via The Adventure Blog… 

You know the old adage “What goes up, must come down”? Well, that applies to mountaineering as much as anything. However, I don’t think they considered someone stepping into a pair of skis at 24,688 feet, then dropping off the top of a perfectly good summit with nothing but 9000 feet of vert to contend with when they coined the phrase.

A few days back I posted a link to a special edition of the Rest of Everest podcast in which producer Jon Miller chatted with climbers Ben Clark, Josh Butson, and Tim Clarke. At the time, the three men were preparing to leave for Kathmandu where they were embarking on their Annapurna IV Expedition.

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Famed mountaineer Ed Viesturs and renowned polar explorer and dog musher John Steston will be heading back into the Arctic this Friday, April 25th. The two men will be heading to Baffin Island, where they’ll pull their sledges for 150 miles, over the course of 20 days, as they explore some of the most remote, and untouched regions of the Canadian Arctic, in an effort to raise awareness about global climate change.

In what’s being called the “Healthy Planet = Healthy People” expedition, Viesturs and Stetson intend to document the effects of global warming on Baffin Island by visiting remote Inuit villages and interviewing the people that live there, much the way that Will Steger did last year with his Global Warming 101 expedition.

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Elk Mountains Grand Traverse

March 29, 2008 - Crested Butte/Aspen, Colorado

By Craig Stein

While the calendar says it’s officially Spring, the Colorado Rockies are still enveloped in the deep snows of Winter. It is 12:00:01 AM and the race has just started with temperatures hovering around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. 125 teams of two have assembled in Crested Butte for the 11th edition start of the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse (EMGT). A mere 40 miles of Colorado back country lie ahead for participants before they reach the finish line at the base of Aspen (Ajax) Mountain Ski Resort. The course traces the 1880’s mail route between the once booming mining towns of Crested Butte and Aspen Colorado. The front running teams hope to have an incident free night in order to reach the finish in under eight hours but that is not typically what the EMGT doles out. Anything from gale force winds and extreme avalanche danger to equipment failures potentially await teams as they race into the dark. 

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While many of us were fast asleep Friday morning, the Director of Primal Quest, Don Mann, and Chief Operations Officer, Dawn Taylor Mann were busy climbing to the top of one of the Seven Summits.

We received this quick note from Dawn yesterday:

We’re back after a successful summit of Kilimanjaro at 6:45 am Jan, 11. All six people in our party made the summit despite the -5 degree wind chill on the top (after the sun came up). The entire 7-day trek was more wonderful than any of us ever dreamed of… although the 6+ hour steep summit push in the dark, windy night was a real soul searching experience… very difficult! The views, the people (guides & porters) and every aspect of the trip so far have made this an experience of a lifetime. We had sunny skies the entire trip. A rare commodity, as we understand.

Don and Dawn are following up their climb of the 5,895 metres (19,341 ft) tall mountain with a four day safari. We can’t wait to hear their stories and see their photos in person!

Photo: Flickr/pintaa Some rights reserved.

Sir Edmund Hillary has died at the age of 88 in his native New Zealand.

On 29 May 1953, he and guide Tenzing Norgay became the first known climbers to summit Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth. Hillary went on to many other adventures including climbing ten more peaks in the Himalayas. He also became the first man to stand at both the North and South poles and on the summit of Everest.

We offer our condolences…

Tributes to the great adventurer Sir Edmund Hillary, who passed away at Auckland City Hospital at 9am on Friday morning, have begun to flow in:

Prime Minister Helen Clark:

“Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality he was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only ‘knocked off’ Everest but lived a life of determination, humility and generosity.

“The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived. But most of all he was a quintessential Kiwi. He was ours - from his craggy appearance and laconic style to his directness and honesty. All New Zealanders will deeply mourn his passing.

Primal Quest presents another posting from The Adventure Blog!

I mentioned a week or so back that two kayakers were attempting to cross the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand less than a year after Andrew McAuley lost his life attempting the same thing.

Today we have an update from Australia’s The Age newspaper with word that the two men have struggled in their endeavor. Australians Justin Jones, 24, and James Castrission, 25, set off on their journey on November 9th in attempt to become the first to successfully kayak those open waters, however they have encountered rough seas, with 5 to 6 meter swells, that had them seeking shelter inside their kayak’s specially designed cabin. The confinement to that small space, the poor weather, and the lack of progress has made things difficult on the them, although they are still determined to reach Auckland and the finish line. The past few days have seen improved weather and better paddling conditions.

You can read more about their historic kayak crossing on their official website which includes a GPS tracking of their progress as well as photos, news, and more information on the expedition itself.

Did you catch this recent article in The Denver Post? Jason Blevins profiles several Colorado athletes aged 40+, including four time Primal Quest champion Mike Kloser, and shows that for many a “full-tilt racing career” doesn’t begin until a racer’s mid-30s.

And after a couple of decades of training, the older athletes learn a few tricks - like how to taper and how to make it fun - that keep them in shape while staving off dreaded burnout.

They have trained for so long, their fitness level is staggering and it stays high. They aren’t rolling off the couch to prep for a race. They are building on decades of work.

Follow the link to read the full story!

Primal Quest presents another posting from The Adventure Blog!

British legend Sir Ranulph Fiennes will be returning to Everest in the Spring to attempt to become the oldest Brit to top out on the mountain. According to this story over at MountEverest.net, Sir Ran will be once again looking to raise money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Foundation.

Dubbed the “World’s Greatest Living Explorer”, Fiennes has lead quite an interesting life of adventure. He’s gone up the White Nile via hovercraft, visited both Poles, discovered a lost city in Oman, completed 7 marathons, in 7 days, on 7 continents, and at the age of 62 he climbed the Eiger. Not bad, but that doesn’t mean he’s slowing down just yet. He also participated in the Victoria Falls Expedition celebrating the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the falls by David Livingstone. (Dr. Livingstone I presume!)

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