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To the End of the Earth: Our Epic Journey to the North Pole and the Legend of Peary and Henson
April 2009 is the one-hundredth anniversary of perhaps the greatest controversy in the history of exploration. Did U.S. Naval Commander Robert Peary and his team dogsled to the North Pole in thirty-seven days in 1909? Or, as has been challenged, was this speed impossible, and was he a cheat? In 2005, polar explorer Tom Avery and his team set out to recreate this 100-year-old journey, using the same equipment as Peary, to prove that Peary had indeed done what he had claimed and discovered the North Pole.
Navigating treacherous pressure ridges, deadly channels of open water, bitterly cold temperatures, and traveling in a similar style to Peary’s with dog teams and replica wooden sledges bound together with cord, Avery tells the story of how his team covered 413 nautical miles to the North Pole in thirty-six days and twenty-two hours—some four hours faster than Peary. Weaving fascinating polar exploration history with thrilling extreme adventure, this is Avery’s story of how he and his team nearly gave their lives proving Peary told the truth.
Navigating treacherous pressure ridges, deadly channels of open water, bitterly cold temperatures, and traveling in a similar style to Peary’s with dog teams and replica wooden sledges bound together with cord, Avery tells the story of how his team covered 413 nautical miles to the North Pole in thirty-six days and twenty-two hours—some four hours faster than Peary. Weaving fascinating polar exploration history with thrilling extreme adventure, this is Avery’s story of how he and his team nearly gave their lives proving Peary told the truth.
321 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 25, 2013
Tom Avery takes sixteen dogs, four humans, and two sleds from Cape Columbia to the North Pole in thirty-seven days, the fastest expedition of its kind, in order to prove that Robert E. Peary could have done the same in 1909.
The middle of this is great. It's a lively travelogue of what it's like to travel over the frozen Arctic Ocean, lead a team of Eskimo dogs, and make camp in weather that will freeze your fingers solid if you take too long to tie your boots. I appreciated the details of what it takes to get through a day, plus the focus on the dogs and their individual personalities, all with a minimum of animal harm. Avery also drops in bits of polar history relevant to their location as they slowly move north, though otherwise his journal entries suffer from a near complete lack of segues. I'm sure he could have cleaned that up in post.
The first part of the book is an introduction to Tom Avery's slick and difficult lifestyle where he's skiing in the alps and drinking fancy wines and Verbier and Dôle Blanche and other socially stratifying reference and he would really prefer not to go back to London to be an accountant but his parents are kind of insisting he get a job. I found Avery to be insufferable. He calls packing for his expedition "traumatic." He says it's "demoralizing" to approach potential sponsors for his trips. He sounds like a privileged twit, just another young white man who's never had anything traumatic or demoralizing happen to him in his life. I wasn't sure I could handle much more of that, but thankfully once we get into the journal entries, his obnoxious tone mostly disappears. Probably because he's too busy trying not to die to be smug.
The introduction also gives us a superficial and sometimes inaccurate history of polar exploration in the north, as well as some background on Peary. Avery lists no references at all, not even for direct quotes, and he loses me five pages in when he has the nerve to call Peary a "committed family man." Peary was away from his family for years at a time, despite his wife and daughter writing him letters begging him to come home. Of the first twenty-three years of his marriage, only three were actually spent with his wife. He missed the birth and death of his second child. And he had an affair with an Inuit girl who bore him at least two children. I don't know how anyone can look at that behavior and see commitment. Avery's judgment seems to be compromised when it comes to Peary.
The final section is where Avery gets up on his soapbox, says he's only saying Peary could have made the speeds he claimed and reached the North Pole in thirty-seven days, says some more stuff (global warming, Sir Wally Herbert is a bitter old man), and then says he's totally convinced Peary did make it to the Pole because Reasons. Actually, he does list a number of reasons, and they're all very reasonable, but see above re: compromised judgment.
Two stars. I liked the middle part a lot. The smugness I could have lived without.
The middle of this is great. It's a lively travelogue of what it's like to travel over the frozen Arctic Ocean, lead a team of Eskimo dogs, and make camp in weather that will freeze your fingers solid if you take too long to tie your boots. I appreciated the details of what it takes to get through a day, plus the focus on the dogs and their individual personalities, all with a minimum of animal harm. Avery also drops in bits of polar history relevant to their location as they slowly move north, though otherwise his journal entries suffer from a near complete lack of segues. I'm sure he could have cleaned that up in post.
The first part of the book is an introduction to Tom Avery's slick and difficult lifestyle where he's skiing in the alps and drinking fancy wines and Verbier and Dôle Blanche and other socially stratifying reference and he would really prefer not to go back to London to be an accountant but his parents are kind of insisting he get a job. I found Avery to be insufferable. He calls packing for his expedition "traumatic." He says it's "demoralizing" to approach potential sponsors for his trips. He sounds like a privileged twit, just another young white man who's never had anything traumatic or demoralizing happen to him in his life. I wasn't sure I could handle much more of that, but thankfully once we get into the journal entries, his obnoxious tone mostly disappears. Probably because he's too busy trying not to die to be smug.
