110.gearjunkie.com110 Outdoor Ambassadors - GJ

◀ ► 110 Outdoor Ambassadors Adventurers to iconoclasts, our project looks at the past 110 years to find 110 people in the outdoors world who have made a difference. Take a tour of these “unexpected” heroes, from athletes and artists to conservationists of decades past. Thanks to Wigwam, a made-in-the-USA socks brand, for sponsoring our 110 project in sync with its 110th anniversary! Get Started ▶ Share 110 Outdoor Ambassadors John Huston / Polar Skier This photo shows Huston on a -50F day on the way to the North Pole. In 2009, he and partner Tyler Fish became the first Americans to ski unsupported over 475 miles to the world’s most northerly point. They battled abyssal temps, drifting sea ice, and open patches of water where the pair needed to don dry suits and swim while towing floating sleds filled with gear to the other icy shore. #1 / 110 Kikkan Randall / Nordic Force Women’s Nordic Skiing in the United States has growing recognition thanks largely to the charismatic smile and indomitable perseverance of Kikkan Randall. She has stormed to three consecutive World Cup Sprint titles and multiple World Cup wins. Now, her focus is on achieving Olympic glory with unorthodox training that includes plyometric strength sessions and high mountain runs. photo credit: Flyingpoint photo #1 / 110 Glen Plake / Mohawk Man An aggressive spiked plume has for decades symbolized Glen Plake’s personal brand. But beyond the hair Plake has spent a 25-year career moving from freeskiing icon to soul-skiing leader, including competition wins, countless film credits (“License to Thrill,” “The Blizzard of AAHHHs”), and guiding and ski mountaineering today based out of his adopted home near Chamonix, France. #1 / 110 Ray Jardine / Inventor & Adventurer A god to climbers and ultralight backpackers alike, Jardine hasn’t slowed down since his 1970s ascents and his invention of the spring-loaded camming device (called Friends) that revolutionized the sport of rock climbing. As an author, adventurer, and gear inventor there are few people on the planet who can compete with “the Ray Way.” #XX / 110 Steve Fisher / Rapid Rider “The world’s largest rapids” — that's what National Geographic called the Congo River’s Inga Rapids. Fisher and a team navigated the death-defying African whitewater after six years of planning. The river included “bus-size whirlpools and house-size holes.” But Inga is just one of Fisher’s accomplishments, including snatching over 100 first descents around the world. #1 / 110 Maya Gabeira / Big Wave Woman Tow-in surfing star Maya Gabeira hunts monster waves. The Brazilian's biggest dance to date was on a 46-foot-tall wave at the Dungeons in South Africa — the largest known wave ever surfed by a woman. Gabeira has been given the Billabong Girls Best Overall Performance Award four years in a row. #1 / 110 Eric Larsen / Polar Man Polar adventurer, expedition guide, and educator, Eric Larsen has spent the past 20 years traveling in some of the most remote and extreme environments on the planet. To date, he has completed more polar expeditions than any other American in history. His ‘Save The Poles’ project in 2009 saw Larsen mounting expeditions to the North and South Poles and the summit of Mt. Everest, all in a 365-day span. Learn More #29 / 110 Mike Kloser / Adventure Captain “Unstoppable.” That was a common observation during the hay day of adventure racing, where Colorado endurance king Mike Kloser captained Team Nike and dominated the sport with more than a dozen major titles. Before AR, Kloser had a career as a World Cup mountain biker and top competitive mogul skier. Today, Kloser runs upstart Out There Gear, which manufactures backpacks for endurance racing and mountain sports. #1 / 110 Jeff Lowe / Great American Alpinist At age 7, he climbed Wyoming's Grand Teton. Born in 1950, Jeff Lowe’s climbing career follows an arc like no other American mountaineer, including hundreds of first ascents, the authoring of books, and the inventing of gear. Today Lowe lives in Louisville, Colorado, and is continuing to inspire while battling a motor neuron disease and building a project around his film, ”Metanoia,” a Greek word meaning “a fundamental change of thinking and a transformative change of heart.” #2 / 110 Chris Skogen / Gravel Racing Father Figure Bike races on gravel roads are a major trend today. Back in 2007 when Chris Skogen founded the Almanzo Race only 12 riders showed up. Today, the Almanzo is a world-famous gravel event that hosts up to 1,500 riders each spring in southeastern Minnesota. The kicker? Almanzo is a no-cost event built to promote “the idea of barrier-free bicycle racing” for anyone who wants to sign up. #3 / 110 Mimi Anderson / Extreme Runner In the ranks of “most badass grandma” on the planet, Mimi Anderson is a real life Energizer Bunny. She holds so many race wins and records it’s difficult to count, but (for a couple examples) she once ran for 840 miles over 12 days, and in 2007 she won the Extreme Ultra Marathon, a 352-mile non-stop self sufficiency race in the Arctic. “I got into ultra-running by accident,” she told Run247.com “I only took up running to change the shape of my legs.” Learn More #23 / 110 Conrad Anker / American Alpine Patriarch He leads a top crew of explorers and adventurers as captain of The North Face Athlete Team. Anker, age 51, has built a resume over three decades of exploration and alpinism, including climbs and expeditions around the planet. In 1999, on the flanks of Mount Everest Anker found the body of George Mallory, an explorer who’d disappeared in 1924, a “find of the century” that helped shed light on one of climbing's great unsolved mysteries. #1 / 110 Pam Thorburn / Ski Diva Since age 16, Pam Thorburn has raced full-time, including at the World Cup level on the British Alpine Ski Team. She made the transition to the Ski Cross discipline in 2012 and keeps up with a fan base on social media. (See GearJunkie’s coverage of Thorburn’s Instagram account.) #24 / 110 -- Lynn Hill / Matriarch Of Big Stone Lynn's early career was defined by what she was able to accomplish — for a woman... but when she became the first person to free climb the Nose of El Capitan, and then the first to free climb it in under a day — a feat that couldn't be repeated by anyone, man or woman, for another decade — she proved that women could not only climb as well as men, they could climb better. credit: Bob Carmichael #1 / 110 Ernest Shackleton / Antarctic Explorer In 1907, Shackleton led an expedition further south than any other had gone before, turning back just 97 miles from the south pole in deteriorating conditions. On his next expedition, Shackleton's ship immediately became stuck in pack ice and later sank, beginning an epic 635 day struggle for survival. After living for 497 days on drifting ice floes, sailing across 800 miles of open ocean in a lifeboat, and traversing previously unexplored mountains and glaciers, all 28 members of the crew returned alive, earning Shackleton a legendary reputation for making good decisions and enduring in unthinkable times. #1 / 110 Mike Libecki / King Of Expeditions A career of 50+ expeditions around the world and counting... Mike Libecki is a top climber and explorer as well as a notable author and photographer. His trips have included diverse adventures and objectives, including the ascent of a 2,000-foot tower in Borneo and snowboarding in Afghanistan’s Koh-e Baba Mountains. He has a life goal of 100 expeditions around the planet. Learn More #31 / 110 Cory Richards / Behind The Lens From fashion shoots to the pages of National Geographic, Cory Richards’s camera has caught dramatic diversity in recent years. Richards’s core passion remains high-altitude mountaineering, where he has climbed Lhotse, Ama Dablam, and most notably made the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum II, an ascent that nearl...