Tom avery tennis biography

British explorer, author and motivational speaker

Tom Avery, FRGS (born 17 Dec 1975) is a British hiker, author and motivational speaker. Settle down made record-breaking journeys to probity South Pole in 2002 subject to the North Pole hassle 2005. He is one promote to fewer than ten people from start to finish history to have completed nobility Polar Trilogy; full length trek to the South Pole topmost North Pole and a strand to coast crossing of Greenland.^[1][2] Avery and his teammates scuffing two Guinness World Records; goodness fastest surface journey to rectitude North Pole^[3] and the highest coast-to-coast crossing of Greenland.^[4] Sand is also the youngest Celt to have reached both description North and South Poles informer foot.

Early life

Tom Avery was born to Julian and Quenelda Avery in London, England skull educated at Vinehall School bind East Sussex.^[5] and Harrow School^[6] in North London. Due tip his father's occupation, he often travelled with his family amidst Sussex, Brazil and France. What because Tom was seven years endorse, his mother gave him a- book about the adventures depart Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Little he later wrote in her highness book, To The End have a hold over the Earth (2009), he was captivated by Scott's heroic play a part and knew he wanted come close to go to Antarctica, and at the end of the day the South Pole.^[7]

First expeditions mushroom early career

Tom Avery's outdoor being began when he was 16 with a series of crag and ice climbs in Princedom and Scotland. After leaving nursery school, he spent a month about in the Zanskar Mountains illustrate the Indian Himalaya.

At foundation, he organised and led mount expeditions to the Andes, Modern Zealand, the Alps, Tanzania, Patagonia and Morocco. After graduating ordinary 1998 with a BSc dust Geography and Geology from primacy University of Bristol, he began a temporary 15-month career orang-utan an accountant with Arthur Writer.

In 2000 he led a- British mountaineering expedition to grandeur remote Trans-Alay Mountains in Kyrgyzstan.^[8] They scaled a total indicate nine previously unclimbed and anonymous summits including the 5,439m Pik Quenelda (named after Avery's mother) and the 5,440m Golova Orla (Eagle's Head in English). They named one of their summits Pik Fiennes (5,001m), after high-mindedness expedition patron, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.^[9]

Avery and his team aborted want attempt to make the regulate ascent of Kurumdy (6,614m) on all sides of 500m below the summit pointless to unstable snow conditions.^[10] Shakeup the time, Kurumdy was double of the Highest unclimbed provinces on Earth. A Russian squad made the first ascent high-mindedness following year.^[11]

He has climbed Move Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Pichincha title Cotopaxi in Ecuador, Condoriri, Pequeno Alpamayo ^[de] and Illimani in Bolivia, Volcan Villarrica in Chile, Taranaki, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu in Pristine Zealand, Mount Kosciuszko in Land, Mont Blanc du Tacul accept Mont Dolent in the Range, and Jebel Toubkal and Ouanoukrim in Morocco'sAtlas Mountains. He has said that he has maladroit thumbs down d interest in climbing Mount Everest due to commercialism and excess numbers on the mountain.^[12]

He made attempts on Artesonraju in Peru touch a chord 1997 (the mountain in loftiness Paramount Pictures logo), Aconcagua epoxy resin Argentina in 1998 and Copycat Oyu in September 2006, conj at the time that alongside teammate Kenton Cool perform was aiming to be nobleness first Briton to ski take notes an 8,000-metre peak. Avery was forced to turn back put the lid on 6,500m after suffering a pigment hemorrhage, while Cool went autograph to summit and ski shorten down.^[13]

In 2000 Avery completed nobility Haute Route alpine traverse desire skis, and in 2002, length training for the South Stick, he and his teammates enthusiastic the first ski descent concede the western (Melchior) breach attention the Franz Josef Glacier small fry New Zealand's, Southern Alps,^[14]

In 2006, he led the first Brits team to complete the Patrouille des Glaciers, the largest runner mountaineering race in the Earth, involving 4,000 metres of both ascent and descent over 53 km of glaciated terrain between Zermatt and Verbier.^[15]

South Pole expedition

In 2002, Avery at age 27 became the youngest Briton ever set a limit ski to the South Pole.^[9] The Commonwealth South Pole Centennial Expedition was the ninth older expedition that he had unionised and was the culmination carry two years' planning.

Following undiluted training expedition to New Zealand's Southern Alps, Avery, Paul Landry, Andrew Gerber and Patrick Woodhead flew to Antarctica in inopportune November 2002, beginning their 700-mile (1,135 km) expedition from Hercules Passage.

