Crazy Journeys.com » mountaineering

Normal Sports in Really Odd Places

skywalker — Thu, 27 May 2010 10:10:00 +0000

An ode to the visionaries who brought great sports to where they didn’t really belong.

World Ice Golf Championship

Sports should never be hindered by geographical location but some places are more naturally suited to certain sports than others. Skiing is not that big in sub-Saharan Africa because of the distinct lack of snow, which can throw a somewhat sizeable spanner in the works.

However, there are those who dare to dream – visionaries who won’t let climate or landscapes become an obstacle to their sporting desires. We salute those innovators who brought new sports to countries they really had no place to be.

Snowboarding in Egypt

There’s no snow in Egypt but that didn’t stop snowboarding fanatics from adapting their beloved winter sport to the eternal sunshine of the sand dunes. Thus “sandsurfing” was born. Take a holiday to Egypt and you can have all the fun of snowboarding on the sand, while getting a suntan at the same time.

Beach Volleyball in Switzerland

Landlocked Switzerland may be the home of cheese with holes in it, interesting timepieces and triangular chocolate, but one thing the country lacks is beaches. Still, a lack of sandy coastline didn’t stop these Europeans from taking part in beach volleyball, constructing a number of purpose-built sand courts for the summer season.

Golf in Greenland

Forget 300-yard drives on to the green, in Greenland they like to drive on to the white, at the annual World Ice Golf Championships. The ice is a hard and unforgiving mistress, one even Tiger Woods wouldn’t relish, with unpredictable ground making for tough play.

Skiing in Dubai

In a city which thrives in fantastical designs and ideas, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that skiing on man-made snow in the middle of the Arabian Desert is a reality for residents of Dubai. Ski Dubai is a monstrous 22,500-square metre indoor ski resort (exterior pictured) in the middle of one of the largest shopping malls in the world.

Bungee Jumping in Holland

Bungee jumping – or Glorified Rubber Band Stretching as it is sometimes known – requires two things: a large piece of elasticised rope, and a great height. In a country which is as notoriously flat as Holland, you have to applaud the Dutch for their tenacity. So keen were they to have bungee jumping in Holland that the Dutch went to the extreme lengths of placing a crane on top of a large building at the end of a pier in Scheveningen (pictured). The phrase “Dutch courage” comes to mind.

Sources:
www.greenland-guide.gl
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_Dubai
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_hockey

Walking in crampons – basic mountaineering technique video guide

skywalker — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:12:49 +0000

Walking in crampons is another basic mountaineering technique that you have to master before spending anytime in the mountains. This video features covers various walking techniques and gives solid safety advice relating to training.

Walking in Crampons

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Classic comedy sketch from Shaun Micallef Program where he interviews a “blind man” who has climbed Everest

skywalker — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:14:27 +0000

Classic comedy sketch from Shaun Micallef Program where he interviews a “blind man” who has climbed mount Everest. Really, really funny!

Naughty, non PC, unkind but great all the same.

Classic Commedy sketch

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Intriguing video portrait of Doug Scott, the first Britton to summit Everest in 1975

skywalker — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:12:36 +0000

This interview with Doug Scott is filmed in the UK and in Himalayas on Chamlang and Makalu. It is made by documentary film by Jean Afanassieff and is an honest portrait of an extraordinary man. He talks about his thoughts and feelings in the mountains and his motivations for pushing higher and higher.

Doug Scott Interview

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This ice-axe arrest technique might save your life. Part of lipoic acid video series

skywalker — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:25:58 +0000

Part of the lipoic acid video series. Mastering basic mountaineering skills is a must if you are to stay alive very long in the mountains. This is an excellent video gives a guide to ice-axe arresting. It is comprehensive and covers many basic technique and then moves on to various fall/slip positions. It is taken from the British Mountaineering Council’s ‘Winter Essentials’ DVD

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tribut to slovenian mountaineer Tomaz Humar. Part of carnitine l video series

skywalker — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:38:55 +0000

Part of the carnitine l video series. Another moving tribute video to Tomaz Humar, the Slovenian mountaineer who tragically died whilst solo climbing via the South Face of Langtang Lirung. He will be sorely missed by all the climbing community and my thoughts are with his young family.

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Great trailor for 1960’s mountaineering roadtrip! Part of now l glutamine video series

skywalker — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:27:49 +0000

Part of the now l glutamine video series. Amazing trailer for 1968 film Mountain of Storms. The styling of this video is great. Its from 1968 for Gods sake! Awesome. Having seen the whole film the story is amazing. If you can get your hands on a copy you wont be disappointed. enjoy. Yvon Chouinard, Doug Tompkins, Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones and Lito Tejada-Flores piled into a secondhand van and drove 5,000 miles from Ventura to Patagonia to put up a new route on Cerro Fitz Roy.

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Moving tribute to Tomaz Humar, Slovenian mountaineer killed recently. Part of six star creatine video series

skywalker — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:22:20 +0000

Part of the six star creatine video series. Moving tribute to Tomaz Humar (February 18, 1969 c. November 10, 2009), nicknamed Gozdni Joza (akin to Hillbilly), was a Slovenian mountaineer. On November 9, 2009, Humar, who was on a solo climb via the South Face of Langtang Lirung, had an accident during the descent.

