The FINAL FRONTIER

Adventures in Antarctica from glamping in space-age sky pods to sailing the South Pole...

- SI S I PENALOZA

The idea of wilderness plays a crucial and curious role in the ongoing evolution of travel. Conquering the wild was once central to our pioneer narratives of progress. Nowadays exploring the “frontier” can take on a myriad of meanings for different travelers. Whether the notion conjures remote lands, or the thrilling prospect of tracking apex predators, here are ways to get your wild on – from the South Pole to the South Sandwich Islands.

An entirely 21st Century upgrade in travel to the White Continent is finally here, ready to quite literally rock your world and properly blow your mind. White Desert’s newest camp, Echo, debuts this December. The new camp is located inland of Antarctica’s north coast, three miles from Wolf ’s Fang, a sister camp that opened in December 2021 on a glacier in Queen Maud Land. A power player in the sustainable polar travel arena, White Desert is the only luxury hospitality company in the world to fly business jets to Antarctica. Their 9,800-foot runway is exclusively for private jets, either the company’s Gulfstream G550, a privately-chartered A340 or those of camp guests, which have included the likes of Prince Harry, Bear Grylls, and Buzz Aldrin.

Echo is the next best thing to a stag party on Mars. Intimately scaled, it’s ideal for exclusive use by affluent families, C-suite executives, and bachelors gone rogue. On arrival, a welcome cocktail chilled with 10,000-year-old ice awaits in the central lounge. Accommodating up to 12 explorers in serious style, Echo’s high-end execution of deliriously thrilling expeditions raises the bar on nextgen “pop up” possibilities. As with all White Desert’s camps on the 7th Continent, Echo is designed to be completely dismantled, leaving no trace on the environment.