When we’re not outdoors, we get our adventure fix by exploring social media and the web. To nourish your adventure fix, here are some of the best adventure links we’ve discovered this week.
Seven Nights, Eight Days At Sea: At the end of July, Brendon Prince spent over a week on his SUP. He paddled, ate, and slept on the board without touching land. Unlike some other SUP challenges, he did not use some wildly modified board. It was a normal board that carried everything he needed.
The Creepiest Unsolved Mysteries in U.S. National Parks: America’s national parks average some 330 deaths a year. Most casualties are well understood, but some end mysteriously. From a severed hand in Yosemite to the newlyweds who disappeared without a trace in the Grand Canyon, here is a list of some of the most peculiar unsolved puzzles in those parks over the years.
A Canoe Conversation with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: A journalist talks to Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about his love of canoeing. He started paddling with his father — also known for his paddling — at a young age. The younger Trudeau speaks of canoe legend Bill Mason and some of his favorite paddling spots in Canada.
Justin Trudeau. Photo: Adam Scotti/Prime Minister’s Office
Motorcycle lady
Riding a Motorbike Across Australia: At age 60, Joanna Barthorpe told her family that she was learning to ride a motorbike. They were not keen, considering it too dangerous. Barthorpe continued anyway. Soon, she signed up to be part of an all-women, motorbiking relay around the world. She did the French leg. Then in 2018, she crashed, broke her pelvis, and had to learn to walk again. But she still wanted to continue taking part in the relay, and there was a gap — the section across Australia.
The World’s Longest Unsupported Swim: Sweden’s Jari Cennet Tammi may have completed the world’s longest unsupported swim. He swam 500km across the Baltic Sea from Stockholm to Helsinki. For 42 days, he pulled a kayak carrying all of his food and equipment. He made a first attempt in the summer of 2022 but had to give up because of the wind. This June, he tried again and succeeded.
Alaska Requiem: The late David Roberts’ love of climbing in Alaska started in 1963. With six others from the Harvard Mountaineering Club, he climbed the Wickersham Wall. Two years later, he and Ed Bernd took on Mount Huntington. On their 32nd day, they made the summit. Twenty-four hours later, Bend was dead. Roberts reflects on his life of climbing, the death of his friend, and whether the risk is worth it.
The Fastest Known Time on Colorado’s 14ers is a DNF: At the end of July, Erin Ton set out to summit all of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, unassisted and in record time. She summited 57 peaks in 14 days and 10 hours, a new overall FKT. She was also the first woman to complete the challenge. Or did she? She deliberately didn’t do the 58th peak, which is on private property. Hiking communities are now calling her out for a false FKT.
Sonia and George Livanos.
A female climbing legend
99 Pounds of Rock-Climbing Dynamite: Sonia Livanos did not seem like a climbing hero. She weighed 99 pounds, stood four feet and 11 inches, and described herself as a “weekend climber.” Yet in the 1950s and 1960s, she and her husband completed a staggering number of highly difficult climbs. Every weekend, they caught the train to the Calanques, a rock-climb mecca in southern France. They racked up 500 firsts and 1,660 climbs overall. They also pioneered 40 new routes in the Dolomites. But numbers weren’t important to them. They climbed purely for the love of it.