The introduction also gives us a superficial and sometimes inaccurate history of polar exploration in the north, as well as some background on Peary. Avery lists no references at all, not even for direct quotes, and he loses me five pages in when he has the nerve to call Peary a "committed family man." Peary was away from his family for years at a time, despite his wife and daughter writing him letters begging him to come home. Of the first twenty-three years of his marriage, only three were actually spent with his wife. He missed the birth and death of his second child. And he had an affair with an Inuit girl who bore him at least two children. I don't know how anyone can look at that behavior and see commitment. Avery's judgment seems to be compromised when it comes to Peary.
The final section is where Avery gets up on his soapbox, says he's only saying Peary could have made the speeds he claimed and reached the North Pole in thirty-seven days, says some more stuff (global warming, Sir Wally Herbert is a bitter old man), and then says he's totally convinced Peary did make it to the Pole because Reasons. Actually, he does list a number of reasons, and they're all very reasonable, but see above re: compromised judgment.
Two stars. I liked the middle part a lot. The smugness I could have lived without.
October 15, 2023
Very much a book of two halves. The first phased on the preparation - training and fundraising to even be able to go on the adventure. The second on the trek to the North Pole itself.
The first is eye opening not just on the nature of the training but the complexity of fund raising required and the minutia of detail needed to enable success before even stepping on the ice.
The second half was a bit more bland than expected, and the authors personal frustrations were hard to be sympathetic with at times. Though it is recognised it must have been an extremely stressful environment!
At its heart this is a book about relationships - between those left behind and those who go, and the individuals in the team itself. And with the dogs - such a key part of the success of the expedition - their resilience and role stands out strong.
The mystery they look to solve is interesting but often feels like a side show to the main event, their discovery of the original camp, though, does get the anticipation building.
The first is eye opening not just on the nature of the training but the complexity of fund raising required and the minutia of detail needed to enable success before even stepping on the ice.
The second half was a bit more bland than expected, and the authors personal frustrations were hard to be sympathetic with at times. Though it is recognised it must have been an extremely stressful environment!
At its heart this is a book about relationships - between those left behind and those who go, and the individuals in the team itself. And with the dogs - such a key part of the success of the expedition - their resilience and role stands out strong.
The mystery they look to solve is interesting but often feels like a side show to the main event, their discovery of the original camp, though, does get the anticipation building.
June 30, 2020
I'm giving up on finishing this book, it's tedious and the author's opinions are kinda whacky, for example he's weirdly sexist about being surprised that his female dogs run better than his male dogs, and says "he's doing his bit for equality" to have one or two female dogs on the team. It's ok for an author to put their personality into a book, but I'm getting the feeling that I would dislike the author. I'm marking this as finished even though I haven't yet, just so that I can get rid of it on my good reads page and I don't keep getting reminded of the unpleasant reading experience that I had.
May 21, 2017
The version I have is signed by the author, with a personal message to someone who appears in the book (an incidental character, I hasten to add, not one of the polar party). I bought it at a second-hand bookshop in Hay-on-Wye.
The book's good, but Avery's opinions and personality make themselves rather clearly felt in some places (what's the opposite of a "hatchet job"?).
The book's good, but Avery's opinions and personality make themselves rather clearly felt in some places (what's the opposite of a "hatchet job"?).
November 18, 2019
3.5 stars. The account of a personal trek to the north pole, a man's obsession with Arctic history, is not brilliant writing, but it is interesting and entertaining. I didn't know much about the Arctic or the supposed controversy. The best part of this book is the middle, the daily accounts of travel and survival on the Arctic ocean.
August 6, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced, fun to read, and very satisfying. Also educational as far as the history of Arctic exploration goes. I loved that the dogs were given as much attention as the humans on this journey. Highly recommend this one if you enjoy polar exploration books.
April 18, 2020
Very good and a challenging journey, proving Peary's 1909 expedition to the pole could be completed in record time. I doubt it could be done today with global warming melting the ice cap.
December 4, 2022
Tom Avery certainly makes his point in this book, but it takes a loooooooong time to get there...! Interesting expedition though! Well done.
November 26, 2012
Foolhardiness often overlaps with bravery. Oftentimes, it's not until after the success that we dub it as brave; the most famous accomplishments were often accused of being ludicrous when they were first proposed. From the top of Everest to the bottom of the ocean's trenches, we are constantly encroaching on that legendary phrase-- "to boldly go where no man has gone before."