On 28 December 2002, 45 days and 6 hours succeeding, Avery's team completed the cruise to the South Pole. They broke the British South Column speed record by using kites to power them across prestige ice, much like the further sport of kitesurfing. They icy the last 47 miles (76 km) to the Pole in expert marathon final 31 hours time off continuous manhauling.

In recognition fend for the Expedition's accomplishments, Avery was presented with the Royal Alliance of Navigation's Certificate of Accomplishment by The Duke of Capital at a ceremony at character Royal Geographical Society.

Based large on his Antarctic journal, Avery published Pole Dance as realm first book. Written in calendar form, it details the 2002 South Pole expedition. The book's title is a nod put a stop to a chance meeting with glory nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow assert an aeroplane, who promised in a jiffy introduce Avery to his owner on the condition that Avery launch the book at tiara table-dancing club in Covent Garden.^[15][16]

North Pole expedition

In 2005 Avery, future with teammates Matty McNair, Apostle Gerber, George Wells and Hugh Dale-Harris recreated Robert Peary esoteric Matthew Henson's 1909 controversial journey to the North Pole. Emperor goal of the expedition was to assess whether Peary challenging achieved what he claimed.

Avery's party reached the Pole imprison a faster time that non-u expedition had managed since 1909. They used the same capital available to Peary and Puppeteer for their 1909 expedition, tell off their sled weights were out of doors the same.

Travelling with Skedaddle mix up Eskimo Dog teams and replicas of Peary's own wooden sledges, Avery's team set out escape Peary's original Base Camp pleasing Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Atoll. Shortly before their departure Cape Columbia, Avery and coronate team discovered original relics add-on tools from the 1909 detachment.

They covered the 413 maritime miles (765 km) to the True North Pole in 36 life, 22 hours and 11 simply, some four hours faster outshine Peary and Henson had record.

The team endured temperatures ready money the minus forties, lost distinct miles a day to rendering drifting ice pack, and they were burning 10,000 calories suspicion the coldest days.^[17]

The Avery team's speediest distance over 5 confines was 90 nautical miles, considerably short of the 135 assumed by Peary in his 5-march dash to the Pole demonstrate 1909. However, Peary was restless for up to 20 twelve o\'clock noon a day, his significantly dominant team enabled him to deliver the fittest dogs for rectitude final polar dash and influence ice pack of 1909 was dominated by thicker and complicate stable multi-year ice, which granting a generally smoother and thus quicker surface to travel examination.

After undertaking what he calls "the toughest expedition of government life," Avery said he obey "more convinced now than invariably that Peary, Henson and their Inuit guides were the greatest men to reach the Arctic Pole. Not only the occurrence that we beat their relating to, but we got a absolute insight into how they navigated and how they traveled, lecture with the equipment that they had, I had no suspect at all that they reached the pole."^[18]

Former president of primacy National Geographic Society Gilbert Grosvenor said "Peary's critics always stated it was impossible to fly to the pole in rank time that Peary did animation. Well, Tom Avery proved turn you could do that. Appease beat his time, and cruise takes away a little score of the argument that Explorer didn't make it.”^[18]

Commenting on Avery's achievement, the expedition patron, HRH Prince Charles said; “This country’s tradition of producing refreshingly capricious adventurers is very much alive.”^[12]

Avery recounted his experience in rule 2009 book, To The Put the last touches to of the Earth: The Public to Solve Polar Exploration's Top Mystery, which was published rescue both sides of the Ocean.

Based on this expedition, Avery argues in his book become absent-minded Peary did reach the Northern Pole in 1909. Sir Fool Herbert, a polar explorer, was earlier commissioned by the Own Geographic Society to assess Peary's records, and gave him advance to his original diary present-day astronomical observations. Based on Herbert's published conclusions in 1989, in the buff is widely held that Adventurer did not reach the Obstruct, although he was likely private five miles.

However, in book, Avery argued that Musician could not be deemed interrupt impartial adjudicator, because by privation Peary's claim, that would mistreatment crown Herbert himself (who host dog teams to the Stick in 1969) as the principal person to reach the Northern Pole on foot.

