Video: 200 Foot Fall Caught On GoPro

A 13-year old skier hiking along the Aspen Highlands takes a big fall in this video. Lucky for him he wasn't seriously hurt and lucky for his us his GoPro camera was recording everything at the time. Looks pretty scary, and I said "ouch" a few times on the way down.

Video: Antarctic Explorer Finds Supply Cache

When the Antarctic season was in full swing, one of the explorers that we followed on a regular basis was Aleksander Gamme, who made a solo expedition from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole and back again. It took the Norwegian 100 days to complete that journey, which was in an incredibly challenging one to say the least. Just how challenging? The video below shows Aleksander on Day 86 when he came across his final supply cache. The pure joy he exhibits at finding a package of Cheese Doodles amongst his supplies has to be seen to be appreciated. He does speak in Norwegian throughout the video (translation here) but his reaction is probably one that we can all relate to in any language. You'll see that reaction around the 55 second mark.

Video: Rafting Over Condit Damn

We've seen some paddlers drop over absolutely massive falls over the past few years, but the video below is certainly right up there in terms of being scary. It features paddler Dan McCain going over Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington in a raft. Yep, he makes a 125-foot drop over the dam in just a raft. Crazy!

Thanks to Canoe & Kayak magazine for sharing this.

Video: First Ascent of Cerro Autana Teaser

Cerro Autana is is a remote table mountain located in the jungles of Venezuela. It features a 1400 meter (4593 ft) rock face that until recently had never been scaled. Brit Leo Houlding made the journey to take on the mountain and later this summer we'll all get treated to a documentary of that adventure. Below you'll find a teaser for that film which will be coming our way via Posing Productions.

The film, when it is finally released, will be called Autana - First Ascent in the Lost World. Judging from what is shown here, the climb was only part of what the team had to deal with. It looks like there were plenty of big bugs and other critters, not to mention a generally hostile environment, for them to wade through before they even touched the rock.

Considering this is a part of the world that I would really like to visit, I can't wait to see what more they show in the final film.

Video: Last of the Great Unknown Trailer

The Grand Canyon is, without a doubt, one of the most spectacular outdoor settings on the planet. But when most people think about it, they conjure up images of the immense rift in the Earth's surface that stretches for 277 miles (445km) in length and is as wide as 18 miles (29km) at points. What most people don't know however is that Grand Canyon also has a series of twisting, narrow, labyrinthine canyons that are seldom visited and haven't been completely explored.

In a few weeks time a new documentary will be unveiled at the 5Point Film Festival entitled Last of the Great Unknowns. That film follows a team of explorers who descended into those canyons and explored some of the more remote areas of the GC, and in the process may have become the first humans to ever see some of those places. The trailer for that documentary is below and it looks amazing.

Thanks to the Best Hike Blog for the tip.

Video: This Is My Planet, You Really Should Come See It Sometime

The video below was used as part of a promotional campaign put on by G Adventures, a fantastic adventure travel company that can take you to just about anywhere on the planet. While on the most basic level it may simply be a commercial, I personally love the message that it shares and the images that are on display. I also happen to think that it also aligns very nicely with my personal approach to travel and love its core message about finding your own adventures.

Video: BASE Jumping Antarctica

I came across this video this morning over at ExWeb. It is a preview for a full documentary of an expedition that went to Antarctica back in 2009, where the team of explorers snowboarded, climbed, and BASE jumped from an impressive looking rock tower. ExWeb has a short profile of Geraldine Fasnacht who was one of the members of that team, and has another of her videos on display as well.

Video: "Hobo" Monkey Goes to the Edge of Space

Back in November of last year Australian indie band Skipping Girl Vinegar and a team of "cowboy scientists" joined forces to launch a stuffed toy monkey by the name of Baker to the edge of space. They attached a giant weather balloon to a model rocket and added a small video camera to catch all the action. The results can be seen in the video below, which shows Baker going up into the stratosphere for some spectacular views, before plummeting back to Earth where he was recovered – apparently little worse for wear.

Lucky monkey!

Video: The New Northwest Passage

Back in 2009, explorer Cameron Dueck successfully sailed through the Northwest Passage where he witnessed first hand the impact of global climate change on the Inuit people that live there. The four-month long voyage was an adventure in and of itself as Dueck and his three-person crew contended with massive storms, icy waters and the challenges of navigating through unknown waters. On April 10 a book entitled The New Northwest Passage: A Voyage to the Front Line of Climate Change will be released. That book will chronicle the 15,000km (8100 nautical mile) journey that was both an amazing adventure and a revealing look at the impact of global warming on a group of people who are witnessing its effects first hand. The promo video below gives us a tiny glimpse into what that voyage was all about.


Book Promo -- New Northwest Passage: A Voyage to the Front Line of Climate Change from Cameron Dueck on Vimeo.

