ExWeb’s Adventure Links of the Week

Here at ExWeb, when we’re not outdoors, we get our adventure fix by exploring social media and the wider interweb. Sometimes we’re a little too plugged in, and browsing interesting stories turn from minutes into hours. To nourish your own adventure fix, here are some of the best adventure links we’ve discovered this week.

“I Write for Katie”: How Katie Ives Climbs Mountains at ‘Alpinist’: A respected figure in modern climbing literature, Katie Ives is known for her intense work ethic. In her first book, she explores how the physical and fantastical aspects of big peaks have, for centuries, inspired human dreams.

Drone saviors

Why Drones Are the Future of Outdoor Search and Rescue: If you get lost or injured in the woods these days, aid might come from above. Small-propeller drones are revolutionizing search and rescue and saving lives.

The Intrepid Mother and Son Who Unravelled the Moose Boulder Hoax: It was 3 a.m. on a nearly deserted island, and two hikers were badly lost. Roger Dickey and his mother, Ellie Talburtt, had been exploring Michigan’s Isle Royale, the least-visited national park in the United States. They were trying to recover the trail in the island’s murky and bewildering woods. This was not what they had had in mind for a mother-son getaway, no matter how good a story it would make if things turned out okay.

Meet Boruneesan – Japan’s Climbing Wall Mascot: As the excitement of climbing’s Olympic debut subsides, one quirky rectangular representative of the sport works to boost participation at indoor walls in Japan and worldwide.

Swapping A Routine Life For The Ride Of A Lifetime: What’s the first thing you’d do after learning to ride a motorbike? For Lisa Morris, it was a 130,000km, four-and-a-half-year road trip with her partner Jason across the Americas.

Cairn in northern Labrador. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko

 

Cairns: Love them or loathe them?

Sex, Severed Heads, And 5 Other Things You Don’t Know About Cairns: Cairns are piles of rocks that show travelers the way, something that’s only exciting when you’re lost and it’s getting dark, right? Wrong. David B. Williams’ book, Cairns, uncovers the history of cairns throughout the world. It also tells plenty of colorful stories beyond their use as trail markers. Adventure Journal asked him for seven of his favorites.

‘It is treated as a commodity to be conquered’: Can mountain tourism ever be truly sustainable? Fragile mountain environments often suffer damage during the crowded race for the summit. Slow tourism offers a better way.

The Farthest Shore: In February 2019, outdoor writer Alex Roddie left his online life behind to walk 500km through the Scottish Highlands. In leaving the internet behind for a month, he hoped to learn how it was affecting him –- or if he should look elsewhere for the causes of his anxiety.

The Earth Beneath My Feet: British hiker Andrew Terrill’s near-fatal fall in the Alps leads him to dream up an 11,000km walk from the very toe of Italy to the far north of Norway.

Biden’s Proclamations: President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week restoring Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments after former President Donald Trump rescinded the original designations in 2017.