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As a foreign correspondent for the past 30 years, Mark Jenkins has explored the most remote, difficult, and dangerous places on the planet. He will do whatever it takes to get the story. On assignment in Afghanistan, he was arrested by the Tajik KGB and interrogated for a week. On assignment in Burma, he was arrested by the military junta multiple times. On assignment in eastern Congo, he was captured by the murderous Hutu guerillas. Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, says “Mark Jenkins purposefully goes out and taunts the gods. How he gets away with it is probably why he’s had 30 to 40 arrests---and no convictions.”
A world-renowned explorer, critically acclaimed author, and international journalist, for the last decade Jenkins has covered the globe for National Geographic Magazine. Among hundreds of stories, he has written about landmines in Cambodia, mountain gorillas in Africa, the loss of koalas in Australia, global warming in Greenland, ethnic cleansing in Burma, and climbing Mt. Everest. Jenkins has done over 50 expeditions and over 100 foreign assignments. Author Annie Proulx says “Mark Jenkins is the global version of street-smart. He is an inquisitive, thinking explorer who leavens common sense with joie de vivre as he takes us into tight corners at the back of the world. He’s the real thing.” https://www.markjenkins.net/
Going to Extreme Episodes:
Episode 1: Coach (Part 1 and 2) - One man made me a rock climber: Layne Kopishka. He was my high school swim coach and a P.E. instructor who taught young athletes how to climb on the granite walls of Vedauwoo, in southeastern Wyoming. He pushed us to become more than we were, and in the process, made us what we are today.
Episode 2: Everest: The Madness and the Macabre (Part 1 and 2) - We all have a place we dream about. We have visited it without ever having set foot there. For me that place was the Mountains of the Moon, the Rwenzoris, in western Uganda. I dreamed about it for years: the massive glaciers on the equator, the hypertrophic plants, the constant rain and impenetrable mist. But it was only after I’d learned that global warming was radically altering these mountains, that I bought a plane ticket I went there.
Episode 3: Burke and Wills Part 1 and 2
Episode 4: Ginge Fullen Part 1 and 2
Episode 5: Vietnam Cave
Episode 6: The Bike Messenger (Part 1 and 2) - I had failed on another Himalayan expedition and felt lost. I took a bus from Lhasa north into the heart of Tibet. I wanted to get a pony but ended up getting a bicycle. I pedaled into the Nyainqêntanglha Mountains, my pack strapped to the bicycle. I intended to solo a peak. Instead, I ended up becoming a messenger for an old Buddhist woman. What you expect is never what you get.
Episode 7: Rwenzori Part 1 and 2
Episode 8: El Vedauwoo (Part 1 and 2) - Today is the 18th anniversary of Todd Skinner’s death. Todd was the most famous climber Wyoming ever produced. He and I attended the University of Wyoming at the same time and we both learned how to climb hard in Vedauwoo. Thereafter, I became an alpinist and Todd became one of the world’s greatest sport climbers. We teamed up for a wild, hilarious expedition to Mexico before he tragically died in Yosemite.
Episode 9: Right in your own backyard Part 1 and 2
Episode 10: Deportation
Episode 11: Lost and Found Part 1 and 2
Episode 12: Bhutan
Episode 13: Frostbite
