Fun bit of trivia: Shackleton had to cross 35 kms of uncharted rugged terrain and glaciers on South Georgia Island without any mountaineering equipment to get help for his men stranded on Elephant Island [1].

A bunch of experienced climbers recreated this journey with proper equipment and concluded that the Shackleton chose an exceedingly challenging route and yet somehow made it out the other side: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackletonexped/dispatches/200...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_of_the_James_Caird#Sout...