First person to complete the Explorers' Grand Slam

Park Young-Seok (South Korea, 1963–2011) reached the North Pole on foot on 30 April 2005, thereby becoming the first person to achieving the Explorers' Grand Slam. This involves climbing the highest mountains on all seven continents (the 'seven summits'), the 14 mountains over 8,000 m (26,246 ft), and reaching the North and South poles on foot. His quest began when he summited Mt Everest on 16 May 1993.

Park died in October 2011 while making a descent of Annapurna, the world's deadliest mountain; he and two other climbers went missing on 23 October following a rock slide, and the subsequent rescue mission was abandoned on 28 October.