Jul 3, 2019
This episode features Richard Wiese, co-host of the public television series “Weekends with Yankee”—produced by two prominent New England media outlets, WGBH-TV and Yankee magazine. The series, now in its third season, provides a national audience with an insider’s look at the landscapes, attractions and hidden gems of the six-state New England region.
Richard is also host of the Emmy Award-winning “Born to Explore” television series, and president of The Explorers Club, a prestigious society founded in 1904 that promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air and space.
When Richard was 11, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with his father. Since then, he has traveled to all seven continents (and scaled Mount Kilimanjaro 15 more times). He has also tagged jaguars in the Yucatan jungles, led expeditions to the Northern Territory of Australia, went cross-country skiing to the North Pole, been on two expeditions to the Antarctica and participated in the largest medical expedition ever on Mount Everest.
He is the author of “Born to Explore: How to Be a Backyard Adventurer.” In his introduction to the book, he wrote: “I hope ‘Born to Explore’ inspires both the nature enthusiast and the nature-impaired and provides information on the tools needed to discover and love the outdoors.”
In 2002, Richard, then 43, was the youngest person to be elected president of The Explorers Club. He was elected to another four-year term as the club’s president in 2018. Life’s tough – you can be tougher, like Richard Wiese, explorer extraordinaire, who will travel anywhere to uncover what makes “people, places and the planet” so special.