Video: Adventure For A Purpose in the Himalaya

When professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones traveled to the Himalaya last year, he not only wanted to have a great adventure, he wanted to do something good as well. He teamed up with Gregg Treinish from Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, an organization that seeks to pair adventurers and explorers in the field, with scientists who need help collecting data. In Jeremy's case, that meant putting him in contact with researchers studying the retreat of glaciers across the globe. So, while he was in Nepal snowboarding, he also collected samples of snow and ice from the mountains that could provide crucial data to those researchers. The video below describes the project,  and provides some great footage of Jeremy in the Himalaya. It is an excellent story, and a good example of how we can use adventure for a purpose.

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Avalanches Claim The Lives of Adventurers in South America

There was more sad news from the mountains yesterday, when it was revealed that freeskiers JP Auclair and Andreas Fransson were killed in an avalanche in Chile, while climber Liz Daley was caught in a separate avalanche on the Fitz Roy Massif in Argentina, and lost her life too.

Auclair and Fransson were skiing Mount San Lorenzo, a 12,159-foot (3706 meter) peak that falls along the border of Chile and Argentina in the Patagonia region, on Monday when they were caught up in the avalanche that claimed their lives. The two men, both well known in the freeskiing community, were there to make a ski film of their adventure. Outside reports that their deaths were confirmed yesterday when a helicopter flew over the mountain searching for them, but spotted their bodies high on the mountain instead.

Not long after the news of the passing of Auclair and Fransson, reports of Daley's accident surfaced as well. She was a professional climber and snowboarder sponsored by Eddie Bauer, who was in Argentina as part of a production crew shooting a snowboarding/skiing film as well. Liz was part of a team descending from Cerro Vespignani, a 7000-foot (2133 meter) peak that is found near Fitz Roy. The avalanche struck the team, but all other members of the group survived with minor injuries.

It has been a rough week in the mountains to say the least. The news of these deaths due to avalanche follows the loss of Sebastian Haag and Andrea Zambaldi on Shishapangma last week. These three separate incidences are a good reminder of just how dangerous our outdoor pursuits can be at times. It is sad to see so many talented and young adventurers lose their lives in such a short period of time.

My condolences go out to the friends and family of those who were killed in these tragic accidents.

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Video: Sculpted in Time Teaser Trailer

This video is a teaser for a new series of short films coming our way from Sherpas Cinema. The four mini documentaries, set to release over the next few weeks, were all shot in and around Banff National Park in Canada, and will spotlight a unique individual who has been influenced by the mountains there. The clip below gives us just enough of a glimpse of what is to come to get us excited. The scenery alone will make these documentaries well worth our time. Beautiful stuff to say the least.

Thanks to my friend Kate for sharing!

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Video: One Extreme Athlete, Five Extreme Activities, One Hour

Only in New Zealand is it possible to cram five extreme activities into a single hour. In the video below, we watch as outdoor athlete Chuck Berry (I'm not making this up folks!) skydives out of a helicopter, lands on a mountain, then snowboards down to another helicopter, to catch a lift to a nearby trail, which he then descends on a mountain bike. Eventually he reaches a bridge with spans a a massive canyon, which is of course the perfect place to bungee jump. At the bottom of that jump, he boards a waiting jet boat, then flies down the canyon at break neck speed. It all looks like fun of course, even if I'd prefer to do it in a shorter timeframe so I can actually enjoy the activity.

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