No, this isn’t a reference to a new Dr. Seuss book–this is actually a true story. 

On July 21, Dan Prather was out doing a little fishing on his sea kayak along with 16 other people.  They happened to be fishing a remote island about a mile south of San Francisco.

Suddenly Dan was in the water.  He surfaced to find the front end of his sea kayak lodged in the mouth of what he thinks was a Great White…so what does Dan do?  He climbs right back on his Kayak…then falls back off once again.

Dan finally makes it back on to his Kayak for the second time, and it seemingly scares the shark away.

This is a great story coming by way of Canoe and Kayak Magazine.

When Dan finally high-tailed it back to shore (the shark had punctured a small hole in the front end of the kayak)..a fellow fisherman asked him if he had any luck fishing, he said, “Yeah, caught a shark…”

Swing on over and read this interesting and ARTICLE.  I think that this is one fishing trip where I would have been glad to get the smallest catch.

I previously made a post concerning the “Official” Michael Reardon Celebration taking place on August 18, 2007. Here is a bit more information.

Celebrate Michael Reardon

August 18, 2007–9 am

Malibu Creek State Park, 1925 Las Virgenes Rd., Calabasas, CA   91302      (818)880-0367 for more info.

Dress:  Climbing Casual.

Come ready to listen as Michael’s friends and family celebrate his life, his accomplishments, and finally get a word in edgewise without his blessed interuptions.  Bring your gear and climb with us when your done.  FREE PARK ENTRY & PARKING

All of this information is coming directly from the official flyer that I have been supplied with from a friend of the family.  The flyer itself is beautiful, but it was sent to me in .pdf format, so I am trying to figure out a way to post the flyer at this time.

In a previous post, it was mentioned that this was a Memorial to Michael Reardon, at this time, it is being corrected as a Celebration.  No Memorial will be taking place, but this is the closest thing you are going to get. 

Michael Reardon will always be thought of as the Happy-Go-Lucky Persona that he was, caring first about family and second about climbing….but always celebrating life to its fullest.  If you are in the area, please stop by and show your support not only for Micheal Reardon, but also his family who was the inspiration and drive behind Michael’s greatest of accomplishments.

Ok, so everyone is familiar with this ongoing debate by now.  It has been noted that aspects of Bear Grylls’ Man vs. Wild show on Discovery Channel has been staged.

Many people have been piping in with their thoughts on this issue.  It has erupted a debate among many viewers of Bear’s show, as well as “Survivorman” Les Stroud’s very successful Discovery Channel series as well.  Who is better?  Who is the real deal?

Well thankfully, Les Stroud has come to answer a few of these questions himself.  Today, being featured on the AOL news, Les Stroud has been interviewed not only about this ongoing controversy surrouding Bear’s show, but also a few questions about Les hosting the 20th Anniversary Edition of Shark Week being featured on Discovrey Channel.

This is definately an interesting read, and just may answer a few questions that fellow viewers might have been asking themselves.  Here is the link to the Les Stroud interview.  What do you think?

In December of 2006 The Adventurist began to cover a story of three climbers who had become stranded near the summit of Mt. Hood.  A few days later, this event became a media blitz. 

Hope for the successful rescue of Brian Hall, Jerry Cooke, and Kelly James soon dimminished as the first body was discovered.  In the proceeding days this tragic event would ignite controversy in the climbing community as well as the world at large, and eventually would become the backbone for a piece of legislation in Utah to require climbers to wear tracking beakons while going up Mt. Hood.

A new book has been published regarding this recent tragedy.  Mt. Hood:  The Deep Blue Zone takes a look at these events as they unfolded and captured a nation’s attention.  The Book’s author Hubert Allan, Jr. looks at this tragedy, the members involved, and perhaps what exactly took place high up on the slope of Mt. Hood. 

In the coming week, The Adventurist will have the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Hubert Allan, Jr. regarding this unfortunate event, as well as his latest book, for this site.  First, though, I would like to give you a bit more information on Mt. Hood:  The Deep Blue Zone from Amazon.com.

Here is what is mentioned on Amazon.com:

Book Description:

America’s most riveting mountain search occurred in December 2006 on Mount Hood in Oregon, USA. This book is not only exhaustively researched but includes estimated weather data for the summit deemed so useful that it was adopted into many of the investigation reports. What did happen to those three climbers? Get “The Deep Blue Zone” now on your shelves and find out!

Amazon does make a note that they only have 5 copies of this book left in stock, but coming from this review of Mr. Allan’s book, you can probably see why:

Written by experienced winter mountain climber Hubert A. Allen Jr., Mount Hood The Deep Blue Zone: Story of the 2006 Climbing Tragedy is a reconstruction of what possibly happened to three climbers who became lost on Oregon’s Mount Hood in 2006. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this day-by-day reconstruction, pieced together from both primary and secondary sources. Appendices consisting of data for weather conditions on Mount Hood as well as a climbing glossary round out this thoughtful, detailed dissection of a recent tragedy. “Citizens, most of them non-climbers, debated the very premise of winter climbing. Non-climbers argued about how selfish it was for the three men to go off and climb what looked like an absurd project. But these men had no death wish. Indeed, there are indications that this group was working their way up to an attempt on Mount Everest.” Recommended reading for any practicing or would-be mountain climber.

