When we’re not outdoors, we get our adventure fix by exploring social media and the web. Sometimes we’re a little too plugged in and browsing adventure reads can turn from minutes to hours. To nourish your adventure fix, here are some of the best adventure links we’ve discovered this week.
Life Affirming Discoveries Near Death Road: Sami Sauri speaks about cycling the gravel tracks of the Yungas, near La Paz in Bolivia. At 3,650m, Las Paz is the highest capital city in the world. Sauri spent weeks training for the altitude so that she was ready for the gravel tracks over 4,000m.
Sauri talks of the beauty of the areas she cycled through, the freedom she feels on her bike, and the people she met on her journey.
Dark Waters: The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is one of the most famous sailing challenges in the world. Amateurs pay to partake in one or more legs of the race. Simon Spears had dreamed of the race for decades. He was part of a 2017-18 crew.
During that race, Spears was on the foredeck when a huge wave knocked him over the side and dragged along in the Southern Ocean. The crew tried desperately to pull him back in. The clip on his harness snapped. When they reached him 32 minutes later, he was dead. This is one of many incidents calling into question the safety of the race.
Photo: Clipper Round the World Yacht Race/Facebook
Not an easy pet
To Tame a Polar Bear: Roald Amunsden first reached the South Pole and traversed the Northwest Passage, but many are unaware he also sailed the Northeast Passage. Even fewer know that during this voyage, he tried to tame a polar bear. He bought the cub, which he called Marie, from a trader. Amundsen hoped to tame her so that she could pull a sled. Throughout his expedition diary, there are snippets that detail his efforts to train the little bear.
New Film on Dawn Wall: Darkest Before Dawn is a beautiful new film that peeks behind the curtain of Siebe Vanhee’s first season on the Dawn Wall. The toughest wall in Yosemite challenges Vanhee in many ways. More than just a documentary about climbing, it captures all of the emotions that come with attempting such a difficult line.
Interview with Anna Wild: At the beginning of May, Anna Wild became the first woman to climb the Steve McClure route on The Great Escape in Malham Cove, UK. She didn’t arrive with the intention of climbing it, it happened to be the climb without a queue. Three sessions later, she was at the top of the wall and had completed her hardest climb yet.
Getting intimate with the Atacama
What Survives in the Atacama Desert: Maggie Shepard spent 10 days driving through one of the driest places on Earth. Starting south of the Peruvian border in Arica, she drove 2,412km across the Atacama Desert to Calama in northern Chile.
She drives through abandoned ghost towns and she witnesses plants, animals, and people clinging to life in this harsh place. Throughout, there is a constant: the dryness and the remains of the dead. So dry that decay does not occur as it would anywhere else.
The Atacama Desert. Photo: Shutterstock
Michele Caminati tiptoes up Toewalker: Michele Caminati reports on his first ascent of Toewalker in South Tyrol, Italy. He first climbed the Skinwalker route and then turned his attention to Toewalker. Though Toewalker seemed easier, a blind, frictionless corner stymied him and partner Florian Riegler at first. After days trying, Riegler decided to try a different climb. Caminati continued solo.
Inside Denmark’s Secret Nuclear Bunker: In the Jutland’s Rold Forest, a huge atomic bunker has opened to the public. The top-secret bunker was built in the 1960s during the Cold War and was only declassified in 2012. It was built for the Danish government and for the royals, in case of nuclear war. Adrienne Nielsen visited the bunker earlier this year. “Entering the tunnel, I felt as though I was stepping into a secret parallel universe,” she said.
