Tom Avery • Polar Explorer • Mountaineer • Author • Speaker

More lecture dates

A couple more lecture dates to tell you about.  On the evening of Wednesday June 9th, I'm speaking at St James on the beautiful island of Guernsey, in aid of Help the Heroes.  Tickets are £12 each.  Further details can be found here. 

The following week, Tuesday June 15th, I'm giving a talk in the Menswear department at Harrods in conjunction with Brummell Magazine.  There are only 50 pairs of tickets available, with champagne reception beforehand and lots of great prizes to be won.  Click here for further info. 

Hope to see some of you there!

Land of the Long White Cloud

New Zealand is without doubt my favourite country on Earth!  Such a spectacular place with glaciated mountains, wild windswept beahces, raging rivers, ancient rainforests and active volcanoes.  This was my third visit to the Land of the Long White Cloud, and what made it so special was that Mary and the girls were able to come too. 

Mary and I sea kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park 

We had the most incredible adventure, cruising around the country in a motorhome.  We swam with dolphins, sea kayaked, went white water rafting, mountain biked, bathed in natural thermal pools, flew over the breathtaking Milford Sound, snorkelled the blue waters of the Pacific, whale watched, yomped up mountains and explored mystical forests, much of it with Maud and Olive strapped into their Baby Bjorns.  They won't remember a thing, but at least we've got some great photos to show them one day!

Maud and Olive doing their best to attract the attention of the world's rarest sealion, the Hooker's Sealion, on a beach on the remote Otago Peninsula 

Our month-long trip was orgnaised by Tourism New Zealand, Discover the World and Air New Zealand, who were absolutely brilliant.  I have written various newspaper and magazine articles about our adventure, which will be coming out shortly.  I'll post more details on here in due course.

Hope to be home soon, although we've been stranded half way in Hong Kong for the past few days by this pesky Icelandic volcano with no idea of when we'll be back! 

Lecture dates

A couple of dates for the diary.  I'm going to be doing a talk in conjunction with the Royal Geographical Sociey on Friday 26 February at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk.  The talk starts at 7.30pm and all the details can be found here.  Please come along if you're in the area, it should be a fun evening.   

I'm thrilled and honoured to have been invited to speak at the prestigious Society of the Four Arts in the slightly warmer climes of Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday 2 March at 2.30pm.  Click here for ticket information.  I'm then jetting off to give another talk the following week in Singapore, and then it's on to New Zealand after that...   

Davos World Economic Forum

Just back from a corporate event in a very cold and snowy Davos as part of the World Economic Forum.  Quite a novelty having to go through roadblocks and police checkpoints just to be let into the ski resort. 

It was my first time in Davos and, once I had been let in, I was pleasantly surprised by just how relaxed the atmosphere was in this pretty Alpine town, despite it being the centre of the world stage for this one week of the year.  

Thankfully, the vast majority of the politicians, economists, financiers and journalists who attend the WEF seem to spend their time in the warmth of the conference centre, meaning our group had the slopes almost entirely to ourselves.  Messers Sarkozy, Darling and Gates - you missed out on some of the best snow conditions of the winter so far!

To The End of The Earth out in Paperback

With polar conditions sweeping the UK, it seems the perfect time to bring out the paperback edition of To The End of The Earth, chronicling our record-breaking dog sledging expedition to the North Pole in the footsteps of Peary and Henson.  The book is now out in all good book shops and on Amazon. 

First major snowfalls of the winter

Just back from Vebier, and the conditions are spectacular.  All the rain we've been having in the UK of late made a beeline for the Alps, falling as snow above around 800m.  There's half a metre lying in the resort, and even more higher up, so hopefully this will mean a great base all winter long.

Chalet Les Attelas

Kitted out with brand new linen for the winter, Chalet Les Attelas is looking a picture, and ready to welcome the first Verbier Exclusive guests of the season who arrive this Friday.  Sarah, our bubbly chalet hostess, is a truly exceptional chef, and I know all those who stay at the chalet this winter are going to be blown away by the quality of the food.

It was a pretty full-on trip, getting everything set up at the chalet, although I did manage to sneak in a quick skin under headtorch to the top of Les Attelas (the mountain, not the chalet!) on my final morning.  Having the slopes to myself as the sun rose above the mountains was a great treat, and the first turns of the season were well worth the effort. 

Verbier Exclusive

It's with enormous excitement that I'm announcing the launch of my latest venture.  Verbier Exclusive will run ski holidays in Verbier in Switzerland, the place where I spent four winters working as a ski guide and training for my various expeditions. 

 Chalet Les Attelas

 

For this, my first winter, I’ve taken on a beautiful five-bedroom traditional wooden chalet in a spectacular position at the top of the resort, barely 100 yards from the piste.  Facilities at Chalet Les Attelas include a sauna, steam room and outdoor hot tub and I have hired a superb chalet manager called Sarah who will be running the chalet for me for the season. 

 

Although I'll be heading out to the Alps from time to time, I’ll essentially be manning the office here in London, as well as continuing with my speaking work and trying to raise funds for the next expedition. 

 

Chalet Les Attelas is amongst the rooftops on the left

 

For the midst of ski holiday planning, all the details can be found here.  It’s been snowing in Verbier for the past week, so let’s hope we’re in for a repeat of last season’s epic conditions!

Introducing Maud and Olive Avery

I'm delighted to announce that Mary gave birth to beautiful twin girls on September 23rd.  Maud (as in Antarctica’s Queen Maud Land) and Olive weighed in at a healthy 6lbs 3oz and 6lbs 2oz apiece and are absolutely adorable.  Mary and I couldn’t be happier, and can’t wait to start taking them on adventures.

Olive and Mary, Maud and me

And with brilliant celestial timing, Maud and Olive happened to be born during the autumnal equinox, one of only two 48-hour periods each year when the sun is above the horizon simultaneously at both the North and South Poles - the sort of random fact that makes us polar explorers tick!

Maud and Olive