Since 2005 National Geographic has held a contest to choose the most outstanding adventurer of the year. This year’s list includes people who have risen to the pinnacle all manner of extreme outdoors activities from trekking the length of the Amazon, to sailing across the Pacific Ocean in a prototype boat made of recycled plastic bottles, to smashing the world record for rowing across the north Atlantic.
Below are a few of my favorites. You can read all of the full profiles on NatGeo’s website.