Antarctic Explorers Discuss Their Dangerous Trek


National Geographic explorers Mike Libecki and Cory Richards battled 80-100 mile-per-hour winds on an expedition to a remote Antarctic mountain range. Along with fellow explorers Freddie Wilkinson and Keith Ladzinski, the team made it to the top of a 2,300-foot rock spire never before climbed.

The spire, which they named Bertha’s Tower, lies in a remote part of the Wohlthat mountain range in the area of Antarctica called Queen Maud Land. Two thousand miles from the nearest city, Libecki, Richards, and their companions had to carry all the gear they needed in 100-pound bags. Bertha’s Tower has been battered for millions of years by snow, ice, and punishing winds, and the rock was unlike anything the men had ever tried to climb.

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Libecki and Richards are visiting Chicago for a sold-out speaking engagement as part of the National Geographic Live! speaker series at the Goodman Theatre.

Read an account of the trip written by Freddie Wilkinson.

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