It’s that time of year again – National Geographic has named their 2015 Adventurers of the Year.
For a decade, National Geographic has spun the globe to find the Adventurers of the Year, each selected for his or her remarkable achievement in exploration, adventure sports, conservation, and humanitarianism. This year’s honorees embody the spirit of adventure in diverse ways—an exploratory surfer seeking the world’s most remote waves; paragliders pushing the boundaries of their sport; an activist challenging the status quo; filmmakers using art to drive conservation; blind kayakers redefining what’s possible; and five more feats.
This year I really struggled where to throw my support.
Folks know I’m a HUGE fan of mountain climbing so Alpinist Ueli Steck seemed like a logical choice. BUT he’s pitted against a team of blind kayakers who rode the Grand Canyon & a 67-year old Pole who crossed the Atlantic completely unassisted. ALSO inspired by 2 paragliders whose personal achievements give new visibility to their sport – similar to Kilian Jornet’s win last year for skyrunning. Voting for ADVENTURER of the year. Argh, conflicted.
This year casting my daily vote for Wasfia Nazreen who’s not only summited the highest peaks on all seven continents (yep, that includes Everest & Antarctica) but has also become a role model in her native Bangladesh, empowering women in a heavy-handed male dominated society.
Find myself super inspired as I continue to educate myself on everything Wasfia.
The Honorees: 2014/2015
- Activist: Wasfia Nazreen
- A Bangladeshi aid worker hula-hoops on the Seven Summits to empower her country’s women and girls
- Alpinist: Ueli Steck
- A climber completes a lightning-fast solo climb of a difficult and deadly Himalayan face
- Blind Adventurers: Erik Weihenmayer and Lonnie Bedwell
- Two kayakers descend the Grand Canyon to break barriers
- Climber: Tommy Caldwell
- A rock climber takes alpinism to the next level with the first traverse of Patagonia’s iconic skyline.
- Filmmakers: Matt Stoecker, Travis Rummel, and Ben Knight
- Three filmmakers capture a pivotal moment in river conservation and ignite a movement to return rivers to their natural state
- Kayaker: Aleksander Doba
- At 67 years old, a Polish kayaker completes the longest open-water kayaking expedition in history.
- Paragliders: Will Gadd and Gavin McClurg
- Two near strangers complete a revolutionary paragliding traverse of North America’s most rugged wilderness and redefine the standards for paragliding
- Ski Mountaineer: Kit DesLauriers
- A world-class ski mountaineer goes from extreme summits to extreme science in the Arctic wilderness
- Surfer: Liz Clark
- An exploratory surfer keeps sailing to find the Pacific’s most secret breaks
- Swimmer: Lewis Pugh
- A pioneering extreme swimmer becomes an eyewitness to the health of the world’s seas
VOTE HERE for People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year: https://on.natgeo.com/1y8STod
-
- Antarctica
-
- Everest
-
- enpowering young women in Bangladesh
National Geographic: People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year
WASHINGTON (Feb. 12, 2014)—Spanish ultrarunner Kilian Jornet has been named the 2014 National Geographic People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year for pioneering a hybrid sport that combines trail running and alpinism to break numerous speed records and redefine what is possible in the mountains. He also popularized “sky running,” which involves blazing up technical terrain such as glaciers, rock ridges and steep snowfields in competitions. Jornet was selected from a group of 13 adventure innovators whose extraordinary achievements in exploration, conservation, humanitarianism and adventure sports distinguished them in the past year. More than 75,000 online votes — the most ever — were cast on the National Geographic Adventure website.
“I’m very proud of this award,” said Jornet. “While I don’t run to be admired or to have more followers, it’s truly an honor to be recognized by National Geographic and to know that people voted for me.”
Jornet, 26, brought sky running into the public eye with his unprecedented streak of breaking records and winning races. Most recently, he blazed up and down Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, in under five hours and went up and down the Matterhorn in a record-breaking two hours and 52 minutes. Both runs were part of Jornet’s Summits of My Life (www.summitsofmylife.com) project, which is his personal quest to set speed records on mountains around the globe. Through the project, Jornet hopes to share his love of mountains and the outdoors, a passion that began when he was growing up in a small ski village in the Catalan Pyrenees.
“We believe that Kilian exemplifies the spirit of adventure in the truest sense of the word. He has demonstrated over and over that limits are meant to be pushed, and his growing list of remarkable accomplishments is truly inspiring,” said Mary Anne Potts, editor of National Geographic Adventure online. “We received a record number of online votes from our fans across the adventure community, and we’re thrilled to call Kilian the National Geographic 2014 People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year.”
Doing it just for the love of sport — I’m a HUGE fan. CONGRATS Kilian!
Kilian Jornet, 2014 People’s Choice
National Geographic has named their 2014 Adventurers of the Year.
“For nine years, National Geographic has combed the globe to find the Adventurers of the Year, each selected for his or her extraordinary achievement in exploration, adventure sports, conservation, and humanitarianism.
This year, we picked people who embody the spirit of adventure in diverse ways—a sky runner reinventing the rules; a skier reimagining his backyard; a climber seeking the hardest routes; a solo woman walking across the globe; a pair of veterans creating community where it’s needed most; and five more incredible feats.”
Folks know I’m a HUGE Kilian Jornet fan. That said, I was inspired by ALL of this year’s honorees.
The Honorees
• Adventure Educators Amy and Dave Freeman
• Alpinists Raphael Slawinski and Ian Welsted
• Big-Wave Surfer Greg Long
• Climber Adam Ondra
• Community Builders Stacy Bare and Nick Watson
• Explorer Sarah Marquis
• Long-Distance Swimmer Diana Nyad
• Skier JP Auclair
• Sky Runner Kilian Jornet
• Snowboarder Kevin Pearce
VOTE HERE for People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year: https://on.natgeo.com/1aGpYtW
(If you don’t vote for Kilian, check out Explorer Sarah Marquis. WOW – super inspired!)
Adventurer of the Year – Kilian Jornet
