On April 9, 1968, Ralph Plaisted and three of his fellow explorers drove their Ski-Doo Olympic snowmobiles to the very top of the world to become the first to travel to the North Pole by snowmobile.
In the years since Plaisted made his successful run, the prior claim by Robert E. Peary to have reached the pole by dogsled 59 years earlier on April 6, 1909, has been discredited by scientists, polar historians, even astronomers, making the Plaisted Expedition in fact the very first group of men to reach 90 degrees north traveling by surface means.
This story has never been completely told, but our own C.J. Ramstad has recently begun the task of writing the complete history of Ralph Plaisted and his record-setting trek by snowmobile to claim the last great feat of exploration on Earth.
CJ says Plaisted, who lives in Minnesota to this day, is one of the most fascinating individuals you could ever hope to meet and we can’t wait to read the entire account when the book is published in (hopefully) the near future.
Look for an exclusive illustrated excerpt to appear soon, in the pages of Supertrax – snowmobiling’s most-read magazine.
