June 27th, 2009 by admin

Extreemblog presents a small preview of a new articles series called: Lost in Action: The Adventurers. Every week, I will present you one famous adventure personality that changed the world we now live in.

Extraordinary lives are almost always rich in action, travel, passion, dreams, sometimes love and treasures. When you live life to the full, you don’t worry about the future, you just grab what you have and seek for more adventures.

That’s in short a personality of a true globetrotter, treasure hunter and extremity lover.

For those people living on the edge and risking own life was what they ate for breakfast every day.

Sir Ernest Shackleton. When his Endurance ship got stuck in ice of Antarctida during his third expediton, one of the world’s difficult survival challenges begun on the snow and icy desert.

Raymond Maufrais. He set out on a suicidal expedition into guyanian jungle. Friend and locals advised to turn back, because he was heading for the meeting with death. But Raymond still forced his way through. So hungry, he was shooting humming birds with bullets bigger than them!

Steve Fossett. Kidnapped by UFO, run away with a lover, hiding because of financial problems, discovered a secret US Army mission and had to die? Such are supposition, because heroes don’t just disappear without any sound.

Percy Harrison Fawcett. Just the prototype of Indiana Jones, who was looking for acient gold in tropical rainforest of Amazon.

Stay tuned.

Images credits  #1 #2 #3 #4 #5

June 27th, 2009 by admin

The Rest of Everest continues to tease us this week with yet another video from the Everest Trek 2009 that show producer Jon Miller and professional photographer Chris Marquardt went on, along with ten other lucky hikers. The trek became the highest photography and videography workshop ever conducted, as the trekkers learned how to use their fancy cameras while proceeding up the Khumbu Valley.

This week’s episode comes courtesy of Chris, whose Tips From The Top Floor photography podcast ranks among the best on the Internet. The video is a bit shorter than the one Jon gave us last week, but still offers up spectacular views from the Himalaya and a nice taste of what the group experienced in Nepal.

If you caught last week’s episode, this teaser from Chris offers a bit of a different perspective. The sound bites from the other trekkers were interesting and fun, although they looked at exhausted from the flights to Nepal. The rest of the shots are a nice overview of the trek itself, starting on the streets of Kathmandu, then on to Lukla, and finally out to the Khumbu Valley itself.

Clearly between The Rest of Everest and Tips From The Top Floor, this trek will be well covered. Fans of both shows are in for a treat. You can find the Rest of Everest in iTunes by clicking here, and TFTTF here.

June 27th, 2009 by admin

Outside Online has posted a story that appears in the magazine’s July issue entitled The Everest Circus Moves to K2, in which author Sam Moulton predicts that the world’s second highest mountain is destined to become the next Everest, overrun with “record seekers, guided rich guys, and unqualified yahoos”.

The story points to climbers such as Fredrik Ericsson, who is on the mountain at the moment with the intention of becoming the first man to ski down its slopes. The article was written back in May, and well before Ericsson lost climbing partner Michele Fait in a ski accident descending from C2 earlier this week.

The other element that leads Outside to believe that things are changing on K2 is that mountaineer Fabrizio Zangrilli is currently leading 10 paying clients up the mountain it was is being viewed by many as possibly the first full blown commercial expedition on the most dangerous mountain on the planet. A number of other top guiding companies are no doubt watching the progress, while planning their own climbs for next year.

But, the message from Outside isn’t one of condemnation. Quite the opposite actually as they say that we should just accept that this is a fact of life in the mountaineering community. Big, challenging, scary mountains attract those people with lots of money who want to climb them. And due to that fact, people will probably die. But it isn’t like they don’t know the risks.

So what do you think? Should we just accept that K2 is going to be a commercial mountain moving forward? Is there anything we can do about it anyway? I think it is inevitable, and although it has always been the Mountaineers Mountain, traffic on its slopes will definitely increase in the next few years, although I seriously doubt it’ll ever get to the levels of Everest.

June 27th, 2009 by admin

Another big endurance race gets underway tomorrow, when the Western States 100 returns following a year off in 2008. The race is amongst the longest running ultramarathons in the world, and covers 100 miles through the mountains of California, kicking off from Squaw Valley and proceeding to Auburn, with some grueling altitude gains and leg straining descents along the way.

The race has been one of the premiere endurance challenges for long distance runners since it began back in 1977. Last year the race had to be cancelled due to fears over forest fires and smoke in the air. Naturally, the runners were very disappointed, as you can imagine the amount of time, effort, and discipline required to prepare for an event such as this one. You can bet that many of those same athletes are back this year, and ready to go.

Runners will set off tomorrow at 5 AM from the floor of Squaw Valley, which is located at 6200 feet. From there, they’ll go up to Emigrant Pass at 8750 feet, gaining 2550 feet in the first 4.5 miles of the race. The course then runs west along an old trail used by miners and prospectors back in the 1850’s that remains very remote and scenic. Along the way, they’ll climb another 15,540 feet and descent more than 22,970 feet before reaching the finish line. They’ll have until 11 AM on Sunday morning to finish to be considered on the official leaderboard and gain an award.

