Nat Geo Announces "People's Choice" Adventurer of the Year Winner!

While I was away playing in the bush in South Africa, National Geographic announced the winner of their 2011 People's Choice for Adventurer of the Year. As you may recall, they posted their picks for Adventurer of the Year back in December, with ten very worthy candidates getting the prestigious nod for their achievements throughout 2010. Readers were then asked to vote on their choice for the top adventurer, with Spanish climber Edurne Pasaban winning the online poll.

In 2010, Pasaban completed her nine year quest to climb all 14 of the 8000 meter peaks. She knocked off both Annapurna (8091 meters/26,545 ft) and Shishapangma (8013 meters/26,289 ft) within weeks of one another, and became the second woman to top out on all those monster summits. But, Korean climber Oh Eun-Sun, who was believed to be the first woman to do so, had her summit of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m /28,169 ft) called into question, which has given Pasaban the distinction of now being considered first.

Edurne beat out such other notable explorers as Amazon Walker Ed Stafford and Pacific Ocean rower Roz Savage to win this year's award as the People's Choice Adventurer of the Year. Congrats to her and her entire climbing team on a job well done.

Find out more about Edurne, including a video of her thoughts on what adventure means to her, by clicking here.