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Favourite Historically Significant Expeditions

Original Post
Luke.d6 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2015 · Points: 15

Hey,

I am about to start a project for school where I have to research a historically significant self propelled expedition. Examples are the Scott and Amundsen Race to the South Pole, Everest First Ascent without supplemental oxygen or rowing across the Atlantic for the first time.

I was curious if anybody on this forum had a cool or interesting self propelled historically significant expedition they find particularly interesting that I may be interested in doing my case study on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Br3tt · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2016 · Points: 0

Luke,

I'm not sure what you mean by "self propelled," but I read In the Kingdom of Ice last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the book did an excellent job at not just telling the tale of the Jeanette's expedition, but doing so in the context of Gilded Age America.

amazon.com/Kingdom-Ice-Terr…

"On July 8, 1879, Captain George Washington De Long and his team of thirty-two men set sail from San Francisco on the USS Jeanette.

Heading deep into uncharted Arctic waters, they carriedthe aspirations of a young country burning to be the first nation to reach the North Pole. Two years into the harrowing voyage, the Jeannette's hull was breached by an impassable stretch of pack ice, forcing the crew to abandon ship amid torrents of rushing of water. Hours later, the ship had sunk below the surface, marooning the men a thousand miles north of Siberia, where they faced a terrifying march with minimal supplies across the endless ice pack.

Enduring everything from snow blindness and polar bears to ferocious storms and labyrinths of ice, the crew battled madness and starvation as they struggled desperately to survive. With thrilling twists and turns, In The Kingdom of Ice is a spellbinding tale of heroism and determination in the most brutal place on Earth."

goingUp · · over here · Joined Apr 2013 · Points: 30

its kinda been done, but Chouinard and Tompkins' trip to Patagonia documentary 180 degrees south)...

Dr. Horatio Nelsons drive across the US. summer 1903 is actually pretty interesting - and had large implications in a country without roads and freeways or large scale use of automobiles... yet.

Eric Engberg · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 0

Sounds like you are going to have to provide a strict definition of "self propelled" - if that is what you really want. Most of the significant expeditions that we have good knowledge about have used all the technology that was available. The ones that were strictly self propelled - Goran Kropp's Sweden to Everest adventure for example - haven't been that significant in terms of exploration but very significant in terms of self propellsion. Does any thing that involves floating/drifting on water - even if you are occasionally rowing - qualify?

Luke.d6 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2015 · Points: 15

Cool, I am excited by the replies so far, thanks everyone!

By self propelled I mean the person is providing the transport i.e. no engines, so rowing would qualify.

Thanks again and I will start looking into all of these suggestions.

Redyns · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2011 · Points: 60

I self-propelled myself to the Fresh Grocer in North Philadelphia because my local market had a power outage. That was a hell of an expedition.

I was called boujee when i said i didn't need any bags. classic.

Old lady H · · Boise, ID · Joined Aug 2015 · Points: 1,374

Helga Estby, a Victorian woman who walked across the U.S. to win money to save her family farm.

goingUp · · over here · Joined Apr 2013 · Points: 30

ha- I interpreted 'self propelled' to be 'self funded' - not the more obvious without use of machines / vehicles / transportation

Caldwell/Jorgeson on the Dawn wall? or the Harding or Robbins on expeditions up the vertical walls of Yosemite.
Hannibals march through the Pyrenees/alps - but they had elephants...

Mark E Dixon · · Possunt, nec posse videntur · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 974

Not sure it's historically significant enough, but the first expedition to K2 was pretty colorful.

Included Aleister Crowley "the wickedest man on earth," Oscar Eckenstein, the inventor of modern crampons, gun play, leader arrested as a spy...

Not sure how much work it would be to research- maybe more than you desire.
Anyway, here's a url-

picturesdotnews.com/2015/08…

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
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