Spirit of Exploration Honored During NatGeo Society 125th Anniversary Launch Celebration!

NORTHWEST -- The culminating celebratory event of National Geographic’s annual two-day Explorers Symposium, Thursday’s ‘Evening of Exploration’ honored the late Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and Austrian alpinist Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner.

Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Kenny Broad, the 2012 and 2011 Explorers of the Year (Photo: Rebecca Hale/National Geographic).
Piccard, who along with U.S. Navy Captain Don Walsh, became the first people to descend nearly seven miles to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, was posthumously awarded the National Geographic Society’s highest honor, the Hubbard Medal.

(Photo: Rebecca Hale/National Geographic)
The only other individual to dive to such depths since that January 23, 1960 day is filmmaker/explorer James Cameron, who, with Walsh, was on-hand to present the award to Piccard’s son, Bertrand, during the exclusive ceremony.

James Cameron presents National Geographic chairman and CEO John Fahey with the flag that went down with him to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER on March 26, 2012 (Photo: Rebecca Hale/National Geographic).
Also recognized last week as National Geographic’s 2012 ‘Explorer of the Year’, was Kaltenbrunner, who, after reaching the top of K2 on August 23, 2011, became the first woman to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks without using supplementary oxygen.

Bertrand Piccard and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner (Photo: Rebecca Hale/National Geographic).
Such a milestone capped a 13-year quest for the adventurer, who scaled her first 8,000-meter peak in 1998 at the age of 23. Kaltenbrunner’s award was presented by environmental anthropologist and the 2011 Explorer of the Year Kenny Broad.

(Photo: Rebecca Hale/National Geographic)
Last week’s gala was presented by iconic Swiss watch manufacturer Rolex, which was well represented at the event. In addition to providing Kaltenbrunner with a specially engraved Explorer timepiece, the two Rolex watches that also made the dive to the Mariana Trench (one attached to the exterior of Piccard and Walsh’s vessel in 1960 and the other attached to Cameron’s DEEPSEA CHALLENGER in March 2012) were on-display at the gala for guests to admire.

(Photo: Rebecca Hale/National Geographic)
Exploration thy name is National Geographic!