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What is the Explorers Grand Slam (aka the Adventurer’s Grand Slam)?

If you don’t want to read my ramblings, the “Explorers Grand Slam”(also known as the “Adventurers Grand Slam”) is a quest to climb the 7 summits and reach both the North and South pole.

Adventure means different things to different people. And at different stages of our lives. And most importantly of all, to our belief of what we are capable of. For me, growing up on welfare, single-mother family, I couldn’t even comprehend wondering about what is the Explorers Grand Slam.

Simply taking a flight out of Ireland for me back then was an adventure. But something happens to you over the course of your life. At some point, you choose to break out that limited mindset. Something can happen that’ll change your frame of reference forever. And with that, my bid to complete (and extend!) the Explorer’s Grand Slam began.

But what is the Explorers Grand Slam? Here’s an indepth look:

What is the Explorers Grand Slam?

The explorer’s grand slam, or the adventurer’s grand slam, is an adventure goal to reach the North Pole, the South Pole and to summit each of the Seven Summits (the highest point on each of the 7 continents).

Explorers Grand Slam variations

There are some variations within the Explorers Grand Slam, generally regarding how you get to the Poles, and what you consider the 7 summits.

• 7 Summits has 2 or 3 variations. One correct (Messner list) and one incorrect (Bass list), and some other arguments about Australia’s highest peak.. This comes down to whether you consider Mount Kosciusko or Puncak Jaya (or at a push, Papua New Guinea’s Mount Wilhelm) as Australia’s highest peak (SPOILER ALERT: It’s almost definitely Puncak Jaya!).
• The poles have 3 variations really. One pure, and the other 2 a lot easier.
• – You can ski from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and from the ice cap to the geographic North Pole (not been possible since 2018 due to global warming). That’s the true way.
• – Or you can fly direct to the Poles. Here you can get the plane to stop 60 miles from the Pole, and arbitrarily ski 60 miles to the poles. Weird. Or you can just fly to the each Pole.

Ski the last degree Scam?

To ski the entire Arctic or Antarctic, to the Poles, is HARD CORE. And legendary. Very, very few people have done it. Because it’s so hardcore, expensive and difficult, many (for-profit) companies invented the ‘Ski the last degree’ trips. Where an airplane flies you near to the Poles, and then for a week or so you ski the last 60 miles.

‘Ski the last degree’, as it’s known, is such a random, arbitrary ‘achievement’.

To take an airplane 95% of the way, then drop yourself near the Poles to ski the last bit is so strange. The reality, in my opinion, is that you must either ski the whole thing, or you might as well just fly to the Poles. To fly 95% of the way, then randomly ski the last bit is a rich person’s cop out. Fake adventure.

But in the busine$$ of exploration and adventure, with all the sponsorship and social media likes, people like to acclaim it as something real. And then of course, with the adventure companies selling guided products, they too support the concept of skiing the last degree. It’s a racket.

Do it for fun? Sure. But to randomly draw a line 60 miles away from your target and start skiing from there? That’s not a real expedition. It’s manufactured. If money, and social media likes, and profit wasn’t an issue, people would either ski the whole thing, or fly to the poles. This last degree stuff is nonsense.

Anyway, regardless of all that, the ‘Explorers Grand Slam’ primary goal is simply reaching the summit of the 7 summits, and reaching the 2 poles, irrespective of how you reach them. Although to ski the whole thing is obviously a much bigger acheivement, more on that below.

How many people have completed the Explorer’s Grand Slam?

To date, 75 people in history have completed the Explorer’s Grand Slam, in one variation or another.

Only 12 people have done it ENTIRELY, skiing from the coast to both poles. Legends.

Who was the 1st person to complete the Explorer’s Grand Slam?

David Hempleman Adams was the first person to ever complete the adventurer’s grand slam, back in 1998.

My progress to complete the Adventurer’s Grand Slam:

Done!

For me, I can’t decide which moment in life it was for me. Visiting every country sounds like the obvious one, but that left me in a dark place to be honest. I realised it wasn’t so difficult. Or dangerous. More a logistic, expensive ordeal. Anyone could do it, if they committed their life to it.

So I started seeking REAL adventure. Running ultra-marathons, cycling across countries, and climbing the seven summits. I even ran a marathon at the North Pole and rowed across the Atlantic Ocean.

Finally, I came across the Explorers Grand Slam. Now that is real adventure. One that requires commitment, sacrifice, time, effort and suffering. Sign me up!

What is the ULTIMATE EXPLORERS GRAND SLAM?

This is a pretty cool concept I created. Basically the Explorer’s Grand Slam on steroids. Where some people have raced through the original grand slam in under a year. You can’t do that with the Ultimate Explorer’s Grand Slam. That’s:

• The 7 summits++ (covering all various lists)
• Both North and South Poles
• Highest and Lowest places on earth
• Hottest and Coldest places on earth
• And 197/197 countries++.

The plus plus meaning you have to go beyond every country (you can’t skip HUGE regions like Greenland for example, whereas the 197/197 would allow you to). You can read about all the criteria HERE.

How many people have completed the ULTIMATE adventurers grand slam???

Just me as far as I know. Although 3 others are pretty close and maybe also done? I’d love to speak to them to check.

