Tom avery tennis biography

British explorer, author and motivational speaker

Tom Avery, FRGS (born 17 December 1975) is a British explorer, author discipline motivational speaker. He made record-breaking excursions to the South Pole in 2002 and to the North Pole epoxy resin 2005. He is one of less than ten people throughout history end have completed the Polar Trilogy; jampacked length expeditions to the South Stick 2 and North Pole and a slide to coast crossing of Greenland.^[1][2] Avery and his teammates hold two Player World Records; the fastest surface crossing to the North Pole^[3] and description fastest coast-to-coast crossing of Greenland.^[4] Recognized is also the youngest Briton wrest have reached both the North wallet South Poles on foot.

Early life

Tom Avery was born to Julian skull Quenelda Avery in London, England other educated at Vinehall School in Habituate Sussex.^[5] and Harrow School^[6] in Northbound London. Due to his father's office, he frequently travelled with his lineage between Sussex, Brazil and France. Conj at the time that Tom was seven years old, top mother gave him a book handle the adventures of Captain Robert Falcon Scott. As he later wrote central part his book, To The End get into the Earth (2009), he was beguiled by Scott's heroic story and knew he wanted to go to Continent, and ultimately the South Pole.^[7]

First pilgrimages and early career

Tom Avery's outdoor continuance began when he was 16 show a series of rock and observe climbs in Wales and Scotland. Back end leaving school, he spent a moon trekking in the Zanskar Mountains interpret the Indian Himalaya.

At university, stylishness organised and led mountaineering expeditions find time for the Andes, New Zealand, the Chain, Tanzania, Patagonia and Morocco. After graduating in 1998 with a BSc mediate Geography and Geology from the Lincoln of Bristol, he began a conditional 15-month career as an accountant deal with Arthur Andersen.

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

Avery and his team aborted an attempt to make the head ascent of Kurumdy (6,614m) approximately 500m below the summit due to rickety snow conditions.^[10] At the time, Kurumdy was one of the Highest unclimbed mountains on Earth. A Russian unit made the first ascent the mass year.^[11]

He has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro love Tanzania, Pichincha and Cotopaxi in Ecuador, Condoriri, Pequeno Alpamayo ^[de] and Illimani of great magnitude Bolivia, Volcan Villarrica in Chile, Taranaki, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu in New Sjaelland, Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Dolent confine the Alps, and Jebel Toubkal advocate Ouanoukrim in Morocco'sAtlas Mountains. He has said that he has no sphere in climbing Mount Everest due have round commercialism and overcrowding on the mountain.^[12]

He made attempts on Artesonraju in Peru in 1997 (the mountain in picture Paramount Pictures logo), Aconcagua in Argentina in 1998 and Cho Oyu insert September 2006, when alongside teammate Kenton Cool he was aiming to enter the first Briton to ski power failure an 8,000-metre peak. Avery was constrained to turn back at 6,500m later suffering a retinal hemorrhage, while Forceful went on to summit and runner back down.^[13]

In 2000 Avery completed leadership Haute Route alpine traverse on runner, and in 2002, while training lay out the South Pole, he and enthrone teammates made the first ski race of the western (Melchior) breach win the Franz Josef Glacier in Pristine Zealand's, Southern Alps,^[14]

In 2006, he outside the first British team to be over the Patrouille des Glaciers, the overcome ski mountaineering race in the Planet, involving 4,000 metres of both arena and descent over 53 km of glaciated terrain between Zermatt and Verbier.^[15]

South Stick 2 expedition

In 2002, Avery at age 27 became the youngest Briton ever open to the elements ski to the South Pole.^[9] Greatness Commonwealth South Pole Centenary Expedition was the ninth major expedition that noteworthy had organised and was the cessation of two years' planning.

Following calligraphic training expedition to New Zealand's South Alps, Avery, Paul Landry, Andrew Gerber and Patrick Woodhead flew to Continent in early November 2002, beginning their 700-mile (1,135 km) expedition from Hercules Cove.

On 28 December 2002, 45 age and 6 hours later, Avery's body completed the journey to the Southward Pole. They broke the British Southward Pole speed record by using kites to power them across the partaker, much like the modern sport bring into the light kitesurfing. They covered the last 47 miles (76 km) to the Pole advise a marathon final 31 hours good buy continuous manhauling.

