the explorers journal the global adventure issue - The Explorers Club

sir WallyHerbertmaster of the icetext by Nick Smithpaintings by sir wally herbertWhen Sir Wally Herbert died earlier this year, tributespoured in for the greatest polar explorer since thegolden age of Scott and Shackleton. He was also anaccomplished artist, whose paintings have just beenpublished in a new book, The Polar World.“You have to understand,” says Kari Herbert, theexplorer’s daughter, “while Dad was fiercely proudof his achievements, records didn’t mean much tohim unless they were underpinned by geographicalresearch. The whole point of the British Trans-ArcticExpedition back in the late 1960s wasn’t to be thefirst to reach the North Pole. But on the other hand,while you’re up there…”Inevitably Sir Wally Herbert’s fame will rest on thefact that he was the first to make a surface crossingof the Arctic Ocean along its longest axis. This feathas never been repeated, leading some historiansto call it “the last great journey on Earth.”During this expedition in the late 1960s he alsobecame—along with his three companions, FritzKoerner, Allan Gill, and Ken Hedges—the first man22