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.
The Last Lighthouse Keeper in America: Sally Snowman has lived on Little Brewster Island for almost 20 years. She is the keeper of the Boston lighthouse and the last official keeper in the United States. On Dec. 30, at the age of 72, she will retire.
Chasing Armenia: Evan Christenson and his girlfriend Bo set out to cycle from Milan to Armenia, across 13 countries. One of the hardest parts of their trip was their 500km detour into Georgia in order to get from Turkey to Armenia. The Turkey-Armenia border has been closed since the Nargorno-Karabakh War.
Cycling across Armenia. Photo: Sidetracked
Too dangerous to hike
Hikers Banned from Patagonia Glacier: The Chilean government has closed the Exploradores Glacier to hikers. It can only be accessed by boat, but many hikers come to walk across it.
New studies show that the glacier is dangerously unstable, with huge chunks regularly breaking off. Glacier guides have said the decision is both an economic and emotional blow.
Swimming the Chesapeake Channel: The Chesapeake Channel is a 20km body of water between Fisherman’s Island and Virginia Beach in the U.S. Inspired by the rules for swimming the English Channel, Robin Lang decided to create a set of rules for her local channel. She is just the second female swimmer to cross the channel in over 40 years.
Other than the first person to swim it, Iontha Rhodes in 1982, Lang could only find a few records of Navy Seals taking on the swim.
Robin Lang gets ready to swim the Chesapeake Channel. Photo: Outdoor Swimming Society
Chris Sharma’s Hardest Deep Water Solo: On Nov. 7, Chris Sharma completed the Black Pearl deep water line in Mallorca. He first encountered the route in 2018 when his mentor, Miguel Riera, was trying a line on the same wall. Riera died a year later and Sharma saw completing the line as a way to pay tribute to him. Since 2019, Sharma has tried each year to climb the Black Pearl before succeeding in 2023.
Japan’s Adrenaline-Fueled Adventure: Thousands of tourists descend on Kitayama, Japan every year. They’re there for ikada-kuduri, log racing down the river. This is the only place in Japan where the 600-year-old traditional rafting still takes place.
Rafts are made from whole tree trunks, and seven or eight trunks make up one section of the raft. In total, seven sections snake down the river. Fifteen experienced helmsmen still work on the river and four control each log raft as it makes its way down. The practice was initially used to transport logs.
Traditional log-rafting in Japan. Photo: Travel Japan
Rim to rim at 92
The Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim at 92: Alfredo Aliaga is the oldest person to complete the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike. It took him 21 hours over two days to complete the 39km hike. He previously completed the hike with his daughter in 2019 and 2022. Over the last year, he has been walking for three hours a day to up his fitness in preparation for the record attempt.
Pro Skier Disrupts Mountain Culture in Queer Ski Film: Lily Bradley is a genderqueer skier from California. They have been skiing since the age of two. This year, alongside Ryan Collins, they wanted to show the life of LGBTQ+ skiers in rural and remote places.
