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 turns from minutes into hours. To nourish your own adventure fix, here are some of the best links we’ve discovered this week…
No War in The Wakhan: Back in 2013, hiking through Afghanistan wasn’t high on the to-do lists of many travelers. But travel writer Tracey Croke set off for the country’s 300km-long Wakhan Corridor anyway, determined not to let the headlines convince her otherwise.
The Press Misreported Emily Harrington’s Record: After Emily Harrington’s free climb of Golden Gate on El Capitan, many news organizations muddled her achievement, calling her the first woman ever to accomplish the feat.
Bush Pilot Don Sheldon: Don Sheldon was a legend of Alaskan aviation, a man who started his own scrappy airline based in tiny Talkeetna.
The World’s Newest Long Distance Trail: The Pamir Mountains reach 7,500m, making them the third highest mountain range on earth, after the Himalaya and the Karakorum. Yet they are among the least visited ranges in the world, and Tajikistan doesn’t have the fame of other mountain nations like Nepal or Peru.
Hollywood Treatment: Selena Gomez has been cast as Peruvian climber Silvia Vásquez-Lavado in an upcoming film based on her memoir, In the Shadow of the Mountain, which is expected to be published in 2022. Vásquez-Lavado is the first Peruvian woman to climb Everest, and has completed the Seven Summits.
Desecration? The Grampians and Mt. Arapiles in Victoria, Australia have been partially closed to rock climbers after a groundswell of pressure from Indigenous groups.
100 Days Down South: In their series on Forgotten Adventures, Outdoor Journal profiles Rocky Contos’s solitary first descent blitz of some of Mexico’s most remote rivers 20 years ago.