Blind Adventure Athletes Plan To Cycle The Americas

Here's an interesting cycling adventure that was sent my way by a reader. Christi Bruchok and Tauru Chaw have embarked on an epic journey by bike. Over the next year or so they'll be riding from the southernmost tip of South America all the way to Alaska – tandem no less. And while we have seen others make this ride on more than one occasion, what sets Christi and Tauru apart is that they are both legally blind.

Calling their little expedition Two Blind to Ride, the duo set out back in January and have been making steady progress ever since. As of now, they have already covered more than 1887km (1172 miles) and are near Coihaique, Chile. Along the way they've already had their fair share of adventure, but seem to be thoroughly enjoying the ride thus far. Regular updates to their blog help keep us well informed of their progress and the photos they are posting will definitely inspire you to want to embark on a similar ride of your own.

Their website also explains their "blindness" as both of them can see to a degree. In Christi's case her vision is severely blurred, while Tauru suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic condition that will eventually lead to complete blindness, but currently leaves him with severe tunnel vision.

This isn't the first adventure for these two. In 2009 they made a tandem journey across the U.S. by bike as well, which has given them the confidence that they can make this ride as well. It should definitely be fun to follow their progress over the months ahead.

Video: Alaskan First Ascents on Arrigetch Peaks

Awhile back I posted a great video that highlighted some tough climbs on the Arrigetech Peaks in Alaska's Brooks Range. Today we have another video from that expedition, this time shot by Corey Rich. On that excursion, the team skied 20 miles from their drop-off point just to reach Base Camp, where they then proceeded with the climbing. The video captures that adventure quite well, while also giving us an idea of how spectacular the wilderness is in that area.

The entire short film, which is nearly 20 minutes in length, was shot on a Nikon D7000, which is a very affordable and high quality DSLR that is perfect for these kinds of expeditions. It's amazing that we've come to the point where we can get great photos and video from the same camera.



Nikon - Deep North from Corey Rich on Vimeo.

Video: Fourth Grader Learns To Ski Jump

This just might be the video video you'll see all week. It is shot from a helmet cam of a fourth grade girl who is about to make her first ski jump. You can hear her psyching herself up for the run and you don't have to see her face to hear the trepidation in her voice. The end results are awesome however and I have to give her major props for overcoming her fears and making the jump. Not sure I could do this!

Video: Aurora Borealis in Timelapse

I think we'll close things off this week with this amazing video of the night skies over Norway where the unusually heavy solar activity this year have created some breathtaking images in the night sky. This is truly spectacular stuff to say the least.


Aurora Timelapse. Fire in the sky. from Anna Possberg on Vimeo.

Video: Ultrabook Temptations

Intel is looking to spread the word about the Ultrabook laptop designs which are being built by a variety of manufacturers and feature super-thin notebooks that are both powerful and have long lasting batteries. To that end, they've launched a "social experiment" to see what people will go through to earn one of the computers and they're calling this campaign Ultrabook Temptations.

One of the videos from the campaign can be found below. It was shot on Bondi Beach in Australia, where ten Ultrabooks were hidden in cases and visitors to the beach were encouraged to use a metal detector to find them. They also dropped in things like a kitchen sink or mannequin parts to throw those searching off the scent. The results were often kind of humorous. I especially liked the woman who was continually digging holes as she randomly looked for the prize.

What does this have to do with adventure? Not much exactly, but the videos are kind of charming and the Ultrabooks are fantastic for travel. I own one and love how thin and lightweight it is when I'm looking to pack as light as possible. Definitely worth a look if you're in the market for a new PC.

Skydiver Makes 13-Mile Test Jump

Felix Baumgartner is a skydiver who hopes to make a record setting jump later this year. Yesterday, in preparation for that attempt, he made a test jump from 13-miles in the sky. Baumgartner used a hot air balloon to carry a small capsule up to 71,580 feet then, wearing a pressure suit that looks like something an astronaut would use, he leapt into the air and eventually floated back to Earth.

Baumgartner was in free fall for three minutes 43 seconds and reached speeds in excess of 364 miles per hour. It took him eight minutes to complete the leap but he hopes to top that this summer when he'll raise the bar to 23 miles up.

Video: We Are Living In The Future

I came across this video earlier today and thought that it showed an amazing blend of technologies. It is an 11-minute long tech demo of a Microsoft Surface-powered interface for exploring space. For those who aren't familiar with Surface, it is a touch based interface that is designed to be used on displays that are integrated directly into a table. In this case it results in something right out of Minority Report with some amazing results.

Anyone who is interested in technology and space will immediately want to place an order for this thing. Cost is rumored to be about $8000.

Saint Patrick's video (1st ESO)

Saint Patrick's video (4rt C)

http://englishdaybyday.over-blog.org/article-saint-patrick-s-day-oral-comprehension-test-47796611.html

Video: The Entire Universe is Connected

Recently the famous astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked what the most astounding fact about the universe was he gave the answer that you find in the video below. It is one of those things that will make you feel both incredibly humble and yet oddly comforted all at the same time. The images are simply breathtaking as well.

Max the Cat 3