Ralph Plaisted travelled to the Geographic North Pole in 1968 with three companions using snowmobiles for transportation . He arrived on 19 April 1968 and laid a claim to being the first person to travel over the surface of the Earth to the North Pole.
Starting his trek from Ward Hunt Island, northern Ellesmere Island, Canada, on March 7, 1968. In minus 60 degree weather, Plaisted's expedition arrived exactly at the North Pole in a total elapsed time of 43 days, 2 hours and 30 minutes. His position was verified by a U.S. Air Force plane several hours later. Given the doubts surrounding the North pole conquest claims of Robert Peary and Frederick Cook, Ralph Plaisted's April 19, 1968 record is now part of history as the first fully confirmed successful surface conquest of the North Pole.