When we’re not outdoors, we get our adventure fix by exploring social media and the web. Here are some of the best adventure links we’ve discovered this week.
Protectors of Aqviqtuuq: Aqviqtuuq, also known as the Boothia Peninsula, is the northernmost part of mainland Canada. (There are lots of arctic islands beyond that.) The Inuit communities there rely on the caribou, polar bears, arctic char, and bowhead whales to sustain them.
But this ancient ecosystem is under threat from several proposed mines. In response, locals want to create a 90,000-square-kilometer protected area, patrolled by Inuit guardians.
Trekking Across Switzerland, Guided by Hand-Drawn Maps: Ben Buckland gave himself 12 days to walk across Switzerland. Starting in Lake Geneva, he planned to walk to Lake Constance without a pre-planned route or a phone.
Buckland wanted to rely on hand-drawn maps from locals he met along the way. Each morning, he would ask someone to sketch a map for him to follow.
The hand-drawn map for days 11 and 12 of Buckland’s trip. Photo: Ben Buckland/New York Times
Trekking with an influencer
Don’t Forget to Like and Follow: A few years ago, you might have booked a hiking guide online through a company. Now, booking sites will help you join a travel influencer on a fangroup hike.
Rachel Levin joined an influencer-led trip to Yosemite and was pleasantly surprised.
The Swimming Mountain: Eryri in North Wales features waterfalls, lakes, and rivers perfect for wild swimming. Hollie Harmsworth had been exploring them for seven years and assumed she knew most of the swimming spots. Then she picked up Wild Swimming Walks Eryri/Snowdonia and was thrilled to find hidden pools and new routes.
Photo: Hollie Harmsworth
A body emerges after 22 years in Peru
Body of American Climber Found After 22 Years: Bill Stampfl set out for Peru with three friends to climb Huascaran. An avalanche killed the three climbers, but rescue services only found one body. Last month, 22 years after the avalanche, a passerby found Stampfl’s body.
Ice melt exposed the remains. Stampfls wedding ring was still on his finger. His sunglasses and camera were still in his hip pouch with his driver’s license. Mountain guides and police officers recovered the body and Stampfl, will be buried by his family back in the U.S.
Together: During a climbing trip to Pakistan, Fay Manners was asleep in her tent when the emergency satellite communicator woke her. Rummaging to find it, she knew the message must be important. It had never beeped before.
Checking the message, Manners’ world came crashing down. Her best friend had died. An avalanche caught Line van den Berg’s climbing group as they descended.
Fay Manners and Line van den Berg. Photo: Olly Bowman/Aleksandra Janiak/Austin Schmitz/Ben Neilson
Bear attacks in Romania prompt cull
Teenage Hiker Killed By Bear: Last week, a bear killed a 19-year-old hiker in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains. The girl’s boyfriend called emergency services during the event, as the situation unfolded. The bear chased the hikers before it grabbed the girl by the leg and dragged her away, eventually throwing her into the valley below.
Following the attack, the Romanian government has increased the annual bear cull quota to 481.
Must-Read Ascents of Great Trango Tower: The Great Trango Tower sits in the Baltoro Glacier region of the Karakoram. It has a rich climbing history of attempts on the 6,286m granite face.
Starting with its first successful summit in 1977, The American Alpine Club has pulled together a list of must-read ascents.