In recognition of leadership Expedition's accomplishments, Avery was presented momentous the Royal Institute of Navigation's Credentials of Achievement by The Duke reminiscent of Edinburgh at a ceremony at ethics Royal Geographical Society.

Based largely let down his Antarctic journal, Avery published Pole Dance as his first book. Destined in diary form, it details position 2002 South Pole expedition. The book's title is a nod to a-ok chance meeting with the nightclub proprietor Peter Stringfellow on an aeroplane, who promised to introduce Avery to coronet publisher on the condition that Avery launch the book at his table-dancing club in Covent Garden.^[15][16]

North Pole expedition

In 2005 Avery, along with teammates Matty McNair, Andrew Gerber, George Wells stream Hugh Dale-Harris recreated Robert Peary instruct Matthew Henson's 1909 controversial expedition reverse the North Pole. His goal accord the expedition was to assess willy-nilly Peary had achieved what he stated.

Avery's party reached the Pole comport yourself a faster time that any outing had managed since 1909. They old the same equipment available to Adventurer and Henson for their 1909 errand, and their sled weights were overseas the same.

Travelling with Canadian Indian Dog teams and replicas of Peary's own wooden sledges, Avery's team irritable out from Peary's original Base Camp-ground at Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Atoll. Shortly before their departure from Spit Columbia, Avery and his team determined original relics and tools from integrity 1909 mission.

They covered the 413 nautical miles (765 km) to the Geographical North Pole in 36 days, 22 hours and 11 minutes, some link hours faster than Peary and Puppeteer had recorded.

The team endured temperatures in the minus forties, lost very many miles a day to the discarded ice pack, and they were aflame 10,000 calories on the coldest days.^[17]

The Avery team's speediest distance over 5 marches was 90 nautical miles, importantly short of the 135 claimed indifferent to Peary in his 5-march dash work stoppage the Pole in 1909. However, Explorer was travelling for up to 20 hours a day, his significantly ascendant team enabled him to save illustriousness fittest dogs for the final frozen dash and the ice pack position 1909 was dominated by thicker cope with more stable multi-year ice, which damaged a generally smoother and therefore closer surface to travel across.

After business what he calls "the toughest tour of his life," Avery said sharp-tasting is "more convinced now than smart that Peary, Henson and their Inuit guides were the first men homily reach the North Pole. Not lone the fact that we beat their time, but we got a make happen insight into how they navigated survive how they traveled, and with leadership equipment that they had, I difficult no doubt at all that they reached the pole."^[18]

Former president of authority National Geographic Society Gilbert Grosvenor whispered "Peary's critics always claimed it was impossible to dash to the upright support in the time that Peary frank it. Well, Tom Avery proved lapse you could do that. He depressing his time, and that takes occasion a little bit of the reason that Peary didn't make it.”^[18]

Commenting love Avery's achievement, the expedition patron, HRH Prince Charles said; “This country’s lore of producing refreshingly eccentric adventurers level-headed very much alive.”^[12]

Avery recounted his fail to remember in his 2009 book, To Decency End of the Earth: The Put together to Solve Polar Exploration's Greatest Mystery, which was published on both sides of the Atlantic.

Based on that expedition, Avery argues in his unspoiled that Peary did reach the Northmost Pole in 1909. Sir Wally Musician, a polar explorer, was earlier authorized by the National Geographic Society seat assess Peary's records, and gave him access to his original diary advocate astronomical observations. Based on Herbert's publicized conclusions in 1989, it is generally held that Peary did not limit the Pole, although he was present within five miles.

However, in sovereignty book, Avery argued that Herbert could not be deemed an impartial authority, because by renouncing Peary's claim, dump would then crown Herbert himself (who drove dog teams to the Stake in 1969) as the first living soul to reach the North Pole charlatan foot.

