Portland-based adventurer Colin O’Brady has called on National Geographic to retract its January article, “The Problem with Colin O’Brady.” The article states that various claims O’Brady has made about his record-setting 2018 solo trek across Antarctica “do not withstand scrutiny.”

O’Brady released his 16-page response on Thursday. Willamette Week first reported on the letter.

The National Geographic article is "widely inaccurate,” O’Brady writes. “It misrepresents a historic polar expedition by omitting key facts and fails to contextualize a number of items.”

Susan Goldberg, National Geographic’s editor-in-chief, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

O’Brady, 34, became the first person to traverse the southernmost continent alone and “unsupported,” skiing 932 miles in 54 days, just beating out a rival, Louis Rudd of Great Britain.

In his request for a retraction, the Portlander pushed back against the article’s argument that he was exaggerating when he wrote in his recently released book, “The Impossible First,” that at one point in his journey he was in a “no rescue zone.” In his letter to National Geographic, O’Brady calls such zones in Antarctica “a fact that has been reported by many highly regarded polar authorities who acknowledge, on the record, the challenges of plane rescue given certain terrain features and weather.”

He also argues that the author of the National Geographic article, Aaron Teasdale, conflated quotes from his book, thus making them misleading, and did not take him up on offers of a “formal long form interview.” He said no fact-checker from the magazine ever contacted him.

Colin O'Brady set out in November 2018 to trek solo across AntarcticaCourtesy of Colin O'Brady

O’Brady did not seriously dispute, however, the various fellow adventurers quoted in the article who said a fame-seeking O’Brady had run roughshod over their feelings and views during other expeditions, saying only that his “recollection[s] … do not match what I read in the article.” He added: “I am an evolving human and I am constantly striving to be a better version of myself.​​”

The foremost theme of the National Geographic article, however, isn’t O’Brady’s behavior. It’s that a Norwegian polar adventurer named Borge Ousland deserves more credit than O’Brady gives him.

In 1997, Ousland took a longer route across Antarctica -- 1,864 miles over 64 days -- but his accomplishment is officially considered “supported” because he made use of a jury-rigged kite that provided some wind power. (O’Brady and Rudd’s treks were entirely “muscle-powered.”)

O’Brady insists he has frequently heralded Ousland, including in his new book.

As for taking a shorter route than Ousland, he states -- and provides evidence that includes screenshots of text messages -- that his “route and methods” were legitimate and that they have been acknowledged as such by polar authorities. He writes that he and Rudd were fully transparent throughout their respective adventures in what they did and how they did it.

This transparency, O’Brady writes, includes his use of a graded vehicle path at one point in his journey, which, the National Geographic article suggests, calls into question whether he was indeed “unsupported.”

The supported/unsupported question is the key criticism in the National Geographic article, but ultimately it doesn’t have anything to do with O’Brady per se. Part of the problem is how, more than 100 years after Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions, polar-exploration officials have to parse achievements to come up with new “firsts.”

In his retraction-request document, O’Brady includes a congratulatory email from Eric Philips in which the International Polar Guides Association president writes to O’Brady:

“There is no debate over your spectacular feat of endurance or authentic intention, only that the current labeling system of unsupported/unassisted is hopelessly inadequate and has not served you well. For this and on behalf of the wider polar community, I sincerely apologize and have taken it upon myself to begin the process of developing a new classification system.”

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

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