Proud Texan Victor waves his state flag on the summit of Everest
Humans first conquered Mount Everest (the highest point on Earth) in 1953 and the Challenger Deep (the deepest point on Earth) seven years later. But no single person had ever visited both until Victor Vescovo (USA) plunged to new depths in 2019…
For most people, climbing a mountain would be the pinnacle of their adventuring lives. But for retired US Navy officer-turned private equity investor Victor Vescovo, striking “climb a mountain” off his bucket list was never going to be the end of the story.
Victor is one of the 49 of those to have completed a “Last Degree” Grand Slam, which involves skiing at least 100 km (60 mi) – i.e., from 89° to 90° – to the poles.
(The remaining 21 members of the Explorer’s Grand Slam club made their way to the poles from coastal starting points, covering much greater distances with supply-laden sledges, and are thus widely treated as a distinct category.)
Soaring to 8,848 m (29,029 ft) above sea level, Everest (aka Sāgārmatha or Chomolungma) is the world’s highest mountain.
The first ascent of Everest was made by New Zealand’s Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay (Tibet/India) on 29 May 1953, with the help of a large expedition team headed by military man Henry Cecil Hunt (UK). Five days shy of 57 years later, Victor followed in Hillary and Norgay’s footsteps. He was in the best of hands, for guiding him to the top was none other than fellow GWR Hall of Fame inductee, Kami Rita Sherpa (NPL), who has completed the most ascents of Everest (24 as of 2019).
“Everest is physically punishing,” Victor told us straight. “It’s cold, you have trouble breathing. It’s a very raw, visceral experience but gosh the view. It’s a great allegory for life, climbing a mountain like that. You start off all optimistic and excited, and then it beats the hell out of you, and you just have to pick yourself up and keep moving to achieve an objective… And maybe you don’t even get it – but you can come back. It’s all about how resilient you are as a person.”
Of course, once Victor had scaled all the highest points on Earth, it was only natural that he would stop looking skywards and set his sights lower… much lower.
Which is how the Five Deeps Expedition – a never-before-attempted enterprise to visit the deepest known point in each of Earth’s five oceans – was conceived in 2015.
A submersible alone wasn’t going to cut it, though. Victor also acquired what was ironically in a former life during the Cold War a US Navy submarine hunter, transforming it into a state-of-the-art research vessel named Pressure Drop. Victor knew from the start that he not only needed the best technology but also the best people, so his expedition boasted a wealth of talent plucked from all around the world. These included specialists in everything from geology and marine biology to sonar mapping – the latter of which were initially tasked with pinpointing exactly where the deepest points were located! These technical experts were augmented by a veteran crew with profound maritime experience who would be more than capable of dealing with anything that Neptune could throw at them.
Five Deeps Expedition: the deepest points in the oceans
Ocean | Deepest point location | Date dived | Depth |
Atlantic | Puerto Rico Trench | 19/12/2018 | 8,376 m (27,480 ft) |
Southern | South Sandwich Trench | 3/2/2019 | 7,434 m (24,390 ft) |
Indian | Java Trench | 5/4/2019 | 7,192 m (23,596 ft) |
Pacific | Challenger Deep (Mariana Trench) | 28/4/2019 | 10,925 m (35,843 ft)* |
Arctic | Molloy Deep | 24/8/2019 | 5,551 m (18,212 ft) |
*since updated in 2020 to 10,934 m (35,872 ft) +/- 3 m
The technical challenges presented by the dives aside, the logistics behind the Five Deeps Expedition were equally gruelling. Victor revealed: “We had to slot the dives in to fit with the weather conditions in each ocean. We went through 94 iterations of our schedule! This was because of weather issues, mechanical issues or permit issues
A map of the Five Deeps Expedition showing the deepest points in the five oceans
While all five dives yielded unprecedented scientific discoveries (including potentially 30 to 40 new species), it was arguably the fourth stop on the mission that really shook things up: the Challenger Deep, which at nearly 11 km (6.8 mi) beneath the surface is not just the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean, but also the deepest point on Earth.
Victor has now made a total of eight dives into the Challenger Deep, more than any other individual. Indeed, of the 13 aquanauts that have taken the ultimate plunge to date (just one more than astronauts to have walked on the Moon), he is one of only two to have done so more than once.
While he may now be an “old hand” at it, we asked him to tell us how it felt the very first time: “I’d done a lot of dives by that point, but with the Mariana Trench, you know it’s going deeper than ever before. In the back of your mind, you’re thinking ‘I’m pretty sure everything’s going to work perfectly and I’m going to come back safely’ but you don’t know until you do it.
"You can psychologically feel the 16,000 lb/sq in that’s just outside the windows, which is literally compressing the submarine almost a quarter of an inch as you go down."
“But you get down to the bottom, and then it’s really exciting. You’re driving around looking for wildlife and exploring the bottom. It was amazing. I was down there by myself in a custom-built titanium submarine at the bottom of the ocean and… I could do whatever I wanted – I felt like I was five years old again!”
I was in the military for 20 years and there was a saying: ‘No plan survives contact with the enemy’. And it’s the same with this: ‘No plan survives contact with the real world’. It’s all about being able to adapt.
Not all that Victor saw was so positive, though, as he encountered some litter even at these extreme depths. “I was navigating around the bottom of the Mariana Trench and I saw out the corner of my eye some sharp edges, and nature doesn’t do that. I cruised the submarine over there and sure enough there was what looked like might have been cloth or plastic. It was a bit of a gut-kick. It was made even worse when I saw a small sea cucumber on it, perhaps thinking it was food.”
Victor’s deep-sea exploits have opened up a new chapter in the history of exploring the Challenger Deep. Because his Limiting Factor submersible is designed for multiple trips and can accommodate two people, he has been able to pilot several others to the bottom of the world. Some of these passengers have been mainly there for the science, others for the adventure. But in either case, it has led to several more record-setting milestones, and it’s likely there will be more to come. So what’s next for an explorer who has done this much? Is there any limit to what Victor will take on? “I hope not,” he said, with a trademark glint in his eye. “I hope to stick around long enough to keep doing these challenges. “I’d love to go to space. No one’s been to the top of the world, the bottom of the world and to space so I’m talking to some guys about that…