British Chapter News

(Story added : November 17, 2009) - “Due South” by Steve Brooks and Joanna Vestey

Due South is the story of one of the most extraordinary helicopter journeys ever made.

The original idea was gloriously simple, at least in concept – to fly a helicopter from the very top of the world to the very bottom – a feat never before attempted. The journey would take in some of the planet’s most extreme wildernesses, from the polar ice sheets to mountain ranges and canyons, rainforests and deserts, river and oceans, glaciers and sand dunes, with visits to indigenous tribal groups along the way.

Pilots Steve Brooks and Joanna Vestey were no strangers to adventure. Steve had already found his way into the record books as the first person to drive from America to Russia across the Bering Strait, while Joanna had worked all over the world as a photographer. This is the story of how together they flew the length of the Americas, and the story of Brooks’ further ambition to top and tail the adventure with flights to the polar extremes. Brooks’ first attempt to cross the infamous Drake Passage en route to the South Pole was to end in near fatal disaster when the helicopter suffered engine failure and he ended up in the icy waters, lucky to escape with his life.

Two years later he returned and successfully crossed the Drake, flying on to the South Pole. This book is the story of a young couple’s phenomenal journey and their enduring will to succeed. Documented by Joanna Vestey’s stunning images and told in the words of Rebecca Stephens, the first British woman to climb Everest, it is both an epic adventure story and a striking testament to the power of positive thinking.

Hardback | 199 pages | over 250 colour photos | UK price £25 - available online at Amazon

Story published by : admin