In June 2018, mountaineer and endurance athlete Colin O’Brady, Yale ’06, kicked off his quest to climb the highest peak in each state in 30 days at Denali in Alaska. On July 19, he reached the top of Mt. Hood in his home state of Oregon, completing the 50-state challenge. What’s more, he finished in just 21 days, shattering the previous record of 41 days.

As impressive as that was, O’Brady was already planning an even more astonishing feat. On Dec. 26, 2018, he became the first person to ski solo across Antarctica unaided by any wind device and with no resupplies. O’Brady completed the 932-mile route in just 54 days, two days ahead of British adventurer Louis Rudd, making them the only people in the world to have completed this traverse.