His only contact with the base camp staff via a satellite phone was made on the day of the accident and he appeared to be in critical condition with leg, spine and rib injuries. He was stuck on the mountain at an elevation of approximately 6300 meters for several days before his body was found on November 14, 2009 at an elevation of 5600 meters.

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The Adventure of a Lifetime – Cycling, Walking and Mountaineering

Luke Bream — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:04:13 +0000

This guest post is by Lee Hughes. who is preparing for a worldwide expedition that includes cycling, walking and mountaineering. I wish him the best of luck.

The Adventure of a Lifetime

“Firstly I would like to thank Luke for allowing me to contribute to this fantastic website were we can become inspired and live or our dreams.

So, What am I doing here?

Well, shortly after university, rather than getting caught up trying to find a job a place to live etc etc I have decided to take life by the scruff of the neck and see what it can offer and what I can learn from it.

I will do this by doing 3 expeditions, cycling, walking and climbing… A 4th to be announced.

So, on the 5th January I will leave my house and cycle to 12,000 miles to New Zealand. Once in New Zealand, I plan to walk the entire length of both islands (3000km) then after some time in New Zealand I shall cycle my way up the Americas onward to Alaska. Now, once in Alaska Mount Mckinley is on my hit list…

It’s a long way a way yet but I am looking forward to updating my website and giving advice into how to set up a expedition. I will be documenting my adventure in various styles…. blog posts, photography, audio, film and a web series.

To follow up on this inspirational adventure of a lifetime please visit www.LeeHughes.co.uk

Credits for the images in this article about an adventure of a lifetime belong to Lee Hughes.

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Famous Explorer, Mike Horn, has a history of World Record Expeditions

Luke Bream — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:32:27 +0000

Reading through the famous explorer Mike Horn’s book conquering the impossible about his world record solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle I was struck by two important lessons that we can apply to life in general or our own expedition preparations.

In 2004 he finished a staggering feat of human endurance when his expedition a two-year, 3 month solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle – by boat, kayak, ski kite and on foot ended.

Starting and finishing at North Cape in Norway, he became the first man to travel the Arctic Circle without motorized transport, completing a 20,000km journey through Greenland, Canada, Alaska, the Bering Strait and Russia’s Siberia, pulling a kevlar sledge piled with 180kg of equipment and food.

Prior to this Mike had an outstanding pedigree in extreme expeditions. Including Amazon Expedition, a solo, un-motorized traverse of the South American continent taking 6 months and Latitude Zero, the circumvolution of the world around the equator. Taking 18 months Mike Horn sailed, paddled, canoed and cycled around the world.

Valuable lessons from one of worlds greatest explorers

Before attempting the solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle expedition in 2004, Mike Horn did 2 things which I think we can learn alot from. Both in the sense that he was humble enough to do them and also how we can apply them to our own expedition projects.

The arctic was a completely foreign landscape to him and he recognized that he didn’t have a hope of being successful there without serving some kind of apprenticeship and learning from the best.

The first thing he did was to get himself invited on an expedition to Greenland with two Swiss explorer JeanTroillet and Erhard Loretan (3rd man to climb all the 8000m peaks without oxygen). This gave Mike the opportunity to be mentored by two of the world’s greatest Himalayan mountaineering experts.

On this Greenland expedition he basically worked as a packhorse but it gave him the opportunity to watch, listen, learn and soak up as much knowledge and information as possible. The most valuable and life saving lesson was the art of PATIENCE.

In conditions of extreme cold knowing when to stay in the tent and not to push on can be the difference between life and death. A naturally impatient and impulsive man it was a difficult lesson to learn. But vital as in arctic whiteout conditions many explorers have become lost and frozen to death just 2m from their tents

Mike Horn posses two of the most important characteristics of an extreme expedition explorer. These being a rock solid, steady temperament and an enormous capacity for physical endurance. But on returning from the Greenland Expedition he wondered if these were enough to fulfil his dreams of a solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle.

With this in mind he sought the advice and guidance of Borge Ousland, the first man to reach the North Pole solo as well as the first to cross Antarctica solo. Mike visited Norway to apprentice with him. To learn everything he could about this famous explorer, his way of life, his personality, the way he worked, his attitudes, and daily routines.

Mike didn’t know and had never met Borge however he was welcomed into his home and and over a number of days shared his polar knowledge and experience.

These examples of serving apprenticeships with expedition experts and learning everything we can from them are valuable and give us an insight into the character of Mike Horn and demonstrate why he went on to become one of the world’s most famous expedition explorers.

Mike has written an account of his solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle expedition called conquering the impossible

He is currently leading a fantastic ocean expedition for young explorers. For more information please visit Pangaea

Credits for the images in this article about extreme adventure expeditions and the lessons that famous explorers can teach us belong to Mike Horn

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