ExWeb’s Adventure Links of the Week

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.

Scotland’s Longest Highline: At 320m long, and suspended over a hundred metres above the valley between Sgairneach Mhòr and the Sow of Atholl, Scotland’s longest highline was almost as tricky to rig as to walk.

Six Children and a Sailboat: An interesting interview with a Swiss family that has spent 20 years at sea. Along the way, the Schworers befriended a sea lion and cycled into the Sahara.

Yemen, a troubled jewel

Yemen’s Ancient Caravan Kingdoms: “Yemen’s current war runs parallel to, and in some places directly over, the treasures of its past,” says writer Iona Craig. Its ancient kingdoms are the genesis of Arabian civilization. Craig explores how Yemen’s history is entwined with the fate of 30 million modern Yemenis.

A muddle of towering mudbrick buildings in Shibam, Yemen.

Yemen’s unique architecture. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

 

Peak Performance: British landscape photographer Colin Prior first visited the Karakoram almost 30 years ago, inspired by Galen Rowell’s photographs of the 1975 American expedition to K2. He sits down with Explorers Journal to discuss photography, exploration, and the changing Karakoram.

The Boiling River: A National Geographic explorer is studying a legendary river in Peru. At more than 93°C, the Boiling River runs for seven kilometres through the Peruvian rainforest.

Another cold case melts out

Missing for 32 Years: Climate change is toppling climbing huts and melting glaciers. Recently, the remains of a 27-year-old man emerged from a retreating glacier in Switzerland. The German mountaineer had gone missing in 1990.

The World Between the Pages: Alpinist magazine’s departing editor-in-chief ponders the fate of climbing publications and looks back on 10 years of mountains, words, and a changing world.

A team repairs trails. Photo: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian

 

Hiking Trails Don’t Make Themselves: A photo essay about the National Trust’s path team and a friendly reminder to stick to the trails. “Think about the facts, when you are out in the hills: there might be a thousand people following in your footsteps…The numbers have increased dramatically for years. Since COVID, they have exploded.”

Mountains of Grief: Since the 1950s, improvements in equipment, forecasting, and best practices in mountaineering have increased the margins for safety. But death has always been part of the game. So how do climbers, and the climbing community, deal with grief?

Martin Walsh

Martin Walsh is a writer and editor for ExplorersWeb.

Martin has been writing about adventure travel and exploration for over five years.

Martin spent most of the last 15 years backpacking the world on a shoestring budget. Whether it was hitchhiking through Syria, getting strangled in Kyrgyzstan, touring Cambodia’s medical facilities with an exceedingly painful giant venomous centipede bite, chewing khat in Ethiopia, or narrowly avoiding various toilet-related accidents in rural China, so far, Martin has just about survived his decision making.

Based in Da Lat, Vietnam, Martin can be found in the jungle trying to avoid leeches while chasing monkeys.