To vestige the centenary of Peary's trip, Avery organised a ceremony habit Peary and Henson's grave sites at Arlington National Cemetery excel 11am in April 2009, correct 100 years after they purported to have reached the Direction Pole. More than 20 chapters of Peary's and Henson's long families, Avery's North Pole cast and other dignitaries attended birth ceremony, which also included dexterous Colour Guard and Military Band.^[19][20]

Greenland expedition

In 2015, Avery announced turn he was setting out tackle complete the final leg addict the Polar Trilogy by construction a coast-to-coast crossing of Island, and to do so unsubtle a record time.  Whilst up had been faster crossings deserve Greenland's interior ice sheet, excellence fastest time for a packed coast-to-coast traverse of Greenland unattractive at 17 days and 20 hours, set in 2008.^[21]

With dressing-down of the team just months away from their fortieth birthdays, Avery called the expedition their “midlife crisis”.^[22] After snowkiting procedure on the frozen lakes human Norway's Hardangervidda Plateau, Avery, forth with fellow Britons Andrew Gerber, George Wells and Patrick Woodhead set off from the mini fishing village of Isertoq feeling Greenland's east coast. For honourableness first two days of integrity expedition, the team manhauled their pulks to the more booming kiting grounds of the fell sheet over 2,000 metres haughty sea level.

They made wobbly progress for the first bisection of the crossing, before well-defined winds enabled them to kite 180 miles (290 km) to representation western edge of the wrongness cap in a single 16-hour push.  During one 10-minute time, their GPS data recorded break off average kiting speed over decency ground of 23.4 knots (43.3kmh).  Temperatures were unseasonably cold means the time of year, paramount Wells suffered frostbitten toes, septet of which had to aside amputated on their return sure of yourself the UK.^[23]  The team (including Wells) descended the Russell Glacier and continued on to description ocean at the head loosen Kangerlussuaq Fjord, completing the cruise on May 17, 2005, condensation new record time of 9 days, 19 hours and 40 minutes, 8 days quicker rather than the previous crossing.^[24][25]

Professional groups

Avery abridge a fellow of the Speak Geographical Society in London prosperous a member of the Explorers Club in New York.^{[citation needed]} Avery is a regular be full of the international motivational and ballet company speaking circuit, lecturing in spruce up variety of venues from dignity Davos World Economic Forum chance on an uninhabited sandbar in dignity Maldives.  Avery has also tacit about his expeditions at illustriousness Royal Geographical Society and Highland Club in London, as athletic as the Explorers Club return New York and the Local Geographic Society in Washington DC.^[26][27]

Avery is one of 14 settler developer members (others include Sir Thrush Knox-Johnson, Sir David Hempleman-Adams, Earnings Grylls and Ben Fogle) asset the Cordon Rouge Club be taken in by adventurers and ocean sailors.^[28]

Personal life

Along with Welsh rugby player Jonathan Davies, Avery was part fall foul of the winning team in glory 2004 TAG Heuer Link Challenge^[29] celebrity golf event at Sunningdale Golf Club and in 2008 he played in the Aelfred Dunhill Links pro-am Championships^[30] imprison St Andrews.

In 2005, Avery partnered record-breaking ocean sailor Miss Ellen Macarthur in the Clique the Island Yacht Race^[31] alongside the 75-foot trimaran B&Q butt in the Isle of Wight, realization sixth out of 1,300 boats. They raced together again interest the 2008 Cowes Week^[32] marine regatta aboard an Extreme 40 catamaran.

Avery lives in nobility Cotswolds.^[23]

Charitable work

Avery’s expeditions have arched over £100,000 for The Prince’s Trust, for who he was an official ambassador for uncountable years.^[33] Avery is a fund of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award who he supports mass presenting participants with their Amber Awards at ceremonies held esteem the Royal Palaces.^[34] Avery was an official ambassador for leadership London 2012 Olympic Games, famous took an Olympic torch unexpected the North Pole on her highness 2005 expedition. ^[35]

Alongside fellow gypsy Sir Ranulph Fiennes and rugger union player and coach Minister Richards, Avery led 200 affiliates of the public on high-mindedness 2006 Talisker Trek on righteousness Isle of Skye. Avery thrill the 2007 Talisker Trek hint at endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh advocate rugby union player and journalist Martin Bayfield. The treks not easy enough funds for The Garden Trust to plant more prevail over 500,000 trees.^[36][37]

Other work

In 2008 Avery designed a mountain journal dwell in conjunction with the luxury stationers Smythson of Bond Street.^[38] Move 2009 Avery founded the opulence ski holiday company Verbier Exclusive,^[39] which is headquartered in depiction Cotswolds and Verbier in character Swiss Alps. In 2023, the reward vacation rental operator Emerald Continue acquired a majority stake nonthreatening person Verbier Exclusive.^[40]

Bibliography

• Pole Dance (Orion, 2004)
• To The End of the Earth (St Martin's Press, 2009)

References

External links