Mammoth Tree House

by Neil Woodburn on

The
halcyon days of our youth where a few 2x4s pounded into an old elm with rusty nails constituted the coolest tree house
on the block are not just long dead, but now embarrassingly overshadowed by the richest kid on the street, Lord
Northumberland, and his World’s Largest
tree house. 

Located on the grounds of Alnwick Gardens just 95 miles south
of Edinburgh (and next to the Alnwick Castle, the very one
used in the Harry Potter films), this 6,000-square-foot tree house leviathan soars 56 feet
above the ground and is connected with 4,000-square-feet of suspended walkways.  It has a restaurant that seats
120 people as well as classrooms, cafes, turrets, wobbly bridges, and imported wood from all over the world.

Oh, and it cost $7 million. 

Boy, I sure do miss the simple days of my youth.

4th annual Adirondack Backcountry Ski Festival

by Erik Olsen on

My, it has been an odd winter here on the East Coast. We went from a long series of delightfully warm days in the
coldest of months (Dec/Jan), to a monster snowstorm that lasted for a mere day and then whose snows disappeared like
the clouds that brought them. Now, while it’s chilly, it is still quite warm given the season.

A sign of
global warming? The apocalypse? That Tom and Katie are definitely through? Who knows?

But here’s the
rub: there is still snow upstate, and that means skiing. In this case, I’m not talking about the downhill kind where
you sit in a comfy chair for the ride up the hill. I’m talking about backcountry. Basically, that means you have to
work for your runs, using randonee gear to haul yourself up the slope. For East Coast backcountry fans, it also means
the start of the Adirondack Backcountry Ski Festival, which starts up
this weekend.

If you’ve never done backcountry before, this is a great event to get you started. The
event is in its fourth year and they hold clinics and events to bring people up to speed on the gear and techniques
you’ll need to leave the lifts behind. There will also be a catered buffet dinner party (say oooh, ahhhh) and a
Backcountry Magazine presentation featuring Naheed
Henderson and Nils Larsen and their trip to discover the roots of skiing in the Chinese Altai Mountains. Nice way to
spend a weekend, I’d say.

Denali Denied?

by Erik Olsen on

A buddy of mine has climbed Mt. McKinley (aka Denali) about a dozen times. He says it’s one of the roughest,
most challenging climbs around, certainly one of the most challenging in the United States. It’s also very popular. So
it might surprise some climbers and would be Hillarys this year to find out that the National Park Service will
be restricting the number of climbers up the big mountain this coming season. Yes, just 1,500 people will be allowed
to attempt the 20,320 summit because there have in the past been too many problems with high-traffic and rescues and all
that stuff. Not to mention the waste that has built up along the trail, from people’s actual garbage to their human
waste.

The good news is that the 1,500 figure isn’t actually that restrictive since fewer than that, some
1300, attempted the summit last year. But the broader issue is all about care and maintenance of the mountain, as you
can read here.

GADLING'S TAKE FIVE: Week of February 21

by Erik Olsen on

It’s that time again, time to highlight some of the more
interesting Gadling posts from this last week. And it was a rather rich week, I’d say, especially when you consider
that we put up another podcast for your ear budding pleasure. But let me start at the beginning with this week’s
list:

5. Blimp Travel: This was a post I
found over at Popular Science and it really fired me up. I’ve long been puzzled why we haven’t been able to ply the
skies slowly in a dirigible. I mean, the technology has been around for a while, and yet, no blimp rides. Did the
tragedy of the Hindenburg ruin blimp travel? Well, perhaps not. Looks like someone may be building blimps for us after
all.

4. Tiki Mania: To be honest, I had only
heard of this whole Tiki business through Neil, whose post on Tiki Mania made it clear that the current Tiki revival
(revival? When was the last great Tiki boom, again? Oh, the 60s) is something to pay attention to, at the very least
for the promise of delicious fruity drinks.  But seriously, little did I know that the Tiki craze has its own magazine, blog, and, a band called Ape.

3. Calypso:
Adrienne, you might have read, is spending some fine time in Trinidad, and are we jealous! Well, she’s somehow found a
nice connection down there and is sending some excellent dispatches on life in a place most of us have never been. They
are really superb, and we are grateful. I’d like, in fact, to direct you to this wonderful post on Calypso and Soca
music. I read it last night, and then the daylight come and me wanna go home.

2. Tunisian Star Wars Locations: Sorry, I’m,
about a big a Star Wars geek as they get. I’ll not get into the details, but trust me, I’m out there in a galaxy far far
away. And so that is why I enjoyed Neil’s post on Tunisian Star Wars locations. What can I say? I’d go there just to
stand in the sand and say: These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

1. Gadling Podcast: Joshua Davis: I really
enjoyed chatting with author Josh Davis about his new book Underdog: How I survived the World’s Most Outlandish
Competitions (not to mention the forthcoming film on his sumo exploits). The podcast here is our first since we spoke
with Fabien Cousteau about his shark submarine, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Josh is a great guy, and his story
will make you shake you head in wonder. 

Climbing for Jesus…and Buddha, et al.

by Erik Olsen on

I spied this post over at a cool new blog I recommend
you check out called The Adventure Blog.

They post that
mounteverest.net features an article worthy of your
attention, in fact the whole world should be aware that different religions can coexist, even at high altitudes. A
group of people from various religions, including an Israeli Jew, a Pakistani Muslim, American Christians, an Indian
Hindu, Buddhist Sherpas, and an atheist bag of dry noodles, will attempt to climb the tallest peak in the world with a
goal to promote peace and understanding amongst humans…and noodles.

The project is called The Everest Peace Project, and it has a catchy, albeit number-addled,
subtitle: "seven countries and five religions". It was founded by an American Buddhist Lance Trumbul,
believes that people from different countries, cultures, and religions can only come together when the temperatures are
sub-zero and the air is so thin that they can’t hurt each other. Just kidding! No, I totally support the project and the
goal. I think it’s great and worthy and smart and cool.

Hats and yarmulkes and turbans and kufis off to
them.