History
The Long Search for the ‘Tryall,’ Australia’s First Shipwreck
In May of 1622, the English East India Company...
Greenlandic Ice Cores Chart 12,000 Years of Civilization
Like the inverse of the mythical butterfly flapping its...
Remembering South Korean Mountaineer Kim Chang-ho
Kim Chang-ho was a South Korean mountaineer who summited...
40th Anniversary of First Paragliding Descent From an 8,000m Summit
On July 11, 1985, Pierre Gevaux made the first...
Why Rich Europeans Ate Up All The Egyptian Mummies
While Egyptian kings and queens are the most famous...
A Climbing History of Nanga Parbat’s Deadly Rakhiot Face
At 8,125m, Nanga Parbat in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan is the...
SS Bessemer, the Disastrous Seasickness-Proof Ship
Perhaps the most famous ship in exploration history, the Fram...
A Climbing History of Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face
The ninth-largest mountain in the world, Pakistan's 8,125m Nanga...
How A Scottish Botanist Stole the Secrets of Tea from China
In 2023, the world consumed more than 7.3 billion...
Hoax or Mistake? The Bird Audubon Painted That Never Existed
On Dec. 3, 1827, an engraving changed the world...
Quipu: The Inca’s Mysterious Recording Device
Long before Spanish colonization, the indigenous people of Peru...
The Werewolf Hunting Craze in 17th-Century France
In September of 1573, authorities in the Franche-Comté region...
Looking Back: The Disappearance of Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker on Everest in 1982
In the spring of 1982, a small British team...
The 75th Anniversary of The First Ascent Of An 8,000m Peak: Annapurna I
Seventy-five years ago, on June 3, 1950, French mountaineers...
Schrodinger’s Cat, and How Death Doesn’t Add Up in Quantum Mechanics
After escaping the Nazis by minutes and then getting...
The 70th Anniversary of the First Ascent of Kangchenjunga
Today is the 70th anniversary of the first ascent...
Forgotten 7,000’ers: The Elusive Kirat Chuli — Lots of Failures, Just One Ascent
Our Forgotten 7,000'ers series continues with the climbing history...
Lenin Peak: Historic Climbs and Tragedies on this ‘Easiest’ 7,000’er
Lenin Peak, a towering giant in the Pamirs, has...
Shining Brightly, Briefly: Johnny Waterman and His 1978 Solo Traverse of Mount Hunter
In 1978, American mountaineer Johnny Waterman completed the first...
The Desert Island Castaway Whose Life Inspired an Adventure Novel
A pirate capture, a daring escape, a deserted island...
Dora Keen’s 1912 Climb of Mount Blackburn, the First Women’s Ascent of an Alaskan Peak
In this entry in our series on the climbing...
Looking Back: A Tragic 1984 Disappearance on Everest’s West Ridge
Earlier this week, we examined the pioneering 1979 ascent...
