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.
From Fear of Water to Breath-holding Beneath the Ice: Lilly Ryzebol had been afraid of water since she almost drowned while on holiday at age three. Years later, she decided to face her fear and took up scuba diving. A year later, she wanted to go further and learned to free dive. This season, she and her husband went to Lake Huron’s Bruce Peninsula to free dive beneath the ice and explore shipwrecks, a single breath at a time.
A Climbing Hero of Ukraine: Alexandr Zakolodniy was a Ukrainian mountaineer and climber who lost his life last January while defending his country. He had always loved the mountains and became a Snow Leopard after his successes on 7,000m peaks in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. He also climbed in Crimea, the Caucasus, and Asia. When the Russians invaded in 2022, he took his family to safety, then returned to the front line.
The world’s seven hardest swims in one year
“The Toughest Swim of My Life”: Andy Donaldson has completed the fourth swim of his Oceans Seven challenge, the Molokai Channel in Hawaii. He swam the 42km in 15 hours and 51 minutes. Calling it the toughest swim of his life, he said he felt like a “rag doll in a washing machine.” His next swim is the 14km Gibraltar Strait next month. He aims to swim all seven crossings in a single year, which no one has done before.
Climbing in a Silent World: Deaf climber Morag Skelton refuses to let her lack of hearing stop her from achieving her goals. In this documentary, she discusses her journey and the barriers she has faced.
A Pilgrimage to 88 Temples in 27 Days: Catherine Sun has completed the 1,200km Shikoku Pilgrimage in 27 days. Usually, people take a few months to walk to the 88 temples on Shikoku Island. Sun did not have enough time for that leisurely pace, so she ran. Every day, she completed an ultra-marathon of approximately 60km.
One of the World’s Longest and Most Absurd Climbs: In 2021, Drew Herder and Ben Wilbur completed the first continuous climb on the “Great Wall of China,” aka the Gunks Traverse — described as “9,000 feet of lichen and choss.” In 1987, locals Ben Nichols and Dave Rosenstein were the only previous party to complete this odd horizontal traverse, but their climb was not continuous.
Herder and Wilbur did it in a single 36-hour push. Now they have released a film of their journey. “I think we went in with so much ignorance that it benefited us,” Herder says.
Mikaelsen and Hansen train to cycle across the Greenland Ice Cap. Photo: Cykeldrengene
“Shut up, we are doing good!”
Crossing Greenland’s Ice Cap by Bike: Keen cyclists Nicklas Mikaelsen and Emil Hansen are attempting to cross the Greenland Ice Sheet on two wheels. They hope to cover the 550km from Kangerlussuaq on the west coast to Isortoq on the east in 30 days.
The lifelong friends have been planning the trip for 18 months. This is their third big project together. Throughout it all, they have adopted their favorite childhood mantra: “Shut up, we are doing good!”
Inside Canada’s Most Active Volcano: In the latest episode of Canadian Geographic’s Explore series, Chris Stenner talks about his adventures inside Mt Meager, Canada’s most active volcano.
