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Exploration

Exploration

Archive

Lorie Karnath, president of the Explorers Club

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Canada’s Ellesmere Island, a 75,000-square-mile chunk of ice and rock off Greenland’s southwest coast, has never been circumnavigated. Two men hope to change that fact. Three days ago, 26-year-old photographer Erik Boomer and 65-year-old writer John Turk kicked off…

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Cho Oyu Alpinists Ueli Steck and Don Bowie of the Himalaya Speed project have summited the world's sixth-highest peak, according to Bowie's ground team. Bowie reported in a satellite phone dispatch that he and Steck made it to the…

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https://www.youtube.com/embed/oEvyMkyO3CQ  Billionaire Sir Richard Branson has brought a new toy to the realm of high-price adventure: a single-person submarine capable of diving six-miles under water. The 18-foot carbon-fiber and titanium craft, dubbed the Virgin Oceanic, resembles…

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https://www.youtube.com/embed/oEvyMkyO3CQ  Billionaire Sir Richard Branson has brought a new toy to the realm of high-price adventure: a single-person submarine capable of diving six-miles under water. The 18-foot carbon-fiber and titanium craft, dubbed the Virgin Oceanic, resembles…

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=RcYRpM5jnDA%C2%A0 Video from Parker's training in Longyearbyen before his March 2010 North Pole attempt Sixteen-year-old Parker Liautaud, who was born in California but now lives in London, has already done some hardcore adventuring, such as climbing the Rockies…

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=RcYRpM5jnDA%C2%A0 Video from Parker's training in Longyearbyen before his March 2010 North Pole attempt Sixteen-year-old Parker Liautaud, who was born in California but now lives in London, has already done some hardcore adventuring, such as climbing the Rockies…

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(Photo Trip Jennings) National Geographic explorers Trip Jennings and Andy Maser departed for the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday to begin their Elephant Ivory Project, an effort to curb poaching of African…

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South America contains the Amazon, the Andes, 19,000 miles of coastline, and arguably more adventure than any other continent. So where to start? These ten perfect trips, from exploratory rafting in Peru to skiing in Chile to beach-hopping Brazil.

Ben Saunders – North 3 from Ben Saunders on Vimeo. Ben Saunders hopes to set a new record for trekking solo and unsupported to the North Pole. He plans to depart from Cape Discovery on the north coast of Canada on March 15. He’ll take off on…

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Courtesy of Polish Winter Himalayan Mountaineering Weather forecasts aren't good for the Polish mountaineers making their way up Pakistan's 26,400-foot Broad Peak this week. “The beginning of the summit attempt doesn't look too well,”…

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They climbed the biggest walls, descended the longest rivers, and sailed the highest seas. And they went farther and faster under their own power than anyone else in 2010. Chosen for their ambition, their attitude, and their audacious lines, these are Outside's inaugural adventurers of the year.

Leo Hoogenboom leads it out. Photo by Barry B. Brown/Coral Reef Photos On the island of Bonaire last week, I solidified my opinion of cold-weather biking: like getting a flu shot or cleaning the toilet, you have to do…

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I am cold and alone inside the cave. Sitting there at 6m (20ft) I'm slowly loosing all feeling. I am so cold that it hurts. I am desperately craving comfort. To stay put is a mental struggle. It is tempting to shoot up to the surface, to…

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On August 9, after 28 months and more than 4,000 miles, Britain’s Ed Stafford became the first human to walk the length of the Amazon—not a place for the roughshod. Plus, 10 stylish shoes for spring.

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Decades after the Soviet-era meltdown drove 60,000 people from their homes in the Ukraine, a rebirth is taking place inside the exclusion zone. With Geiger counter in hand, the author explores Europe's strangest wildlife refuge, an enchanted post-apocalyptic forest from which entirely new species may soon emerge.

