Mark Synnott: The Franklin Mystery and the Golden Age of Exploration

In this episode, I sit down with Mark Synnott—climber, writer, explorer—for a wide-ranging conversation about the Franklin Expedition and the deeper human drive to venture into the unknown. This may be the greatest survival tale never told.

We talk about Mark’s journey through the Northwest Passage in search of clues, the myth of the open polar sea, and what Inuit oral history suggest really happened to Franklin and his men.

We also get into Mark’s own expeditions—from remote climbs in Baffin to his quest to find Sandy Irvine’s body and the lost Everest camera. There’s a lot here about the psychology of adventure, the messiness of expedition dynamics, the tension between storytelling and truth, and what it means to raise a family while chasing risk.

If you’re into exploration, obsession, and the blurry line between noble ambition and madness—this one’s for you.