(Photo: Erik Boomer)

Adventurers Jon Turk and Erik Boomer recently have been nominated as “Adventurers of the Year” by National Geographic Adventure, an elite list of 12 athletes who have set records and reached new heights in their fields.

Fitz Cahall described Turk and Boomer’s ground-breaking circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island in the glossy’s pages; the end of the story, the medical evacuation of Turk by a Global Rescue team from the northernmost continually occupied settlement in North America, can be found here.

The duo’s adventure was wrought with danger from the start, as Cahall describes:

“What do you do when a polar bear charges you? We found yelling colorful language was more effective than gentle talking,” says 65-year-old writer and Arctic explorer Jon Turk. “The right tone could communicate, ‘You’re bad. We’re just as bad.’”

Turk and pro kayaker Erik Boomer discovered this when, during the final week of their 1,485-mile circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island, a polar bear ripped a hole in their tent—while five other bears looked on.

The journey around the world’s tenth largest island, which took Turk and Boomer 104 days on skis, in kayaks, and on foot, was considered by polar experts to be the last great unattempted polar expedition, so daunting due to its remoteness and dangerous ice conditions. No one had attempted it before this summer.

You can vote for Turk and Boomer , or any of the other adventurers, on National Geographic Adventure’s website. The other nominees are:

Nick Waggoner, skier

Travis Rice, snowboarder

Cory Richards, climber

Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, mountaineer

Jennifer Pharr Davis, hiker

Carissa Moore, surfer

Alastair Humphreys, adventurer

Danny Mac Askill, rider

Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa and Sano Babu Sunuwar, mountaineers