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It's dawn on the Algerian border. A bone cold 7 °C. Wind screams across the erg, and in every direction, there’s sand. Metric tons of it. Arcine peaks and deep valleys marked with wave-ripples; all of it deep, rose gold. Our camels carry large canvas sacks of…

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Photo courtesy of Flickr. Russian explorers and scientists are prepping to begin the first crossing from Russia to Canada by way of the North Pole, Reuters reports. The expedition kicks off from Russia's Arctic shores on February…

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia. Cory Richards, Simone Moro, and Denis Urubko, who knocked down the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum II last week on February 2, were hit by an avalanche on their way down to…

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For the past few years, the focus in snowboards has been on camber: traditional, reverse, mixed. Everyone and their mother has been coming up with new ways to mix and match the various degrees and inversions of camber in different areas of the board (i.e. traditional between the feet with…

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Ray Zahab checks in at night after day four of his quest to run across Chile's Atacama Desert. After finally getting off road, he kicks up dust over Inca trails and dry riverbeds. Atacama Extreme: Dry Riverbeds and Inca Trails from Outside Magazine on Vimeo. —Bob Cox…

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“Nobody likes to run on pavement,” Ray Zahab said. “Expecially when it's 38 degree celsius pavement.” Zahab's plans to run offroad across the Atacama desert were rudely interrupted by a huge gorge. Instead, he ran 21 km down the Pan-Pacific highway on little to no shoulder, between speeding trucks and…

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Kayaker Chris Korbulic returns to Africa to take part in a unique memorial service for his friend and fellow paddler Hendri Coetzee, who was killed by a crocodile in Congo in December 2010. Itunda Falls, Nile River, Uganda8 January,…

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=XfKqEbbjNb0%C2%A0 Acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog's newest film, the documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, brings 3-D footage of ancient cave paintings inside the famed Chauvet Cave in southern France to the big screen. Herzog's film debuted at the 2010 Toronto International…

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[script src=”//videos.video-loader.com/playerjs/video_5587.js?width=400&height=300&bgc=fff&skinName=light&autoHideC …

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Mt. McKinley photo courtesy of Unhindered by Talent on Flickr. Ever dream of standing atop one of the Seven Summits, winning a marathon, or swimming across the Atlantic Ocean? So did these guys. But instead of following through, they lied about…

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In the early 18th century, only a few thousand species were known, the word “scientist” didn’t exist, and, according to Richard Conniff, “even educated people still inhabited a jabberwocky world in which monsters abounded.” Conniff’s ninth book, The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on…

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The following dispatch is from extreme kayaker, Ben Stookesberry, a member of the First Ascent kayak team. They are currently on an expedition in Africa to make a first descent of the Lukuga…

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The following dispatch is from extreme kayaker, Ben Stookesberry, a member of the First Ascent kayak team. They are currently on an expedition in Africa to make a first descent of the Lukuga…

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What made big news last month? Scroll down to find out. Here are the top 10 posts from October. At least you'll be armed with good dinner party conversation. Number 10: The Top 10 Adventures in Scotland Number 9: The Top 10 Things To…

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By J.J. Kelley Perhaps you want to create a YouTube video of your cat riding a vacuum robot. Maybe you want to make an insightful feature-length film that will tug at the hearts of your viewers. Both are examples of a documentary, and…

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The following dispatch is from extreme kayaker, Ben Stookesberry, a member of the First Ascent kayak team. They are currently on an expedition in Africa to make a first descent of the…

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Fourteen people have passed out while watching 127 Hours, the LA Times reports. The film tells the story of Aron Ralston, a hiker who amputated his own arm after a boulder…

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If you’ve ever been glued to the television during Discovery's Shark Week, chances are you've seen the work of Andy B. Casagrande. The 33-year old cameraman was obsessed with great white sharks as a kid and turned that passion…

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The following dispatch is from extreme kayaker, Ben Stookesberry. He and members of the First Ascent kayak team are currently on an expedition in Africa. Their goal: to make a first descent on the…

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Photo courtesy of Flickr A new species of monkey found in Mayanmar has an upturned nose that fills with water when it rains, causing it to sneeze, Science Daily reports. The new species, named Rhinopithecus strykeri, is better known…

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In case you missed 'em, here are the top 10 posts from last month. We dare you not to click on number 5: “Woman Saves Choking Bear”. Number 10: Chrissie Wellington: Riding the Himalayas Number 9: Ironman Champ Chrissie Wellington's…

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  Louis-Philippe Loncke, who completed an unsupported solo trek through Iceland in July, made a new video to show off his odd Iceland-inspired dance moves, The Adventure Blog reports. Loncke was apparently inspired by the Inspired by Iceland…

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  If you haven't yet seen the above video this week, then you might not have heard the various assults on its authenticity.  How could a man—even with a protective suit—get that close to violently spewing lava? The man in the suit is Drew Bristol, filmed by volcanologist Geoff Mackley…

