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.
A New Route in Greenland’s Fox Jaw Cirque: In August 2024, Italian climbers Daniele Bonzi, Francesco Fumagalli, and Thomas Triboli ventured to Greenland’s Fox Jaw Cirque. There they made the first traverse of Baby Molar, Molar, and Incisor peaks, naming the 1,000m route Trident VI Orobica. Days later, they made the first ascent of a new 600m route on the south face of Cavity Ridge.
The Birth of Surfing in China: In 1985, a team from Surfer magazine, including Paul Holmes and Matt Warshaw, worked with Chinese officials to get surfing recognized as a national sport. Around the same time, Aussie surf legend Peter Drouyn started training young Chinese surfers to compete on the world stage. Despite these early efforts, it took years for surfing to take off in China.
A polar bear. Photo: Melissa Schafer
Understanding polar bears
The Dance of Giants: For eight years, Melissa Schafer and her partner worked in the Arctic, photographing polar bears. The cabin they live in shows signs of the bears’ many attempts to break in, and at first, Schafer was worried. But her first sighting, just a few hundred meters from the cabin, was of a mother with two tiny cubs. “The fear and dread of the cabin are gone now,” she said.
Pacific Crest Trail Border Ban: The Canada Border Services Agency has announced they will no longer permit Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) hikers to cross into Canada at the trail’s northern terminus. Northbound thru-hikers will have to turn around when they reach the Northern Terminus and backtrack almost 50km. The Pacific Crest Trail Association expressed disappointment but acknowledged the policy follows similar U.S. regulations.
An Inca bridge. Photo: Shutterstock
Rewoven every year
The Last Inca Bridge Master: Five centuries after the collapse of the Inca Empire, one bridge from their intricate road system remains. Every year, the suspended rope bridge above the Apurimac River is rewoven by 1,100 people from four communities.
How the Capybara Won My Heart: Seeing a capybara became an obsession for writer Gary Shteyngart. After seeing the giant rodents in a Tokyo café (yes, not a typo), he traveled across three continents to observe these lovable creatures in the wild.
Capybaras. Photo: Shutterstock
Hikers rescued in Scotland
Rescue Team Saves Hikers Who Refused Help: Two hikers in Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park had to be rescued after struggling in freezing conditions. Just hours earlier, they had refused help from a mountain rescue team and ignored their advice.
Initially, the hikers contacted the rescue team after becoming disoriented in the cold. On learning the rescue would take a few hours, they rejected the offer of help and said they would wild camp. The next day, the duo called for rescue after becoming lost on the trail.
Is Darth Grader the Answer to More Consistent Grading?: Grading a climb is not simple. Everyone has a different experience, every area has different standards. To combat inconsistencies, a group of French climbers have created Darth Grader. It’s a free, interactive tool that helps break down a route into individual sections — such as cruxes, endurance sequences, and rests — and assigns grades to each section. The platform then calculates an overall difficulty rating.
