Admiral Byrd was one of the earliest explorers of the South Pole. He explored the area that is now called the Antarctic Peninsula, shown on the map to the left of the yellow line. The red dot on the map indicates the position of Vaughan Mountain, named by Byrd for a young member of his expedition.

Norman Vaughan was a Massachusetts native who, in 1927, dropped out of Harvard to join Byrd's expedition as a dog handler. This action started a life-long interest in journeys in the cold. For example, he has run the Iditarod thirteen times, the last at age 84. Recently, at the age of 94, he went along the trail of the Iditarod in a snowmobile in 17 days.

The Iditarod is a 1,150-mile dog sled race, run each year between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. Each team of 12 to 16 dogs takes between 10 and 17 days to complete the race. It commemorates a run made in 1925 to take diphtheria antitoxin during an epidemic of diphtheria. This original journey, using dog sleds, required 127-1/2 hours (about five days) to run between Nenana and Nome. In this famous race against time, several dog sled teams operated in relay fashion. A statue of Balto, the heroic lead dog of the last leg, was erected a year later in New York's Central Park (it's still there). The trip from Anchorage to Nenana took two days by train.

Vaughan Mountain is part of the ridge of mountains that are an extension of the Andes. The Andes proceed south to the tip of South America and then dip under the Drake Passage and the Scotia Sea to the Antarctic Peninsula. Vaughan Mountain is 10,302 feet high and was first climbed by Vaughan himself in 1994 when he was 88. Vaughan plans one more icy exploration to celebrate his 100th birthday. He plans to climb his mountain again and sip his first glass of champagne there.

Vaughan is part of a special breed that are blessed with good health and a great sense of doing something new. They like to live on the edge but are not daredevils. They may tackle the elements but do so only after careful planning and with a defined goal. Vaughan may not be remembered as a great leader, but with his motto of "Dream big and dare to fail," he will be remembered because of his endurance and his life-long devotion to taking one more trip across the ice.