• The Explorers Grand Slam is an adventurers challenge to reach the north and south pole and climb the Seven Summits.
• The seven summits are Mount Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Mount Elbrus, Mount Vinson, and Carstensz Pyramid.
• O'Brady's goal is to get it done in five months.
• Only 44 people have ever completed it
Last week Colin O'Brady reached the bottom of the world. He planted his flag, snapped some photos and before long strapped back into his skis and left the South Pole. The clock had started on his journey.
Over the course of the next 51/2 months, O'Brady is chasing a record as unique as it is difficult, a nine-part adventure known as the Explorers Grand Slam. The journey officially started with a successful trek to the South Pole.
"I know it won't be easy," O'Brady said in an interview via satellite phone from Antarctica. "To set the world record is the goal and would be a dream come true, but coming back with all my fingers and toes and making it home safely is the priority."
O'Brady, 30, is a professional triathlete who has competed in 25 countries over the past seven years. He has enjoyed the travel and the competition but still felt called to do something bigger.
"He got to a place where he realised that endurance sports are pretty self-serving," said Jenna Besaw, his fiancée. "We looked around and thought, can we use his endurance and ambitions to create a greater impact in the community?"
"Triathlon for me was a dream come true, but this creates a platform that's a little bit more interesting," he said.
The journey itself is already paid for. Sponsors have taken care of costs associated with travel and the climbs, including all the gear. The final price tag is expected to be around $500,000.
O'Brady has the next 51/2 months mapped out by the day. He'll start with Mt. Vinson (Antarctica, 16,050 feet) later this month and then attempt to scale Aconcagua (South America, 22,838 feet), Carstensz Pyramid (Australia, 16,024 feet), Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa, 19,341 feet) and Mt. Elbrus (Europe, 18,510 feet) by the end of March. He'll trek to the North Pole in April before tackling Mt. Everest (Asia, 29,029 feet) and Denali (North America, 20,310 feet).
The first leg of the grand slam highlighted much of what was to come: extreme temperatures, camping on snow, isolation, fatigue. Skiing toward the South Pole, O'Brady didn't seen any wildlife - or human life, outside of his trekking companions - in several days. The sun never set, and temperatures were consistently around minus-20 degrees. When his satellite phone froze, he stuck it in his sleeping bag to warm up before making calls home.
"It's just a white abyss out here," he said. "Loneliness and isolation is certainly a part of this. To me, that makes the journey more interesting."
"Mountains are in some ways inherently dangerous," O'Brady said, "but any good mountaineer will tell you it's all about assessing risk. You try not to put yourself in a situation that's outside of your control."
"There's a lot of risk involved," Besaw said, "but it really is about managing that risk out there. Barring some natural disaster happening, I'm fully confident that Colin has the skills and wherewithal to make the right decisions."
O'Brady worked with a strength trainer back home in Portland, lugging a sled around the gym to prep him for his treks to the poles. He continued competing last season on the triathlon circuit and climbed Manaslu in the Himalayas - the world's eighth-tallest peak -- immediately following a race to gauge how his body could handle back-to-back endurance challenges. While many Everest dreamers might spend months or even years preparing to summit the world's tallest mountain, O'Brady will count the other summits on his journey as his Everest prep.