The Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation, based in Bozeman Montana, site for this year’s Primal Quest Expedition Adventure Race presented by SPOT, celebrates the life of one of the greatest mountaineers of his generation, while continuing his efforts to better the lives of indigenous people living in some of the most remote regions of the world.

The ALCF has several humanitarian projects, including the Magic Yeti Library located in Khumjung, a small village in Nepal. The library has been so successful in promoting literacy and encouraging the children of the village to read, that three more libraries will open in other villages soon. The ALCF has also contributed to putting a new roof on the Chhulemu Primary School in Chhulemu Village in the Solu Khumbu region of the tiny Himalayan country. Babu Chirri Sherpa, who perished on Everest back in May of 2000, had intended to build new schools in that region, and the ALCF plans to continue working toward that dream.

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One of the most demanding and challenging mountain bike races in the entire world has gotten under way in Banff, Alberta, Canada, where 17 riders have set out to ride the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico. 

The event is known as the Tour Divide , a 2711 mile long, self supported mountain bike race, which is celebrating it’s 10th year of competition. Riders set out from Banff yesterday and will continue until they reach the U.S.-Mexican border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. The tops racers are expected to arrive in roughly 20 days, after facing challenging climbs, crazy drops, and miles of single track. 

The Tour Divide Leaderboard provides tracking from SPOT, the same team that will bring their sophisticated tracking to Primal Quest and is the race’s presenting sponsor. Expect a more advanced version of this leardboard when PQ gets underway in a little over a week. And to follow the Tour Divide, watch for updates to the Race’s Official Blog. 

Photo by Will Ramos

America is home to some of the most amazing environments on the planet. The country is blessed with abundant and diverse natural resources from coast to coast, but the environments in the Northern Rockies, the location of this year’s Primal Quest, stand out as some of the most unique and wonderful settings anywhere on the planet. 

Those settings include places such as Glacier National Park, Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Yellowstone, and more. Individually, these places are incredible examples of nearly untouched backcountry but together they make up a vast ecosystem that supports an array of wildlife and natural functions that depend on their interconnectivity to continue to thrive. 

That’s where American WIldlands comes into play. It’s an organization dedicated to maintaining this ecosystem by insuring that these “wildlands” remain connected to on another, creating an environment that is large enough, and healthy enough, to support the creatures that live there, and keep the natural processes functioning so that species such as bear, elk, wolves, and others can continue to thrive. 

Headquartered in Bozeman and Missoula, Montana, American Wildlands shares a common goal with Primal Quest to protect the environment and promote a positive environmental message. Through their Corridors of Life program the organization hopes to keep the core environments of the Northern Rockies connect through a series of wildlife movement corridors that allow the creatures indigenous to the area to roam an ecosystem that is bigger than the sum of it’s parts. 

American Wildlands works on a grassroots level within the region it has sworn to protect. It’s members donate time and money to this very worth cause, and their efforts over the past 30 years have had a real, and lasting impact on environments in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and beyond.

Please take a moment to look over their website, where you’ll find a natural history on the region, more information on the Corridors of LIfe and other programs, and ways that you can get involved and support this very important program. 

Photo by Fred Stillings from the American Wildlands website.

Lisa Smith-Batchen is a very accomplished endurance athlete and ultrarunner whose powerful legs and incredible lungs have allowed her to run great distances under some of the most challenging conditions on the planet, but her heart might just be the most powerful muscle in her body.

With the launch of Lisas810.com, this incredibly gifted athlete has set her sights on raising funds and awareness for the plight of children in Africa who have become orphaned as a result of AIDS. To that end, Lisa will be running and biking 810 miles to support the AIDS Orphans Rising charity, which works hard to help the children whose lives are changed forever by this deadly disease. 

On July 9th, Lisa  will depart from Las Vegas, Nevada and run almost 160 miles through the desert to reach Death Valley. Along the way she’ll face scorching heat, cross mountains, risking dehydration and injury, just to get to the start of her race. Once she arrives at her destination, Lisa will take part in one of the most grueling endurance events on the planet by racing in the Badwater Ultramarathon, which is another 135 miles of running through Death Valley, one of the hottest locations on Earth, and the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. The race typically ends at the Mt. Whitney Portals, but Lisa will continue another 10 miles to the summit before she rests.

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Via The Adventure Blog…

Explorer Todd Carmichael will set out in November to make a solo speed trek, unsupported, to the South Pole. He hopes to become the first American to make that trek, and he hopes to do it in just 38 days. This excellent video, which I came across over at the Best Hike Blog (welcome back Rick!), pretty much says it all.

You’ve got to love how Todd introduces himself in the video. “I’m Todd Carmichael, and I explorer.” That ranks right up there with: “My name is Bond. James Bond.” in my book. You can learn more about Todd’s Trek here, and you can bet I’ll be following his adventures in November. For now, have a look at his video.

The Wend Blog posted this excellent ten minute long video of the first ski descent of Dhaulagiri. The video opens with some cool shots of life in Nepal, with a mix of great scenery and some video of the wonderful people that live there, but soon it shifts gears to the mountain and the action there.

Dhaula is the 7th tallest mountain in the world, and is located in the north central region of Nepal. It stands 8167m in height (26,795 feet). The video shows the challenges of the climb, along with plenty of snow. But reaching the top is just the beginning, as the descent by skis is quite a site as well.

Enjoy!