The Western States is one of the most legendary races amongst ultrarunners anywhere on the planet, and it’s good to see it back this year. Good luck to all the runners and enjoy the trail.

June 27th, 2009 by admin

We followed her exploits, along with teammates Pen Hadow and Martin Hartley, as part of the Catlin Arctic Survey Team this past spring, and now Wide World has a good interview with Ann Daniels, in which she discusses the expedition, her day-to-day roll on the team, and why the team didn’t end up reaching the poll, amongst other things.

You probably remember that the Catlin team set out from the Canadian side of the Arctic with the intention of heading to the North Pole, stopping to take measurements of the ice in order to judge the overall health of the icecap. The teams high tech scientific equipment was touted early on, as they were suppose to use ground penetrating radar to take their measurements. But Ann says that the radar didn’t really work until they neared the end of the journey, which meant they had to take a lot of manual samples, using drills to pull out cores from the ice. This caused them to slow down greatly and in the end prevented them from completing the journey to 0º North.

Ann had been planning to make a solo journey to the Pole, but gave up the opportunity to join the survey team. She now says that she would consider going after that goal again in the future, but it won’t be next year, as she’ll be still wrapped up in the data from this year’s survey, and won’t have the time to prepare or to raise the funds she needs. To date, no woman has made that journey solo and unsupported.

Good interview and Ann is definitely an interesting person. I hope she gets to go after the solo expedition at some point.

June 27th, 2009 by admin

While the mountaineering world is still reeling over the death of Italian skier Michele Fait, teams continue their preparation for their upcoming climbs. Base camp on all the major Pakistani peaks now have teams in place, and the long, challenging work of fixing the lines and setting the camps has begun.

On K2, as you can imagine, the mood is a bit subdued with the passing of Michele. But the teams no that the best way to keep their minds off things is to stay busy, and with plenty of work to do, that’s just what they are doing. The word is that teams are shuttling supplies up to C2 today, beginning their acclimatization process at the same time.

Meanwhile, on the Gasherbrums, Don Bowie reports that the team has been resting in BC, and watching a long line of porters bringing supplies up the valley. He says that the scuttlebut around BC is that as many as 13 teams could be climbing on multiple Gasherbrum peaks this summer, which could make for a crowded camp to say the least. Jagged Edge has a team looking to summit G2, and their latest update says that they’ve moved into the icefall, and their porters have already begun stocking C1 and will proceed to C2 within a few days time. Likewise, the Altitude Junkies are in BC, and held their Puja Ceremony a few days back. They’re now ready to start their climb as well. They hope to top out on both G1 and G2.

Things are heating up on Nanga Parbat as well, where Gunther Unterberger and Gerfried Göschl are in the final stages of their acclimatization process. The duo will spend the night at Camp 1 today and if everything goes according to plan, they’ll begin their summit bid in about 10 days time.

Finally, on Broad Peak, rope fixing is underway as well, although, as ExWeb reports, there are two teams already high on the mountain. Neither of those teams are using fixed lines however, so it has been left up to the commercial teams to place them. We do know that the team of Elisabeth Revol , Antoine Girard, and Ludovic Giambasi are in the midst of their summit bid at the moment, and are out of radio range, so hopefully everything is going well for them. We will likely not hear any news on the team until the weekend, summit or not. Good luck team!

More news from the range as it comes in.

June 25th, 2009 by admin

It’s been a long time since iPhone has become 21st century’s icon. After spectacular success of a small electronic device, Apple decided to opened the Apple App Store.  That was the time when applications have already begun to transform traveler’s life.

In short, everybody could write the app for the iPhonish platform. Thousands of free and commercial apps have become available. Somewhere in between them, there are some ultimately useful for any outdoor adventurer.

Extreemblog presents the three top-lists of best outdoor adventure and travel apps for iPhone:

Review: The 25 Best Outdoor iPhone Apps

Steve Casimiro, theadventurelife.org, picked 25 best outdoor apps. From 154 knots, splices, and tangled messes of cord, through snow and surfing conditions reports, ending with star constellations (pretty useful before a romantic night under the clear sky!).

The Way We Move: Top 20 iPhone Travel Apps

Steve Casimiro again, here on behalf of NG Adventure, describes from his own experience how the iPhone is changing the way we interact with the world.
Weather you are late for the plane, preparing docs for new adventure, want to know how to wear kimono, or you are simply lost, those are must-downloads!

Outdoor iPhone Apps by TheOutPost

From predictions from thousands of US coastal stations to the reference guide on basic survival, evasion, and recovery information.

And you? Do you owe an iPhone? Do you know any other killer applications for iPhone? Share your comments!

