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.
Paddling Minnesota’s ‘ancient superhighway’: The 400km Border Route in Minnesota offers solitude, wildlife, and thousands of years of human history. As climate change increases the likelihood of the northern Minnesota forests going up in smoke, the Border Route is becoming an increasingly coveted journey.
Cliff Diver: Blake Aldridge: “You feel like superman. No matter what insecurities you have, it makes you fulfilled for that short space of time.” Former Olympian Blake Aldridge on forging a career jumping off big cliffs.
The Man Who Talks to Sperm Whales: James Nestor reports on the unique characteristics of the sperm whale. With a free diving crew, he discovers how close we are to communicating with the world’s largest predator.
Law and order in the outdoors
Ski bum turned bomber Jim Blanning. Photo: Outside
Last Resort: For almost 70 years, former ski patroller and local legend Jim Blanning rode Aspen’s evolution from broken mining outpost to chic mountain playground. But when his hometown spit him out, he responded with vengeance. And bombs.
A Message In Blood: There was evidence, but no investigation. A crime, but no suspects. Rumors, but no one willing to point the finger. When gunmen massacred up to 20 brown bears near a Canadian grizzly researcher’s Kamchatka cabin, the warning was clear. On the lawless frontier of the New Russia, outsiders are unwelcome.
Photo: Drew Malcolm/Race to Alaska
Surviving the Race to Alaska: The Race to Alaska challenges seafarers who want to travel under only wind or human power from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska. This motor-free ocean race — with vessels ranging from paddleboards to pedal-assist sailboats — is less about how fast you can go and more about whether you get there at all.
Canada’s Unsung Expedition: Over a century after the start of the controversial expedition that strengthened claims to Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, the first-ever Canadian Arctic Expedition remains a largely unknown part of the country’s history.
What lies beneath
The Hunt for Answers Beneath Antarctica’s Ice: Much of Antarctica is below thousands of metres of ice, much of it millions of years old. Drilling deeply into this ice could unlock the hidden environments beneath, providing answers to big questions about the past, the future –- and even life on other planets.
Why Cave Exploration Matters: Caves exist around the world, but few people appreciate their value to humanity. Karst, created by the dissolution of bedrock, is even less understood. Karst landscapes comprise up to 20 percent of the world’s surface but are mostly hidden from view in the form of underground drainage networks. The year 2022 marks the International Year of Caves and Karst. Here’s why we should care about the hidden worlds beneath our feet.
Historical badass
Eric Shipton’s Style and Whims Shaped Mountaineering History: In 1931, no one had climbed higher than Eric Shipton, a British coffee planter who cut his climbing teeth in Africa and made first ascents in the Indian Himalaya. Shipton introduced Tenzing Norgay to the climbing game, gave a young Ed Hillary his start in Himalayan mountaineering, and is largely responsible for propagating the myth of the Yeti. But Eric Shipton’s most enduring contribution to alpinism is style.
