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.
Salbitschijen Winter Trilogy Completed: On February 16, Lukas Hinterberger and Michael Wohlleben completed the first known winter ascent of the Salbitschijen Trilogy.
The pair chained together the Salbit West Ridge, South Ridge, and East Ridge in Switzerland. Hinterberger had completed the trilogy before, but not in winter. Wohlleben spoke to Planet Mountain about the experience.
The Most Ridiculous Mountain Records: For some climbers, breaking a record is the sole purpose of their climb. Whilst some are impressive, others are just plain bizarre. Climbing Magazine has trawled through over 1,200 mountain records and created a list of the most ridiculous for your enjoyment.
One of History’s Most Daring Pilots: Amy Johnson earned her pilot’s license in 1929, six months later she was the first woman to receive a Ground Engineer’s C license. She wanted to prove that women were as capable as men.
Johnson was the first woman to fly from England to Australia, capturing the public imagination and even receiving a telegram from the King. Yet Johnson was more concerned that she’d missed the speed record by four days.
She went on to set many speed records before her last flight in 1941. During the flight, fog threw her off course and she became disorientated. Her parachute and plane were later found in the Thames Estuary.
Amy Johnson. Photo: Adventure Journal
Adding life to your days
Riders Resilience: When doctors diagnosed Nils Amelinckx with stage four bowel cancer his days mountain biking through the Lake District came to an abrupt halt. He simply did not have the headspace for it. Now, with no cure, he wants to add life to his days.
Mountain biking lets him focus his mind and temporarily forget about treatments and doctor appointments. The bike has helped him regain resilience, and more importantly, happiness.
Two Hikers Found Dead in Utah Canyon: On May 21, a group of hikers phoned the Kane County Search and Rescue team. They had found a dead body in Paria Canyon. That same day, the families of two men reported them missing.
The two men had gone hiking and had not been heard from since Saturday. The body was subsequently identified as one of the men. The rescue team headed back into the Canyon to find the second man and, after a long search, they found his body. Evidence suggests a flash flood drowned them.
The Accidental Long Distance Swimmer: As lockdown restrictions eased, Dave Berry was thrilled to start swimming in the sea again. He found a love of open water swimming in his 40s.
Fast forward a few years and Berry’s hobby saw him swim in the sea 404 days in a row. He has completed a relay swim of the North Channel, and solo crossings of the three Kish Lighthouse swims, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, Galway Bay, and the Fastnet lighthouse swim.
Dave Berry. Photo: Outdoor Swimming Society/Niall Mehann Sea Studio
The good, the bad, and the ugly
Life on Skye: The Cuillin mountains on the Isle of Skye had always been a place of refuge for Adrian Trendall. He had been there in all seasons and spent months camping there. In 2017, he and his wife saw an advert to run a B&B on Skye. They decided to take a leap of faith and move there.
Years on, their life has changed dramatically. They love their life but admit the remote village in Skye is not always the easiest place to live. “We’d divide the good, bad, and ugly, 95%, 4%, and 1%…life here requires patience and tolerance, not just with the climate but also with visitors.”
27,000 Trails Maps Released: Most hikers have found themselves in a situation where they need to change plans on the fly. But many hiking areas are remote and phone signal is almost non-existent. In the US, search and rescue missions were up 32% last year.
With that in mind, the app makers behind ‘HiiKER’ have released all 27,000 of their trail maps offline for free. They hope that making them available will improve safety and help those hitting the trails feel more confident, even without phone signal.
