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.
Above All Else: In 2025, after years of high-altitude jumps elsewhere, Tim Howell and his team identified a point high on Lhotse’s South Face that might finally make an 8,000m wingsuit flight possible. We wrote recently about how a freak incident with a snake ended Howell’s bid this year. But here, Howell himself writes about his 2025 attempt.
After days of waiting for a weather window, the team headed toward the proposed exit point, and two team members went ahead to set a rope for the last 100m. Jon Gupta threw a rock from the exit point and counted 11 seconds before it hit the glacier below, confirming that the jump was possible. Then, as Howell waited below, clouds and high winds rolled in, forcing the team to retreat just short of their goal.
The return of gold fever
How Americans Caught Gold Fever Again: Americans have again been struck with gold fever. With the price of gold soaring to record highs, many are heading back into abandoned gold mines and the areas around them with gold pans and metal detectors, hoping to strike it rich.
This revival of an old obsession has its own podcasts, newsletters, and TV shows, which are achieving unprecedented popularity. In California, hobby prospectors spend their weekends waist-deep in rivers, searching for tiny flakes and nuggets. Influencers livestream their finds to huge online audiences.
Here, Jennifer Wilson travels through historic boom towns, speaking to experts and hobbyists about the new craze and how modern gold fever mixes nostalgia and survivalism.
Photo: David Priddis
Back to Nordkapp: Fifty years after the original Nordkapp expedition shaped modern sea kayaking, British paddler David Priddis and two friends returned to Norway’s far north to retrace part of the route in vintage Nordkapp kayaks.
Covering 371km from Alta to Lakselv, they camped along the coast and dealt with the same brutal conditions that challenged the original 1975 expedition. Here, they answer questions about the challenging winds, the Nordkapps they used, and how to plan such an expedition.
Fair use or defamation?
He Thinks Netflix Accused Him of Murder: Audrey Mestre died in 2002 while attempting a freediving world record. More than two decades later, the tragedy is back in the spotlight because of a Netflix film. The movie revolves around a fictional couple, Roxana Aubrey and Pascal Gautier.
Gautier is a free diving legend who can no longer compete. Aubrey, his wife, is set to break his record when she drowns in the attempt. The film suggests Gautier is to blame for the tragedy.
To many in the freediving world, the story closely resembles that of Audrey Mestre and her husband Francisco Ferreras, leading Ferreras to sue for defamation. Chris Pomorski tries to untangle the original accident, the disagreements over what actually went wrong during the dive, and the legal fight over the film.
On Cima Rocca. Photo: Luca Dallavalle
Cima Rocca West Couloir Skied by Dallavalle Brothers: Italian ski mountaineers Luca and Roberto Dallavalle have completed what is believed to be the first ski descent of the west couloir on Cima Rocca in the Brenta Dolomites. The brothers had noted the couloir multiple times, so on April 4, when conditions were good, they decided to see if skiing it was possible.
Close call
A Dramatic Leader Fall That Turned Out Well: Eric Chaudhary and his partner were climbing Marijuana (5.10b) in Red Rock Canyon. As his partner led the second pitch, Chaudhary saw him fall. As he fell, a piece of the roof ripped out, sending him plummeting six feet. His foot caught in the rope, flipping him upside down so that his head slammed into the wall.
Chaudhary managed to lower him onto a small ledge, called for help with patchy phone reception, then improvised a way to pull him back to the anchor before rappelling them both off the route using twin ropes.
Photo: Kamryn Renae
The PCT Hiker Paying for Her Trip with OnlyFans: Earlier this year, novice hiker Kamryn Renae set out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Two months in, she is still reveling in the thru-hike, all the while clad in Barbie pink gear and maintaining a solid skincare routine.
She is documenting much of her journey on social media and supporting herself through OnlyFans. All of this has put her right in the middle of an argument about who gets to belong in outdoor culture. As her followers grow, so has the backlash. Critics accuse her of turning the trail into content. Her supporters say she is simply proving you can be girly and enjoy hiking.
The fickle desert
I Thought I Understood How Canyons Flooded: While backpacking through Canyonlands National Park with his six-year-old son, Adam Roy made the mistake of cooking dinner inside a dry arroyo during a rainstorm. Minutes later, water suddenly began snaking towards them, quickly turning the dry patch into a fast-moving creek.
As the water came in, Roy grabbed his son and scrambled up the small hill to their camp. What struck him most was not the size of the flood but its speed. Having spent years in desert environments, he thought he understood flash floods, but seeing the canyon floor change in a matter of minutes gave him a completely different appreciation for how dangerous canyon country can be.