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Courtesy of NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr. Energia, the lead Russian contractor in the construction of the International Space Station, has designs for the first hotel in space, Reuters reports. The proposed space…

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And you thought your weekend hike was tough. Adventurer Todd Carmichael is challenging one of the most inhospitable places in North America–Death Valley–again. Carmichael, who attempted an unassisted solo crossing of Death Valley last year, is slowly making progress…

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  Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Last month, English explorer Ed Stafford became the first person to walk the length of the Amazon from source to sea, a grueling journey of over 4,000 miles in 860 days. His goal, in addition…

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Boeing announced on Wednesday that it's entering the space tourism business, the New York Times reports. The aerospace company is building a seven-person capsule that it hopes will take four NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, leaving…

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Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey on Flickr. Today Russian explorers announced that they had recovered the logs from Georgy Brusilov's ill-fated 1912 expedition through the Northeast Passage, the New York Times reports. The logs were…

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An 84-year old British man is planning to raft across the Atlantic Ocean on a vessel made of plastic gas pipes, the Telegraph reports. Anthony Smith placed an ad in the Telegraph five years ago that…

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Sylvia Earle on stage during Session 1 on the Mission Blue Voyage in the Galapagos. Credit: TED/James Duncan Davidson Sylvia Earle dives into all things blue. She moves equally well through conversations on ocean technology, ocean politics, ocean lifestyle, ocean science, and ocean exploration. In 1966,…

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If you don't live in the Australian or Middle Eastern deserts, or spend time looking for ants in Arizona and New Mexico, chances are you haven't seen these three desert-dwelling animals, highlighted in a new slide show on Treehugger.com. …

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On Monday, a British man became the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon river, Reuters reports. When former army officer, Ed Stafford, arrived at Maruda Beach in Brazil, he finished a 6,000-mile journey…

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This dispatch was received on the afternoon of August 5.  Below, Trey Cook's friend, David Schipper, relays information from Cook and Fredrik Ericsson's skiing expedition on K2. Today at about 2PM Moab UT time and 10 PM French time the remaining 9 climbers at camp 4 plan to begin their…

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  Chris Christenson has been shaping surfboards for over a decade. He’s never been a pro surfer, so imagine his surprise when the 37-year old got a call inviting him to star in a surfing film. Outside called up the Cardiff by the Sea,…

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  Courtesy of Kivanc Nis on Flickr. Laura Dekker, a 14-year-old Dutch girl, set sail from Den Osse in the Netherlands on the first leg of a global circumnavigation, the Associated Press reports. Dekker plans to sail…

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Check out pro kayaker Trip Jennings’ latest expedition tale tonight on the National Geographic Channel (10 p.m. East Coast; 8 p.m. West Coast). This time Jennings, one of Outside’s…

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Canadian archeologists this week discovered the wreckage of a British ship that was abandoned more than 150 years ago, Reuters reports. The ship, the HMS Investigator, had been sent by the British in 1850 to search for…

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  Courtesy of NOAA. Two new species of pancake batfishes have been discovered by researchers in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Reuters. The population of one of…

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Greg Grandin's Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City, a Pulitzer-Prize finalist, is a 20th-century tale of industrial ambition, mismanagement, and failure. The head of the whole thing…

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MountainFilm in Telluride, a 32-year-old festival, is a little meeting of big minds in a beautiful place. Granted, I'm not being particularly objective. Outside sponsors the festival and a group of editors from the magazine and producers from our new television channel spoke on a panel Sunday.

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A month ago we set out to paddle across all of the channels that connect the Hawaiian Islands. Over the past few weeks we crossed from one island to the next, paddling the channels on our stand-up paddleboards and exploring each island once wearrived. From the beginning,…

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Is ski season over in the moderate climes and you're still itching to hit the slopes? Check out these destinations South of the equator (or North enough) for summertime shredding.

