‘Realm of Ice and Sky’: Arctic Explorations in the 20th Century

"Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue" by Buddy Levy.

As the 20th century started, technology was on the march. Explorers were trying to reach the Arctic and Antarctic poles. Walter Wellman (1858–1934) tried to reach the North Pole by land, but failed. After this setback, he decided to use cutting-edge technology to reach the North Pole first. He would fly there. This book presents the stories of Wellman and other explorers who sought to reach the North Pole by air.

Wellman had already made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole using dogsleds in the late 1800s. A newspaper man, he founded what became the Cincinnati Post and gained fame writing about his adventures. He also gained a reputation as a huckster because he used self-promotion to raise funds for his ventures, yet Levy shows that Wellman was a serious explorer.

Take to the Air

Levy starts by presenting Wellman’s two unsuccessful aerial attempts to reach the Pole in 1906 and 1910. The second try took place after Frederick Cooke and Robert Peary each claimed to have reached the Pole. Wellman persisted because he doubted they had actually succeeded. Wellman thought he could still be the first man to make the claim.

As Levy shows, Wellman used new tools in this try, including dirigibles, snowmobiles, internal combustion engines, and aerial photography. Yet these things weren’t yet up to the challenge. Wellman’s engineer, Marvin Vaniman, made an dirigible attempt the following year. It crashed, killing all onboard.

Ten years later, the polar air race resumed. In 1926, the American Richard Byrd (1888–1957) and Norwegian Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) each  attempted to fly to the Pole. Byrd used a Fokker Trimotor plane, the Josephine Ford, while Amundsen had an Italian-made dirigible, the Norge. Both efforts were privately funded. Levy concludes Byrd failed to reach the Pole, but Amundsen and his crew succeeded. Norge also completed the first Arctic crossing, reaching Alaska from Svalbard.

After Amundsen’s Norge expedition ended, controversy over credit for the achievement arose after Norge’s designer and pilot, Umberto Nobile, attempted to minimize Amundsen’s role. It led to acrimony. Nobile mounted a second dirigible expedition in 1928, and its goal was to land men on the Pole. An all-Italian effort, it ended in tragedy. Levy describes the massive rescue effort (which included Amundsen) and the international fallout that followed.

“Realm of Ice and Sky” captures the drama of these attempts. It also reveals the political and scientific conflicts the expeditions triggered. Levy has written a dramatic, informative, and highly readable account of the closing days of the heroic age of Arctic Exploration.

’Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History’s Greatest Arctic Rescue’ By Buddy Levy St. Martin’s Press, Jan. 28, 2025‎ Hardcover, 384 pages

What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to [email protected]