | |
Climbing expedition up Mont Blanc in training for Mount Everest . [6] | |
2006 | Climbing member of EverestMax; The longest climb on earth. From the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan (−400m) to the summit of Mount Everest (8848m). [5] [6] |
2007 | 4500 km trek through the Taklimakan Desert and over the Qiling Mountain range to walk the entire length of the Great Wall of China. [5] [8] |
2008 | 2-man expedition off the North / East coast of Spitsbergen. [7] |
8000 km cycle expedition from Djibouti to South Africa. [6] | |
2009 | Polar research and support station as part of the Catlin Arctic Survey. [9] |
Completed longest British crossing of the Southern Patagonian Ice cap during the Rivers of Ice Expedition . [10] | |
2014 | Completed 1,800 mile trek from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole and back, with Ben Saunders[ citation needed ] |
Year | Film | Release | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | The Great Walk of China [11] | February 2009 release | |
2009 | The African Way [12] | February 2010 release | |
2010 | Rivers of Ice | November 2010 release |
Major Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest valley glaciers in the world, being 200 km (125 mi) long and having a width of 40 km (25 mi). It descends about 2,200 m (7,200 ft) from the Antarctic Plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf and is bordered by the Commonwealth Range of the Queen Maud Mountains on the eastern side and the Queen Alexandra Range of the Central Transantarctic Mountains on the western.
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records.
Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard was an English explorer of Antarctica. He was a member of the Terra Nova expedition and is acclaimed for his 1922 account of this expedition, The Worst Journey in the World.
The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) of 1955–1958 was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole. It was the first expedition to reach the South Pole overland for 46 years, preceded only by Amundsen's expedition and Scott's expedition in 1911 and 1912.
Thomas Crean was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer who was awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving (AM).
Benjamin Myer Fogle, is an English broadcaster, writer and adventurer, best known for his presenting roles with British television channels Channel 5, BBC and ITV.
Sir Walter William Herbert was a British polar explorer, writer and artist. In 1969 he became the first man fully recognized for walking to the North Pole, on the 60th anniversary of Robert Peary's disputed expedition. He was described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes as "the greatest polar explorer of our time".
Scott's Hut is a building located on the north shore of Cape Evans on Ross Island in Antarctica. It was erected in 1911 by the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910–1913 led by Robert Falcon Scott.
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era in the exploration of the continent of Antarctica which began at the end of the 19th century, and ended after the First World War; the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 is often cited by historians as the dividing line between the "Heroic" and "Mechanical" ages.
Benjamin John Saunders is an English polar explorer, endurance athlete, and motivational speaker. He led the first return journey to the South Pole on foot via Shackleton and Scott's route in 2013–14, and skied solo to the North Pole in 2004. Saunders has skied more than 3,700 miles (6,000 km) on polar expeditions since 2001. He holds the record for the longest human-powered polar journey in history (2,888 km) and for the longest solo Arctic journey by a Briton (1,032 km).
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipodally on the opposite side of Earth from the North Pole, at a distance of 12,430 miles in all directions. It is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface.
Arctic Trucks is an Icelandic company with operations in the United Kingdom, North America, Norway, Finland, Poland, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates. They specialize in the re-engineering and after-market tuning of four-wheel drive vehicles to allow them to be used in challenging conditions.
Thomas Avery, FRGS is a British explorer, author and motivational speaker. He made record-breaking journeys to the South Pole in 2002 and to the North Pole in 2005. He is one of fewer than ten people throughout history to have completed the Polar Trilogy; full length expeditions to the South Pole and North Pole and a coast to coast crossing of Greenland. Avery and his teammates hold two Guinness World Records; the fastest surface journey to the North Pole and the fastest coast-to-coast crossing of Greenland. He is also the youngest Briton to have reached both the North and South Poles on foot.
Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure is an IMAX film about the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton between 1914 and 1917. Directed by George Butler, the film was released in February 2001 and was narrated by Kevin Spacey. It documents Shackleton's journey aboard the Endurance and was the follow-up to Butler's previous film, The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition.
Eric Larsen is an American Polar adventurer known for his expeditions to the North Pole, South Pole, and Mount Everest.
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.
Luke Robertson is a British and Scottish explorer, adventurer, endurance athlete and motivational speaker.
The Ice Maiden expedition was a British Army expedition in which six women from the United Kingdom became the first female team to ski across the Antarctic continent using muscle power alone. The Ice Maidens were also the largest team to ski across the continent. The 1,704 km expedition began on 20 November 2017 and finished on 20 January 2018, lasting 62 days.