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 links we’ve discovered this week.
Hilaree Nelson: The Peaks of Good and Evil: In 2013, extreme skier and climber Hilaree Nelson and an all-star cast of adventurers set forth on a nearly impossible expedition. Through unbelievable conditions and ludicrous laws, this was an adventure threatened from the start.
A Free Soloist Remembers His Yosemite Free Fall: In April, Josh Ourada, a 31-year-old climber from the San Francisco Bay Area, fell while free-soloing the Nutcracker. This straightforward, five-pitch route in Yosemite he had climbed — both roped and free solo — before. He confidently sent the first three pitches, but on the fourth, he slipped, falling nearly 60m to a rock ledge. He was gravely injured but survived.
A Unique Job On England’s Most Dangerous Peak: Head to one of the UK’s busiest national parks and you’ll find one of the country’s most unusual occupations. Every winter day, a Fell Top Assessor hikes one of the Lake District’s finest mountains to assess the weather.
The Most Hazardous Sport In Olympic History: While sport climbing is new, the Olympics actually have an intriguing history with mountaineering. The Games actually recognized alpinism, or alpine climbing, as an official Olympic sport way back in 1894.
An eye on vanishing cultures
Indigenous people of the Omo valley, Ethiopia. Photo: Jimmy Nelson
Jimmy Nelson: Escape Artist: Travel photographer Jimmy Nelson inspires future generations to honor indigenous tribes who live in the planet’s furthest extremes. Nelson’s lens is a small window into those small, unique cultures which could disappear tomorrow if our globalized society continues in its failure to appreciate them.
How Lockdown — And Birding — Changed The Way I Hike: Before the lockdowns, Andy Wasley was a goal-orientated hiker, whose sole focus was often getting from A to B. But the pandemic — and the new habits it created — has made him slow down. Just enough to smell the birds, hear the birds, and even identify them.
A New Road To An Inaccessible Land: Once an isolated region barely touched by the hands of time, Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor stands on the brink of great change. Soon, a new road will link it with China. The 350km-long corridor, in the region of Badakhshan, sits at the convergence of three of the world’s major mountain ranges: the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram, and the Pamirs.
Searching for Ghosts on Ellesmere Island: Our editor, Jerry Kobalenko, is Canada’s most experienced High Arctic traveler. In this podcast, Kobalenko talks to travel writer Ryan Murdock about the lure of Ellesmere Island, High Arctic travel, and searching for traces of the old explorers.
