Ralph Plaisted News Today

We look back on this day in world and South African history, remembering the people and events that shaped the world we live in today.

Frederick Cook claimed to have reached the top of the world, but a new book says he was lying

Theyre young, diverse and up for a challenge.

Subscribe here, or by clicking subscribe above! It’s late morning on the polar ice when Eric Larsen unzips his tent to find white-out conditions obscuring everything from view. He’s had just a few hours of sleep, and he still overslept. Today he and his expedition partner, Ryan Waters, are making their final push to the North Pole, less than four miles away. But the whipping wind is pushing the big ice floe where they set up camp southward, and every moment counts. At this point, the two ve...

Subscribe here, or by clicking subscribe above! It’s April 1968, and an insurance salesman from Minnesota named Ralph Plaisted is looking down at his feet. He’s standing on an ice floe in the Arctic, with 10,000 feet of frigid water below. And the ice is getting softer. Plaisted looks around. Miles of ice-covered ocean surround him in all directions. He’s only days into his attempt to reach the North Pole—and things look as grim as they’ve ever been. Plaisted and his team of amateur e...