Sherpa Climbs Everest 15th Time

by Erik Olsen on

Imagine summitting Everest fifteen times. I mean, for most of us, getting to basecamp would be a struggle, let alone
ever setting foot ONCE on the summit.

Well, it’s been done. And of course, it was done by a sherpa.
Sherpa Appa (or is that Appa Sherpa?), was leading a team of Western mountaineers and other Sherpa guides to the
29,035-foot peak.

According to numerous reports we’ve followed,
the weather on Everest has been pretty gnarly this year, but this week things got better and almost 50 climbers made it
to the top this last Monday.

(Thanks, Carl)

Norway’s Triangle Tour

by Adrienne Wilson on

CNN has a great
story running on Norway’s 100 years of independence from Sweden, how the
country is celebrating the event as well as what the curious
traveler can expect during these glorious days!  Indeed, it’s hard to even imagine the peaceful country of
Norway at odds with anyone, but history certainly reveals such and what better way to reflect upon those
times than festival going.  You can expect many throughout the month of June, but that’s only one leg of the
Triangle Tour.  If you’ve got the money to do it, the tours involves touring the capital city of Oslo, long
dazzling fjords and even  stops in the oil capital of Stavanger.  Yeah, that’s going to cost a pretty
penny, but having spent a summer in the ‘Land of Midnight Sun’ – priceless. 

International Surfing Day

by Erik Olsen on

You probably didn’t even know there was such a thing as
International Surfing Day. Well, there is,
and it is sponsored by (who else?) Surfer Magazine. This year ISD takes place on
June 21, the longest day of the year, which will giev you plenty of time to prepare and break out your stick for a
blissful day of wave riding. This unofficial, official surfers’ holiday was established “to promote and celebrate the
sport while bringing awareness to the state of our oceans and beaches.”  To some folks I know EVERY day is ISD,
but for most of us, this may be as good an excuse to get out that we have.

Just Globes

by Erik Olsen on

So I was googling around for a nice globe picture for my last entry (the one on the global filmmaking map…and I just
ended up using a grab from the map itself), but in the process, I came across this great site called
Just Globes. I am a HUGE map fan.
I’ve always had maps on my walls wherever I’ve lived, and at one point I even had a full wall-sized map of the world
that stretched like 12 feet across the wall. GREAT map (I wonder what ever happened to it?). Given that intense,
perhaps even odd, love of maps and globes and everything cartographic, I just thought this site was really cool. As you
can imagine, they have globes of all sizes and shapes…well, maybe just one shape, then it wouldn’t be a globe. And all
prices. Not to feed you ideas, but a
new globe could make a great
father’s day gift.

Risks in Global Filmmaking

by Erik Olsen on

Great site on what it takes to venture to
exotic locales to shoot your dream film. The
Global Filmmaking Map shows the
best and worst places to shoot your film. It’s a simple, but  comprehensive look at the state of the world. Not
surprisingly, would-be Spielbergs should stick to places like Canada, the US and Europe, and avoid shooting their next
masterpiece in, say, Sudan. Not gonna happen.