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.
These Brothers Made 14,000′ Speed Records A Thing: In 1974, brothers Tyle, Flint, Cody, and Quade Smith, along with their father, embarked on a legendary challenge. Dubbed the Climbing Smiths, they summited all 67 peaks above 14,000 feet in the contiguous United States in just 48 days. Driving more than 6,000km, hiking 800km, and climbing 65,000 vertical meters, they cut 21 days off the previous record.
Adventure Is Being Planned Out of Existence: Kevin Callan argues that the romance of spontaneous travel is vanishing as reservation systems take over. Pitching your tent wherever you stop paddling or walking is increasingly tricky. Now, adventures are constrained by site-specific bookings that you often need to make months in advance. The changes were made to help manage crowds and protect nature, but Callan thinks it also erodes some of the fun of exploration, and might push paddlers into dangerous choices just to reach a prepaid campsite.
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupts in 2010 in South Iceland. Photo: Shutterstock
Too many tourists
Iceland Asks If It’s Had Enough of Mass Tourism: In 2010, when Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted for the first time in 187 years, flights across Europe came to a grinding halt for eight days. Images of Iceland’s spectacular landscapes circulated on global news channels. Suddenly, tourism boomed; in 2024, over two million people visited. But the downsides are obvious: overcrowded attractions, a strain on the environment, and communities pushed to their limits by tourism’s relentless growth.
Two Climbers Died on Mt. Shasta’s Easiest Route: There have been two recent deaths on Mt. Shasta’s “easiest” route in California. Rangers often suggest the Clear Creek route during the late season. In good weather, and with the volcano largely free of snow, it is a non-technical hike.
However, on September 12, a group accidentally veered off route and attempted a hazardous glissade without crampons or ice axes. One member lost his footing and slid uncontrollably down the slope. Rescue services found his body the next day. Last month, bad weather disoriented another team. One of the men lost the group and, suffering from altitude sickness, could not explain to his partner where he was before losing cell service.
The location of Matias Travizano’s body after his 600m slide. Photo: Mt. Shasta Climbing Rangers
Stranded at sea
I Took A Job And Was Stranded At Sea For Six Months: On New Year’s Eve 2019, Giulia Baccosi took up a last-minute role as a cook aboard the Avontuur, a century-old cargo ship. What was meant to be a three-month journey turned into six months stranded on the ship as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down ports around the world. Authorities would not let the 16-man crew off the ship, and for Baccosi, it became increasingly hard to feed everyone.
Coasteering, The Wildest Way to Explore The Coast: Coasteering is a wild and immersive way to explore rocky coastlines, combining scrambling, sea swimming, and cliff jumping. It originated in Wales and has grown in popularity across the UK as a way to see parts of the shore that are usually inaccessible by land. The same stretch of coast might offer sea caves and arches to swim through, tricky ledges to navigate, and nerve-testing leaps into the sea.
Coasteering. Photo: Kernow Coasteering
Matterhorn free climb
Marco Ghisio and Marco Sappa Win First Repeat and First Free Ascent of L’Amitié: On August 26, Italian climbers Marco Ghisio and Marco Sappa completed the first repeat and first free climb of L’Amitié, a 650m, 16-pitch route on the Matterhorn’s south face. François Cazzanelli, Francesco Ratti, and Marco Farina opened the line in 2021, but one of its hardest pitches had never been climbed without aid. Ghisio and Sappa climbed it freely at a difficulty of 8a/+.
