Outdoor Adventures

Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts

Friday, October 7, 2011

The Outdoor Adventure: Video: Climbing Kangchenjunga

At 8586 meters (28,169 ft) in height, Kangchenjunga is the third highest peak in the world, and yet it few people know about the challenges of climbing the mountain. While the mainstream audience and press focuses on Everest, and others keep an eye on K2 – "the mountaineer's mountain" – climbers on Kangchenjunga tend to toil in obscurity. The mountain offers a formidable challenge in its own right and has a bit of mystique about it in that no climbers have actually gone up to the true summit. That place is considered sacred, and out of respect to the mountain, the first ascenders, Joe Brown and George Band, stopped short of the top – a tradition that has continued to this day.

Filmmaker Philippe Gatta accompanied a team of French and Swiss climbers to the mountain this past spring, and has now released a fantastic video on the experience. You'll find it below, but get settled in, as it is nearly 15 minutes in length. Well worth watching however.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Outdoor Adventure: Video: First Ski Descent Of Denali

This past spring, mountaineer/skier Andreas Fransson made the first ski descent of Denali's South Face, an epic challenge that has been considered for some time, but hadn't been tried yet. A few days ago he released video of his climb and ski descent, which, at more than 13 minutes in length, offers an excellent look at what it takes to climb the highest mountain in North America, and then subsequently go back down in grand fashion.

Looking down that long, steep slope in the video makes me wonder why anyone would ever, under any circumstances, try this, but thats why its never been done before I suppose. The views are simply stunning however, and the landscapes surrounding Denali never cease to take my breath away.

Thanks to The Goat for sharing this great video.

First ski descent on Denali south face by Andreas Fransson from Bjarne Sahlen on Vimeo.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Outdoor Adventure: Video: Fun In Chamonix

How's this for a fun – not to mention busy– day. The video below was shot in Chamonix, France, which is considered one of the truly great outdoor playgrounds in Europe, if not the world. In the video, climber Colin Haley manages to not only hit the slopes for some skiing, but also some ice climbing, and later in the day bouldering. Yep, that's right, everything you see Colin doing in the video was all done on the same day. Maybe it'll give you some inspiration on what to do this weekend! Enjoy!

Colin Haley in Chamonix from Bjarne Sahlen on Vimeo.

The Outdoor Adventure: Video: Through The Khumbu Icefall

If you ask any climber on the South Side of Everest what the scariest part of the mountain is, most will invariably say that it is the Khumbu Icefall. Ironically enough, this portion of the climb is actually located at relatively low altitude, sitting just above Base Camp. The Icefall is created by the Khumbu Glacier, which begins breaking apart on this section of the mountain. The result, is rather large crevasses that must be negotiated by the climbers in their way up to Camp 1. In order to cross those open areas, a team of Sherpas, known as the Khumbu Ice Doctors, build and continually maintain, a route through the falls using a series of ladders to cross.

So, just how scary is this section of the climb? Check out the video below to get an idea. I've seen these videos, and even the Icefall, for myself, and it never gets any easier to look at.

Thanks to The Goat for the heads-up on this one!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Outdoor Adventure: Video: 2011 Put Foot Rally!

Way back in March I told you about the Put Foot Rally, a driving adventure that sent teams on a 17-day, 7000km (4350 mile) journey through seven countries in Africa. The rally was designed to not only operate as a fundraiser for the Bobs For Good Foundation, an organization that delivers new shoes to underprivileged children, but also demonstrate that Africa is a safe and wondrous place to travel.

The inaugural Put Foot took place between June 21st and July 7 of this year, and was a huge success. So much so, that registration is already open for 2012, which will run from June 20-July 6. To get a taste of what the event is all about, check out the video below. It is 15 minutes in length, but not only captures the spirit of the rally, and the people who took part, but also plenty of beautiful scenes from the countries they visited along the way.

This looks simply amazing. Its no secret that I love Africa, and the Put Foot Rally looks like a fantastic way to see the continent and have a lot of fun doing it.

Put Foot Rally 2011 from D4 Productions on Vimeo.

The Outdoor Adventure: Video: Jeb Corliss Flies Wingsuit Through A Cave

This past weekend, BASE jumper Jeb Corliss was in China where he leapt from a hovering helicopter then used his wingsuit to successfully navigate his way through a large cave, and then eventually land safely on the other side. When I first heard about this last week, I wondered about the logistics of the flight, which you can examine for yourself in the video below. The cave was bigger than I expected, but this was still a pretty crazy stunt.

My guess is now we'll see people in wingsuits trying to thread the needle through increasingly smaller caves, as they attempt to one up each other. Crazy stuff.

Monday, October 3, 2011

The Outdoor Adventure: Battle of the Paddle California Results

As I've mentioned before, stand-up paddling continues to grow in popularity, with more and more outdoor enthusiasts joining in on the action all the time. The sport has grown to the point that there are now major SUP competitions taking place on a regular basis, with one of the bigger ones, the Battle of the Paddle, taking place in California this past weekend.

The event is a race in which the stand-up paddlers take to the water, catch a bit of surf, and use their paddles to power their way through a simple course which includes making some turns around floating buoys. There were a couple of qualifying heats before the real competition got underway, and in the end it came down to a neck and neck fight between a trio of top competitors, with 17-year old Conner Baxter of Hawaii claiming the victory in the men's division. For the ladies, it was Candice Appleby who crossed the finish line first, putting a considerable distance between herself and her closest competitors.

SUP Connect, a website dedicated to stand-up paddling, has more details on the event, which you can read by clicking here. The video below also gives good insights into the race and the men and women who competed in it.

I have yet to give SUP a try, although I see people doing it on a regular basis here in Austin. Anyone tried it yet? Are you a convert?

Sunday, October 2, 2011

The Outdoor Adventure: Kayaking Video: Rider of the Year

We seem to have a bit of an aquatic theme going today, but the kayakers amongst us will be happy to see this one. Below is a video of the winners of "Rider of the Year" awards courtesy of Tribe, a company that specializes in making active clothing for whitewater kayakers. For the second year in a row, they've handed out awards to their picks for the top paddlers around in categories such as "Best Male," "Best Female," and the always popular "Best Drop."

The video below highlights those winners in grand fashion and I thought it was fitting to include it amongst the stories on stand-up paddling today, just in case we forgot what traditional paddling looked liked.

Rider of the Year II Awards Video from Tribe Rider on Vimeo.

The Outdoor Adventure: Nat Geo Adventure Interviews Kayaker Jesse Coombs

National Geographic has posted an interview with kayaker Jesse Combs on their Adventure Blog today, in which he talks about making huge drops off waterfalls, such as 96-foot Abiqua Falls, which he went over in April. The video for that drop has recently shown up on websites once again, despite the fact that we featured it here on the Adventure Blog just days after it happened.

In the interview, Jesse talks about what the experiencing of making a big drop like Abiqua from the moment he gets into his kayak to the moment he breaks the surface after the drop. He also touches on the dangers of running these big falls and the injuries they can bring on, his dream kayak trip, and the best paddling adventure he's ever been on.

The interview is a good one and offers some insights into the world of paddling these big falls. The current record for a big drop is 186-feet, but Coombs says he believes someone will try to break that record soon.

And it case you missed it the first time, here is the video of Jesse going over Abiqua Falls in April.