First pic by The Hamster Factor

June 25th, 2009 by admin

Another very cool expedition got underway on May 31st, when the crew of the Ocean Watch, a 64-foot sailing ship, set out from Seattle on an expedition to sail completely around North and South America.

Dubbed the Around the Americas expedition, the journey is expected to take roughly 13 months to complete. The crew of four, that includes Mark Schrader, Herb McCormick, David Thoreson, and David Logan, set out from Seattle, and are currently sailing along the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska. The plan is to continue going north and at the height of summer, navigate through the fabled Nortwest Passage, which will deposit them out into the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, before turning south to sail the length of the North and South America, before making the turn at Cape Horn, and heading north again to Seattle.

The team hopes to take scientific readings along the way to help gauge the effects of global climate change on the oceans, as well as the creatures that live in them. They also hope to promote environmental education in regards to marine life and will be creating classroom curriculum along the way as well.

This is the type of expedition that wouldn’t have even been possible not all that long ago. The Northwest Passage being open to traffic is a result of global climate change, although navigating through the passage in such a relatively small boat will still be a challenge. The crew hopes to reach Barrow, Alaska in July, and even then they’ll have to wait and watch for their opportunity to set sail through the 1000 miles of treacherous water lined with icebergs of all shapes and sizes. I’ll check back in with them from time to time to see how they are progressing, especially over the next few months while they sail through the Passage itself. None of us will be all that worried for them while they are sailing the Caribbean for some reason.

Thanks to Wide World for the tip on this one. You guys are quickly becoming one of my favorite sites!

June 25th, 2009 by admin

I’m a bit hesitant to post this story, as clearly I don’t need any competition! But, in the interest of being a good sport, here goes anyway.

Quark Expeditions, one of the top adventure travel companies offering access to the Arctic and Antarctic, is holding a contest, in which the grand prize is a trip for two to Antarctica in 2010. To enter, you simply need to go to BlogYourWayToAntarctica.com, register, and then write a 300 word blog post on why you should be the one chosen to go on the trip, and blog your experiences along the way.

The competition kicked off a few days back on June 19th, and there are already plenty of entries. Readers are encouraged to go to the site and vote for their favorite blog post, and when the contest closes on Sept. 30th, the winner is the person with the most votes. All entrants must be 21 years old or older to be eligible to win.

And what a prize they will win. Valued at more than $20,000, the winner, and his/her lucky companion, will be off on an adventure expedition that includes airfare to and from the States, one nights stay in Ushuaia, Argentina, and an 11 night cruise to Antarctica that includes an excursion to the Antarctic Peninsula itself.

Make no mistake, I definitely want to get to Antarctica some day, and this is a great opportunity for some lucky person to go on an amazing adventure. What a cool prize and a great way to promote it. Now how many votes can I drum up… ?

June 25th, 2009 by admin

Camp Patriot and Adventure Medical Kits have joined forces for a very good cause. Both organizations are dedicated to promoting outdoor adventure, and soon they’ll be assisting three American soldiers, each of whom were injured in the line of duty, to achieve their goal of reaching the summit of Mt. Rainier.

From July 7th to the 10th of this year, SFC Mario Barragan, 1LT Reinaldo Gonzalez, and SFC Jesse Yandell will all be on the mountain, and attempting to climb Rainier. Barragan and Yandell were both injured while serving in Afghanistan, while Gonzalez fell during a training exercise and suffered an injury to his spine. But now, all three are recovering from their injuries and pressing ahead with their dream, thanks to Camp Patriot and Adventure Medical Kits.

Camp Patriot had a clearly defined mission from the start. Namely, to help injured, and sometimes disabled, veterans to experience outdoor adventure. The non-profit organization plans all kinds of activities including hiking/backpacking, mountain biking, fishing, skiing, snowshoeing and more. They’ve found that these activities have a highly positive impact on the Vets emotional and psychological well being that extends to every facet of their lives long after they have gone home.

On June 5th, two days before the team sets off for Mt. Rainier, there will be a dinner and fundraising event at the Fox Sports Network Lounge at the south end of the Qwest Field in Seattle. The evening will include a silent auction with all kinds of great gear and guest speaker Ed Viesturs will be on hand to discuss his long and illustrious career in the mountains.

What an amazing organization. This is their third year of taking these soldiers up Rainier, but they have done so many other things as well. It doesn’t seem like they’ll be slowing down in the future either, as there are plans afoot to build a mountain lodge in Montana that will house more than 20 visitors at a time, and give them access to the great outdoors as well.

And a quick word on Adventure Medical Kits too. Awhile back I received one of their kits to test out and examine, and while I haven’t put the finishing touches on my review just yet, I can honestly say that if you spend a significant time outdoors, that you should have one of the kits in your backpack. They come equipped with just about everything you need to treat injuries in the backcountry, and they come in small packages that fit neatly in your pack. Great stuff and I whole heartedly recommend them.