One hundred years ago Robert Peary and Matthew Hanson discovered the North Pole. Without the aid of current technology, their team embarked on a journey into the unknown. “It was really like stepping off of the edge of the world,” says Annie Aggens, Director of Polar Expeditions for Polar Explorers, a Wilmette-based Arctic Expedition Company. On Monday, teams that are currently on expeditions to the North Pole celebrated that first journey. “The expeditions are based on the concept of following in Peary’s footsteps,” says Aggens. Another team, who is joined by Peary’s great-grandson, was already at the North Pole. They commemorated the event by reading from Peary’s journal. On Monday, the travelers were enduring temperatures around negative twenty degrees, but the wind gusts weren’t too strong and the sun had finally risen to the point where the travelers were beginning to feel some warmth for the first time during the trip, a nice day on the North Pole, a fine day for a celebration.
Chicago Arts & Culture
