In 1989, Wallace White profiled Sylvia Earle, the famend marine biologist and deep-sea diver, in The New Yorker. On the time, Earle was the world’s best-known marine scientist; her dive to 12 hundred and fifty ft in a Jim go well with, close to Oahu, set a girls’s depth file and earned her the nickname Her Deepness. She additionally grew to become legendary for her fearlessness—at one level delivering a pointy kick to the snout of a shark that occurred to swim a bit too shut whereas she was scuba-diving. Earle’s daring, enterprising nature has influenced a number of generations of feminine explorers. This week, we’re bringing you a number of items on intrepid adventurers and noteworthy feats. In “The Man Who Walks on Air,” Calvin Tomkins writes in regards to the high-wire artist Philippe Petit and contemplates his astonishing acts of wire strolling. In “No Obstacles,” Alec Wilkinson explores the start of parkour, in France. In “Musher,” Susan Orlean profiles Susan Butcher, who, in 1986, grew to become the second lady to win the Iditarod Path Sled Canine Race, in Alaska. Francis Steegmuller examines the fascinating profession of a trapeze artist who served as a muse for Jean Cocteau, and Mark Levine stories on the putting exploits of the skateboarder Tony Hawk. Namwali Serpell revisits the legacy of a Zambian schoolteacher and “Afronaut” who dreamed of bringing his nation into the house race. In “The White Darkness,” David Grann chronicles Henry Worsley’s arduous and monumental treks throughout Antarctica. Lastly, in “High of the World,” Lauren Collins recounts the lifetime of Barbara Hillary, the primary African-American lady to succeed in each the North and South Poles. Taken collectively, these items supply an intriguing take a look at the lives of those that dare to enterprise past the atypical.
— Erin Overbey, archive editor
Sylvia Earle’s underwater explorations.
Philippe Petit is about to carry out the best present of his life. Is it artwork?
Navigating the world by leaps and bounds.
Susan Butcher, Iditarod champion.
How Barbette and his trapeze as soon as dominated vaudeville.
Tony Hawk—half Michael Jordan, half Evel Knievel—is the star of a multimillion-dollar business that also can’t shake its outlaw picture.
On the top of the Chilly Warfare, a schoolteacher launched the Zambian House Program with a dozen aspiring teen-age astronauts. Was he unfairly mocked?
At fifty-five, Henry Worsley started a solitary trek throughout Antarctica. It grew to become a singular take a look at of character.
A seventy-five-year-old explorer returns from the North Pole.
