Hey, a quick note the the Discovery Channel will be running Michael Palin’s great new series
Himalaya starting July 24.
You can go to the site and see a map of the expedition and watch
some clips from the
series. They are quite good, though not nearly long enough. In particular, check out the one on
Annapurna to Everest. It’s in Flash and was a bit dodgy, but I finally got it to work.
Folks eager to get out of town or city for a day of wandering in the hills
might like this link over at
Backpacker Magazine. The site gives fairly detailed directions and GPS
coordinates to some great local hikes.
They seem to have every state covered, although I wish the trails were organized that way. As it is, they organize by
trail name, which seems kinda kooky. But whatever. Some of the trails are familiar. In Los Angeles the Palos Verdes
Loop is always a winner, as is Seattle’s Mt. Pilchuck. Find your state and head out.
I generally do not gush about new sites. Sure, I say they’re “great” or “interesting” or “cool”. And often I dis the
ones I don’t like. But I want to bring your attention now to a truly excellent new adventure travel/sports site called
Stellar.
Now I will say up front as a bit of a disclaimer that they are running
several of my features, which is mighty cool of them,
but having spent the last half-hour or so cruising around reading some of the other features and watching the videos on
ski legend Scot Schmidt and
photographer Ace Kvale
(QuickTime), I will say without hesitation that this is one of the best adventure sports sites I’ve seen in a
while. They are brand new, so there are some wrinkles, but when they get jamming, I am betting that they will be
big time. We’ll be following them more for sure.
If you get a chance check them out. And post comments on what you think.
Ben Moon is an adventure/travel photographer who lives in Oregon
(why does it seem there are so many adventure travel photographers living in the Northwest?). His
stuff is all about color, the pictures are vivid and clear and expertly
composed. This photo is just one of numerous beautiful pictures that you can see on his
Web site. He shoots lots of outdoor sports including surfing, paddling and
climbing.
Here’s another hard-core expedition for fans of, well, hard-core expeditions. It is also one of those trips you can
talk about in a bar conversation about when people say that everything has already been done.
Niklas Norman, Trygve Nakling and Carl Gustav Rye Florence
have embarked on a plan to ski-sail 1,553 miles across Greenland from south to north. Using only wind power, the goal
is to make the trip in less than 30 days. How will they cover so much ground in so short a time? Amazingly, the winds
are so fierce in this part of the world, that they will often his speeds in excess of 60 mph.
Dealing with gnarly white-outs and gaping crevasses, the team is currently into the trip, and they are
posting dispatches from their site.
Greenland, you might recall, is massive. It is about 7 times the size of Norway, and over 80 percent if the island is
covered by a giant ice-cap. Most expeditions traverse the island across, but the “Windpower Expedition” will do a full
length crossing.