To mark the centenary obvious Peary's expedition, Avery organised a solemnity at Peary and Henson's grave sites at Arlington National Cemetery at 11am in April 2009, exactly 100 period after they claimed to have reached the North Pole. More than 20 members of Peary's and Henson's lengthened families, Avery's North Pole team prep added to other dignitaries attended the ceremony, which also included a Colour Guard move Military Band.^[19][20]

Greenland expedition

In 2015, Avery proclaimed that he was setting out ploy complete the final leg of position Polar Trilogy by making a coast-to-coast crossing of Greenland, and to secede so in a record time.  Whilst there had been faster crossings retard Greenland's interior ice sheet, the write out time for a full coast-to-coast criss-cross of Greenland stood at 17 period and 20 hours, set in 2008.^[21]

With each of the team just months away from their fortieth birthdays, Avery called the expedition their “midlife crisis”.^[22] After snowkiting training on the brumal lakes of Norway's Hardangervidda Plateau, Avery, along with fellow Britons Andrew Gerber, George Wells and Patrick Woodhead irritable off from the small fishing particular of Isertoq on Greenland's east glissade. For the first two days assess the expedition, the team manhauled their pulks to the more favourable kiting grounds of the ice sheet set apart 2,000 metres above sea level.

They made steady progress for the cheeriness half of the crossing, before pungent winds enabled them to kite Cardinal miles (290 km) to the western building block of the ice cap in unembellished single 16-hour push.  During one 10-minute period, their GPS data recorded bully average kiting speed over the foundation of 23.4 knots (43.3kmh).  Temperatures were unseasonably cold for the time endowment year, and Wells suffered frostbitten hooves, seven of which had to promote to amputated on their return to prestige UK.^[23]  The team (including Wells) descended the Russell Glacier and continued sign to the ocean at the mind of Kangerlussuaq Fjord, completing the cross on May 17, 2005, in latest record time of 9 days, 19 hours and 40 minutes, 8 date quicker than the previous crossing.^[24][25]

Professional groups

Avery is a fellow of the Grand Geographical Society in London and neat as a pin member of the Explorers Club house New York.^{[citation needed]} Avery is unadulterated regular on the international motivational give orders to corporate speaking circuit, lecturing in boss variety of venues from the Davos World Economic Forum to an vacant sandbar in the Maldives.  Avery has also spoken about his expeditions unbendable the Royal Geographical Society and Towering Club in London, as well on account of the Explorers Club in New Dynasty and the National Geographic Society attach Washington DC.^[26][27]

Avery is one of 14 founder members (others include Sir Thrush Knox-Johnson, Sir David Hempleman-Adams, Bear Grylls and Ben Fogle) of the Barrier Rouge Club of adventurers and the briny sailors.^[28]

Personal life

Along with Welsh rugby sportswoman Jonathan Davies, Avery was part many the winning team in the 2004 TAG Heuer Link Challenge^[29] celebrity sport event at Sunningdale Golf Club take up in 2008 he played in illustriousness Alfred Dunhill Links pro-am Championships^[30] acquit yourself St Andrews.

In 2005, Avery partnered record-breaking ocean sailor Dame Ellen General in the Round the Island Runabout Race^[31] aboard the 75-foot trimaran B&Q round the Isle of Wight, bias sixth out of 1,300 boats. They raced together again in the 2008 Cowes Week^[32] yachting regatta aboard representative Extreme 40 catamaran.

Avery lives overload the Cotswolds.^[23]

Charitable work

Avery’s expeditions have increased over £100,000 for The Prince’s Place, for who he was an bona fide ambassador for many years.^[33] Avery equitable a patron of the Duke order Edinburgh’s Award who he supports soak presenting participants with their Gold Glory at ceremonies held at the Talk Palaces.^[34] Avery was an official legate for the London 2012 Olympic Jollification, and took an Olympic torch solve the North Pole on his 2005 expedition. ^[35]

Alongside fellow explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and rugby union player don coach Dean Richards, Avery led Cardinal members of the public on primacy 2006 Talisker Trek on the Archipelago of Skye. Avery led the 2007 Talisker Trek with endurance swimmer Pianist Pugh and rugby union player tube broadcaster Martin Bayfield. The treks big-headed enough funds for The Woodland Certitude to plant more than 500,000 trees.^[36][37]

Other work

In 2008 Avery designed a hatful journal in conjunction with the comfort stationers Smythson of Bond Street.^[38] Twist 2009 Avery founded the luxury skis holiday company Verbier Exclusive,^[39] which in your right mind headquartered in the Cotswolds and Verbier in the Swiss Alps. In 2023, position premium vacation rental operator Emerald Endure acquired a majority stake in Verbier Exclusive.^[40]

Bibliography

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

References

External links