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A unique adventure has launched this week from the Big Island of Hawaii. The dynamic duo of Morgan Hoesterey and Jenny Kalmbach–that's us in the photo above!–will stand-up paddleboard our way through the…

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Here's a video wrap-up of our expedition. We finished in under 14 days, setting a new record, despite having to go slower than planned. The ice rubble and the winds were tough, but we stuck it out and made it through. –Kevin Vallely and Ray Zahab In March…

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Finally. After four years spent designing, re-designing and building a ship like no other, Eco-adventurer David de Rothschild, his crew, and 12,000 plastic bottles set sail on March 20, bound for Sydney, by way of the Eastern Garbage Patch and its vortex of plastic crap. The swirling mass…

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For two men who've previously run across the Sahara, biked the Iditarod trail, and trekked to the South Pole, this expedition has proved to be one of our toughest. The harsh Siberian winter showed its teeth as we made our way across Lake Baikal unsupported, dragging 110-lb.

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Shrimp have been discovered under a sheet of glacial ice, according to enn.com. The crustacean (technically a distant relative of the shrimp) and a piece of jellyfish were found 600 feet below the ice by probe and camera. This not only raises questions about…

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You survive a plane crash in the Amazon? Who cares! What's far more likely to go wrong during an international journey is injuries and illnesses that would be easy to manage close to home but are much trickier on the far side of paradise. Here are seven frequent scenarios and how to handle them.

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You voted on the 10 Greatest Adventurers Since 1900. We're impressed with your picks—but we'll stick with our list. Check immediately below for the top 10. If you want to see the full results, a list by percentage is embedded at the bottom of this…

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We're still moving along, but slower than planned. We've averaged less than our target of 60 to 65 kilometers a day because we've had to walk, instead of run, through blocks of ice heaved upon Lake Baikal's surface. There are stretches when we can run relatively clear and free,…

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Checking in after Days Four and Five, when we've made some decent mileage: 53 and 41 kilometers, respectively. The numbers are below our target daily average of around 60 kilometers, but we had to slow down and walk once we hit some ice rubble. As you can tell from…

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A better day today. Made it 50.5 kilometers. And we actually got to run, even as we maneuvered around broken ice! We woke at dawn to a snow-filled tent. Another wind storm had blown a foot of snow inside overnight, which we took an hour to clear. We were…

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A difficult day today. We were hit with a wind storm first thing, which slowed us down considerably and left us having to run quickly in the last 20 kilometers before another wind storm stopped us. We decided to set up camp instead of risking getting caught in another…

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We’ve traveled 60 kilometers on our first day of the expedition, meeting our daily quotient. If we keep this up, we’ll be able to traverse Lake Baikal in record time. Our day started before dark, when we pushed through deep snow, but once we got onto the ice, we…

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The last few days have been a flurry of activity as we have been organizing our gear and packing our sleds for our run across Lake Baikal. An unsupported expedition like ours requires a meticulous eye for…

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Ever wondered what a day in the life of a polar explorer is like? Watch the video above to see what Eric Larsen and his two traveling buddies do on a typical day trekking in Antarctica. Somehow, the guys find time and energy to…

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Climbing.com has released the 2010 recipients of the Mugs Stump and Polartec grants. Six small teams have been awarded a total of $25,000 for clean, lightweight first ascents in 2010. For a complete list of past recipients and details on how to apply for the grant,…

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Once again, an Everest expedition is trying to solve the who done itmystery of Everest: did George Mallory and Sandy Irvine summit Mt.Everest in 1924? You see Sandy Irvine, who went missing on Everest'sNorth side in 1924, had a camera. A  plan is emerging for a new search for the…

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Courtesy of NASA Hayley Shephard will attempt the first ever solo sea kayak expedition around South Georgia Island. Her goal is to bring attention to the endangered albatross bird. She will set out on February 3, facing extreme cold, frigid…

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A comprehensive training program will not only prepare us to run 636 kilometers across Lake Baikal in about ten days, it will also help to prevent injury while dragging 100 pounds of gear and food along the way. Here are…

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TAWOCHE 2k10 dispatches #4 from renan ozturk on Vimeo. Renan Ozturk and Cory Richards completed the first ascent of Tawoche's central south buttress, reports…

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Courtesy of Flickr Ryan Waters, 36, and Cecilie Skog, 35, have become the first to achieve an unassisted crossing of Antarctica, Explorers Web reports. They started their expedition on November 13, 2009 and ended…

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On March 1, 2010, Kevin Vallely and Ray Zahab will embark on the i2P Siberian Express for Water Expedition. They will run 65 to 70 kilometers per day across the frozen surface…

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Three separate teams reached the South Pole last week, The Adventure Blog reported. Ryan Waters and Cecilie Skog will now continue on their attempt to traverse the entire continent, while members…

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