Tom Avery has dedicated his life to doing just that. In his young life, Avery has made expeditions to both poles, in the Andes, to a remote mountain range in Kyrgystan (don't ask me to find that one on a map) and various other places on earth. What's most interesting about these trips is not that he has done so many, but that he survived them at all. Some people might call him an adrenaline junkie for his numerous, at times reckless, brushes with death. In his 2009 memoir To The Ends of the Earth, Avery recounts dozens of moments where he thought he might have just missed the mark and sentenced his team to death on his daring expedition to the North Pole.
The adventure wasn't a passing fancy. After returning from his 2002 pursuit to the South Pole, Avery was surprised by an offer of sponsorship for his next trek, which he decided on the spot would be to the North Pole. Over the next two years before the actual trip took place, he would discover how monumental that idea actually was. The simple reason is that the North Pole is in the middle of an enormous, malevolent, frozen ocean, and Avery wanted to sled there. On foot.
The subtitle of the book alludes to a 100 year old mystery, the voyage of Robert Peary, who claimed to have reached the North Pole by dogsled in 37 days. Upon his return, his claim was decried by the arctic exploration community as ridiculous, impossible, and false. For a man who had forever held aspirations of reaching the Pole, this was a crushing blow, and to this day Peary's assertion is doubted.
With his 2005 expedition, Avery's goal was to prove once and for all that Peary was telling the truth. The most difficult part of organizing the mission was to recreate Peary's exploration team, composed of the nearly-extinct Eskimo dog (no, not a husky, an Eskimo dog) and two turn-of-the-century sleds. Not only did he want to do this whole 413-mile trek with 5 people and 16 dogs, he wanted to make the entire run in 37 days. To any onlooker, Avery was asking for death.
His memoir of the trip is gripping, with an expert's wry sense of humor. Readers come to know each of the dogs' names as well as the explorers do, to laugh at the little anecdotes of their antics, and to feel their pain as they struggle for life on the hostile plains of the Arctic. The explorers themselves keep a friendly, co-dependent dynamic, companions in this strange world where no man has ever lived.
We also come to know the landscape as well as Avery did, with his ardent descriptions of what could only be described as an icy wasteland. To him, it is a wonderland, and that love is communicated in his writing. As the book progresses and the conditions grow more desperate, we see that love grow briefer and more passing, but never entirely fades: here is a man obsessed, and come face to face with his deepest passion. No matter the hardships, Tom Avery pursues the poles, and that in itself is admirable, albeit the daredevil nature of his exploits.
Structurally, To the End of the Earth flows very easily, the history intermittent with the narrative, creating one cohesive story, in the purest sense of the word. Avery has even reconstructed dialogue between himself and his companions, which lends the book a feeling of personality rather than a dry historical memoir to be logged away at the Royal Geographical Society.
Taking another step back, the sheer topic of the book is incredible. So few men make the trip to the North Pole and live to tell the tale, let alone on foot, that the idea of it is incredible. Avery deserves applause for his incredible bravery and ambition for taking on a task that so many have failed to do, and for increasing our true knowledge of the planet that, day by day, it becomes apparent that we know very little about.
Because it's such a specific book and not of wide interest, To the End of the Earth is available in paperback for as little as $6.36 from Amazon, and $7.99 on the Kindle. However, even if you are not familiar with the story of the Arctic, take a look at this one. Avery's website gives a little more information on the background of the book if you are interested, and gives a list of his expeditions as well.
Tom Avery has dedicated his life to doing just that. In his young life, Avery has made expeditions to both poles, in the Andes, to a remote mountain range in Kyrgystan (don't ask me to find that one on a map) and various other places on earth. What's most interesting about these trips is not that he has done so many, but that he survived them at all. Some people might call him an adrenaline junkie for his numerous, at times reckless, brushes with death. In his 2009 memoir To The Ends of the Earth, Avery recounts dozens of moments where he thought he might have just missed the mark and sentenced his team to death on his daring expedition to the North Pole.
The adventure wasn't a passing fancy. After returning from his 2002 pursuit to the South Pole, Avery was surprised by an offer of sponsorship for his next trek, which he decided on the spot would be to the North Pole. Over the next two years before the actual trip took place, he would discover how monumental that idea actually was. The simple reason is that the North Pole is in the middle of an enormous, malevolent, frozen ocean, and Avery wanted to sled there. On foot.
The subtitle of the book alludes to a 100 year old mystery, the voyage of Robert Peary, who claimed to have reached the North Pole by dogsled in 37 days. Upon his return, his claim was decried by the arctic exploration community as ridiculous, impossible, and false. For a man who had forever held aspirations of reaching the Pole, this was a crushing blow, and to this day Peary's assertion is doubted.
With his 2005 expedition, Avery's goal was to prove once and for all that Peary was telling the truth. The most difficult part of organizing the mission was to recreate Peary's exploration team, composed of the nearly-extinct Eskimo dog (no, not a husky, an Eskimo dog) and two turn-of-the-century sleds. Not only did he want to do this whole 413-mile trek with 5 people and 16 dogs, he wanted to make the entire run in 37 days. To any onlooker, Avery was asking for death.