• Travel LEGEND Brundo Rodi is maybe missing a few disputed territories? Or maybe not, he’s legitimately one of the coolest humans on earth. He’s not a ton more though!
• I also would love to chat to Johan Nilson, as he too may have done it, or be close?
• Travel LEGEND Jeff Shea maybe climbed Mount Kosciuszko rather than Puncak Jaya, and I think missing the North Poles? I’m trying to check. Also done a ton, ton, TON more!
• Jason Wang looks like he’ll be the next person in 2027 or so.

• Special shout out to Jaime Aleman here too. Every country, both Poles…. AND SPACE! (And hottest and coldest).

THE ULTIMATE EXPLORERS GRAND SLAM CONCEPT:

This is a bit nerdy (sorry, not sorry!). I’ve blogged about that HERE for all the specific details about the criteria.

In a (not so) short description, this was my thought process. For me, probably because I’m probably a little bit on the spectrum, the Ultimate Explorers Grand Slam came about because I wanted to represent true adventure and travel and exploration.

I wanted the only people to do it, or think about it, to really do this as a lifestyle, not just racing through, ticking boxes (which we’re all guilty of sometimes, me too for sure). the Ultimate Explorers Grand Slam is just such a big undertaking; it could take decades.

It means that basically it has to be coming from your heart and your passion and one of your life’s dedications.

Originally I thought perhaps every country in the world, 193 or 197, depending on your definition, plus Explorers Grand Slam, so the Seven Summits and both poles. Then I thought that still doesn’t do it justice for what I want it to represent. So I thought it should be every country ‘plus plus’. So over years of thought and research, I created a little list of the other nations I believe should be included.

Not to say that they’re countries, but for example you shouldn’t be able to skip Scotland and say that you’ve completed the Ultimate Explorers Grand Slam. But if we go with 197 countries, that allows you to do that. The country is the UK of course, so if you visit England, that means you wouldn’t need to visit Scotland to tick the box and move on. So I thought it’s better to break it down just one level more. I didn’t want to get too train-spottery, which I know sometimes I’m guilty of, so I tried to take a step back from that and include just major places that should be included that aren’t strictly countries.

But to say you’ve visited the world and completed the Ultimate Explorers Grand Slam, you should also have had it in your heart to want to visit. So less chance to cheat, per se.

With that, the ULTIMATE explorers Grand Slam (or the ULTIMATE Adventurers Grand Slam) is

• Visit every Country in the world (all 197++)
• The highest point on each continent, aka the 7 summits**
• Reach both the North and South Pole
• Hottest and Coldest places on earth
• Highest and Lowest places on earth

++ Even though there are 197 countries, the ULTIMATE EXPLORERS GRAND SLAM requires more than ‘just’ every country. This is about exploring the world, so we need to find the balance between adventure but avoid the duty of becoming trainspotters. So for example where Hong Kong, despite not being a country, should of course be counted but small islands, like the Isle of Man for example, shouldn’t. We have a list of 214 ‘nations’ in total.

** To complete the ULTIMATE EXPLORERS GRAND SLAM you need to have all bases covered, so that means the standard 7 summits, both the Bass and Messner lists of the 7 summits completed, as well as Mont Blanc and Mount Wilhelm. That means you need to have Mount Kosciuszko and Carstensz Pyramid under your belt.

Additional Challenges:

What is the True Explorer’s Grand Slam?

If that wasn’t enough, then the True Explorer’s Grand Slam is both poles and the Seven Summits plus all 14 of the world’s mountain peaks that extend over 8,000m (26,000ft) in height. Ooooph. Shall I?! My wife would kill me.

Three Poles Challenge

This is the Adventurer Grand Slam Light. North Pole, South Pole, and highest ‘pole’ (Everest Summit). The legendary Edmund Hilary was the first to do this, in 1985.

What is the Four Poles Challenge?

This one gets properly ridiculous. The Four Poles Challenge adds the deepest point on Earth to the Three Poles: North Pole + South Pole + Everest + Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. Victor Vescovo became the first person to complete all four, reaching Challenger Deep in 2019 

What is the Ocean Explorers Grand Slam?

The Ocean Explorers Grand Slam involves completing human-powered open-water crossings on all five oceans: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern.

Icelandic explorer Fiann Paul became the first person to complete it in 2019 when his team rowed across the Drake Passage

Volcanic Seven Summits

The Volcanic Seven Summits are the highest volcanoes on each of the seven continents. It’s basically the volcanic version of the normal Seven Summits.

The generally accepted list is Ojos del Salado in South America, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Elbrus in Europe, Pico de Orizaba in North America, Mount Damavand in Asia, Mount Giluwe in Oceania and Mount Sidley in Antarctica.

Interestingly, Kilimanjaro and Elbrus appear on both lists because they’re both the highest mountain and the highest volcano on their respective continents.

Eight-thousander

The Eight-Thousanders are the 14 mountains on Earth that rise above 8,000m (26,247ft) above sea level. All 14 are found in the Himalayas and Karakoram in Asia, and climbing all of them is one of the biggest achievements in mountaineering.

The list includes Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, Nanga Parbat, Annapurna, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II and Shishapangma.

And yes, this is the same group of mountains you need to complete on top of the Seven Summits and both poles to claim the True Explorer’s Grand Slam. So basically, absolutely fucking mental.