If you’ve ever done a trek and had a porter lug much of your gear up steep mountain sides, then I’m sure you asked
yourself, How do these guys do it? I can hardly carry my knapsack, you tell yourself, and these guys are carrying the
weight of a small family on their backs. Well is it any surprise that Nepalese porters (or sherpas, which is actually
the name for a specific indigenous group in Nepal that became synonymous with porter) are
actually more efficient with
their expenditure of energy. It makes a lot of intuitive sense in a Darwinian way, of course, but scientist have now
shown it to be a fact…or at least a more solidly documented theory. Scientists discovered, for example, that a
typical Nepalese porter carries nearly his own weight as a load, but when doing so he burns less energy per
pound than a backpacker would need to shoulder about half the same weight. Fascinating, eh?
NYT Winter Special
So I called out a cool article in the
Times this weekend, but neglected to mention that the article was part of a broader and
very solid series of pieces on winter
sports. It’s really nice to see the Times doing features like this for the adventure crowd, and the series has got some
nice ideas for the coming winter.
In addition to the piece on
King’s Trail in Sweden,
there are also articles about skiing
Austria and Stowe, and a terrific piece on
skiing (yes, it is true) in Bulgaria. And then
don’t miss the interview with
two-time extreme skiing world champion and free-skiing advocate
Chris Davenport.
Rasmus on Travel and Adventure Today
Legendary magazine editor John Rasmus (who currently helms one of my favorite magazines on the
globe…Nat Geo Adventure) has penned
a thoughtful piece on adventure travel…or
pretty much travel in general. He mentions several of my big-time heroes in the piece: Krakauer, Galen Rowell (who died
in a plane crash with his wife, but whose studio still exists in Bishop, CA), and Richard Bangs (who has a new Web show
on Yahoo).
The world has changed, Rasmus says, from the days when he was a young adventurer. From the days when you could go to a
distant place and see a world completely different than your own, where you could encounter people in their own
culture, a culture free of the effects of globalism, a culture where you would be certain you would NOT run into
Cameron Diaz filming a segment for MTV.
He’s not bashing globalism, he’s just saying that things change, and we need to accept them and move on, to find other
adventures that please us. “The world of adventure travel is still a positive, lively and surprisingly big place,”
he says. “That’s because adventure has never really been about specific destinations or activities. It’s about you —
discovering and exploring new destinations, people and cultures, about seeing the world fresh.” He’s right, you
know. You can spend your whole life bitching about how over-touristed, polluted, LCD things have become. Or you can be
creative and find the places that still inspire and surprise, where you can suck the guts out of life on your own
terms. Maybe that’s some small village in Siberia, or maybe its your back yard. Adventure is partly a state of mind, a
way of living that says I was given but one life, it is mine, the only thing that REALLY belongs to me, and I am going
to live this thing to the fullest.
What a pleasure to awake to find this article this morning. Now it’s time to head into the new week.
Latitudes Magazine
Here’s a goodn’. Latitudes Magazine,
whose online Flash version is consistently one of the best travel-related feature sites out there, is out with a new
issue that takes a look at one of my favorite (and therefore one of the best ;-)) places in the world. The story an
photo essay take us to the Andes in Chile, a divine climbing and skiing spot, and a great place to
eat your comrades…um, I meant WITH your comrades. The
photos in this issue are Nat Geo quality and the Latitudes folks add cool little features, Easter eggs as it were, to
the story. It takes a bit of time for the whole thing to load…I think they need a Flash engineer to help them out…but
it’s well worth it because the photos alone are worth the wait.
The Kungsleden in Sweden
It’s nice to see the Times do a bona-fide adventure piece. Seems like it’s been a while since I’ve read something
like this. And
this is a real sweet one, too. The author takes us to King’s Trail, or Kungsleden, in Sweden, a 265-mile trail that
can be traversed by cross-country skis and dog sled. And all along the way, you rest your weary bod down on beds/cots
in numerous comfy mountain huts. What a dream. The only thing missing, this being Sweden, after all, is the bikini
team. (just kidding!). But seriously, Scandinavia has got loads of places like this, where you can ski from hut to hut,
stopping beneath the gaping, Borealis smeared sky to take hefty gulps of Aquavit. It’s a white winter paradise if you
ask me. If you don’t, take a look at the excellent
gallery that accompanies this piece.