Though Wally Herbert may sound like a hip-house artist from 1989 he was indeed one of this country’s best ever explorers. A fearless kind of guy who before passing away in 2007 had travelled thousands of miles of previously unchartered terrain across both Antarctica and Arctic as well as finding time to live amongst the Greenland inuit people with his own wife and daughter. Though perhaps his most legendary feat of derring do was the leading the first ever crossing of the Arctic ocean back in 1968 (i.e. before most of it had melted) sledging with dogs from Alaska to Spitsbergen via the North Pole. Unlike the ‘flash in the pan’ Apollo mission that was completed around the same time and took all the column inches, this expedition took sixteen months of wobbly ice floes and ferocious polar bears to complete. This incredible book ‘Across the Arctic Ocean‘ contains the photos from this epic journey, breathtaking shots of dramatic crystallised landscapes accompanied by heroic looking icy-bearded men all who look like they’ve been kitted out by Cabourn. Put together by Sir Wally himself prior to his death alongside good mate of proper and all round action man Huw Lewis-Jones this is the ideal book to have with you by the fireside this autumn/winter as you sit back an realise that maybe your daily commute isn’t that bad after all.
Across the Arctic Ocean: Original Photographs from the Last Great Polar Journey by Sir Wally Herbert and Huw Lewis-Jones by published byThames & Hudson, 24.95 hardback. Buy your copy here.
All images © The Wally Herbert Collection 2015