His memoir of the trip is gripping, with an expert's wry sense of humor. Readers come to know each of the dogs' names as well as the explorers do, to laugh at the little anecdotes of their antics, and to feel their pain as they struggle for life on the hostile plains of the Arctic. The explorers themselves keep a friendly, co-dependent dynamic, companions in this strange world where no man has ever lived.
We also come to know the landscape as well as Avery did, with his ardent descriptions of what could only be described as an icy wasteland. To him, it is a wonderland, and that love is communicated in his writing. As the book progresses and the conditions grow more desperate, we see that love grow briefer and more passing, but never entirely fades: here is a man obsessed, and come face to face with his deepest passion. No matter the hardships, Tom Avery pursues the poles, and that in itself is admirable, albeit the daredevil nature of his exploits.
Structurally, To the End of the Earth flows very easily, the history intermittent with the narrative, creating one cohesive story, in the purest sense of the word. Avery has even reconstructed dialogue between himself and his companions, which lends the book a feeling of personality rather than a dry historical memoir to be logged away at the Royal Geographical Society.
Taking another step back, the sheer topic of the book is incredible. So few men make the trip to the North Pole and live to tell the tale, let alone on foot, that the idea of it is incredible. Avery deserves applause for his incredible bravery and ambition for taking on a task that so many have failed to do, and for increasing our true knowledge of the planet that, day by day, it becomes apparent that we know very little about.
Because it's such a specific book and not of wide interest, To the End of the Earth is available in paperback for as little as $6.36 from Amazon, and $7.99 on the Kindle. However, even if you are not familiar with the story of the Arctic, take a look at this one. Avery's website gives a little more information on the background of the book if you are interested, and gives a list of his expeditions as well.
April 23, 2012
Tom Avery, a young Englishman who made it to the South Pole pulling sledges, becomes fixated on Peary's epic 1909 thirty seven day dog sled adventure to the North Pole (not magnetic north pole). Peary and his faithful first man Henson had taken a beating from modern explorers such as Sir Wally Herbert, who had said that the speeds Peary made were not possible. So Avery set out with four companions and 16 dogs to try to beat the 37 day time. Although the outcome was by no means certain, the four men and one woman (the expert dog sledder) beat the old record and proved to any reasonable person that the times that Peary posted were indeed possible. Conditions close to the NP got better for sledding. Peary also had many more personnel and staged an assault not unlike the big Everest expeditions, where the strength of the final team is saved through the sacrifices of men and animals who supply the advance camps. Also, the ice pack has significantly declined in the last 100 years, making the trip more difficult in modern times. It is also likely that the skill set of Innuit and turn of the century explorers were much better at dog handling. An excellent book of human achievement, history and climatic change.
February 17, 2015
I always like self-journey, amazing feat books, and this one was also good. Apparently, I must be somewhat small in thinking the Arctic Ocean was actually an ocean, not just thousands of miles of ice. The author sets out to prove a 1909 explorer got to the north pole in 37 days. What was so interesting about this book is the conditions and challenges they faced in getting to the north pole, or the middle section of the book. I didn't totally love the last 50 or so pages about climate change and his world reaction to the journey, but the whole journey itself was very interesting to read. I had never heard of the explorer Peary that the author's journey tries to replicate, but overall, I found both their journeys so fascinating. Giving only three stars due to some long winded beginning pages and the last 50 or so as previously mentioned. Still interesting to read.
May 31, 2009
This was really a fascinating story and I'd love to give it another star. The book has a few editing problems and I'm disappointed at the occasional profanity included--one of my sons would have enjoyed it. But the author, who led a team to the North Pole using dogsleds, to test if Peary could have done it in 37 days--was a good read anyway. The team did make it, although I doubt the Peary-doubters will ever really be convinced. I didn't know that Peary was NOT credited outside the US with the discovery of the North Pole, although I knew his claim to have made it to the Pole was indeed controversial.
November 5, 2014
Very interesting book. I didn't think about the nature of the landscape and the challenges it presents. Since the North Pole is not a land mass the continually changing ice patterns, currents, and well below freezing temperatures make a journey to the North Pole a much more difficult voyage than a journey to the South Pole. Avery does a good job of interspersing his daily logs with the historical debate of who reached the North
Pole first and the various expeditions that tried.
Pole first and the various expeditions that tried.
March 15, 2013
Very informative and honest book. I liked the day-to-day account of the expedition. Tom Avery writes well and has a very nice sense of humor. Would recommend his story to everyone interested in polar exploration.
June 13, 2010
Picked this one up in Suttons Bay MI.
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December 1, 2012British explorer, tried to settle Peary's claim disute
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