This book has a price of $16.29 and is available in hardback only, at this time. 

Many of you have come by my site for information regarding this tragic event.  The posts I made concerning the Mt. Hood Tragedy are still listed in my Top Ten posts every month, and it seems that the more time that goes by, the more interest that is generated.  As far as I know, this is the first account of this tragedy to be published.  Should be a very interesting read and hopefully shed more light on this sad and controversial subject for all of us.

Please stay tuned in the coming week to The Adventurist, as I will be bringing you this exclusive interview with the Author of Mt. Hood:  The Deep Blue Zone, Mr. Hubert. A. Allan, Jr.

A special service to celebrate the life of Michael Reardon, who tragically disappeared off the coast of Ireland two weeks ago, will be held on August 18, 2007.

This special service will be taking place at Malibu Creek State Park located 4 miles south of highway 101 on Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon Road, 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles, California.

This will be the “Official” Memorial and Service for Michael Reardon.  Everyone is invited, but guests are being asked by the family to dress very casually in jeans or shorts and sneakers or flip-flops, Michael’s preferred style of dress.

Marci and Nicki, Michael’s wife and daughter, will be attending this special ceremony, as will many family members and friends. 

If you can attend to show your support for this great family in these trying times, please make plans for August 18.

As far as I know, this is the first report of this Memorial Service anywhere else in the world, and as such, it is requested that you pass this information along as far and wide as you possibly can.  This family deserves this special time and the more people involved, the better.  Michael touched alot of lives through his own.  His number 1 love in life was not climbing, but his family.  It is time to show them all the appreciation–

Alright, now I have got your interest.  Just about everybody in the climbing world knows of the Mt. Everest tragedy that the above title speaks of…May 10-11, 1996, 12 people perished in perhaps the worst climbing accident in history.  Much has been published, this story has been well publicized–yet to this day it still draws condescending and conflicting emotions.

Jon Krakaur, the bestselling author of Into Thin Air, and Anatoli Boukreev, author of the responding bestseller The Climb, have both pitched their versions of the story– Read the rest of this entry »

Two hours after posting an article on “The Fall of Bear Grylls” by The Adventurist,  a post has come up from Reuters, the world-wide syndicated news agency, calling into question Bear Grylls antics on Man vs. Wild.

The Reuters Reporter, Andrew Wallenstein, has actually went to Discovery Channel and questioned them on their program..here is part of The Discovery Channel’s Response:

Discovery Communications has learned that isolated elements of the ‘Man vs. Wild’ show in some episodes were not natural to the environment, and that for health and safety concerns the crew and host received some survival assistance while in the field.

Moving forward, the program will be 100% transparent and all elements of the filming will be explained upfront to our viewers.  In addition, shows that are to be repeated will be edited appropriately. Bear Grylls is a world-class adventurer and a terrific talent.

So it sounds to me like the Man vs. Wild, will now be the Man vs. Wild–with a disclaimer.  At least this will be a little bit of acknowledgement towards the fact that they, as well as Bear Grylls, have been leading the public to believe that everything that happened on the show–was indeed truthful, when in fact, some aspects have been set-up.  It is also noted though, that Discovery Channel plans to stick by Bear Grylls and his Man vs. Wild television show.

What is even a little more amusing are the comments that people are writing in about this article.  I will share a couple of them now as well:

From Wackytraveler:

Of course the Bear Grylls show is staged. In one episode, he parachutes into a rain forest. Next, we see him demonstrating how to extricate himself from the tree in which he’s landed. So, did he just happen to land exactly where the camera crew was posted; or did he land in the tree for hours until the video crew could reach him; or was he hoisted into the tree in order to be filmed? As long as a full camera crew follows him around in the “wilderness” his survival experiences won’t be genuine. Watch SURVIVORMAN Les Stroud, also, on Discovery, who films himself in the wilderness. He’s the real deal.

From Dennsnyd7:

Some of the situations were a little dramatic and hard to believe and others were simply not true. ie. A piece of steel wire cannot be magnatized by rubbing it in your hair. If the leaf compass did in fact work the wire was already magnatized before he rubbed it on his hair. I hope no one would be foolish enough to try some of the things he proposes in the name of survival. Check your facts people and don’t believe everything you see in the movies.

So now this has erupted into a much larger debate, and I am sure more will be coming out about this situation.  As of this time, Bear Grylls remains amazingly quiet and has not commented on these new allegations, or the fact that his show will now be disclaimered and edited–so as to not fool the audience.  Will be very interesting to see how this all pans out in the future…

(Editor’s Note:  At this time, the news article being discussed is found on the AOL News Service.)

ExplorersWeb is at it, yet again.  When I first started following this story, I questioned ExplorersWeb’s intentions.  Well it looks like they just may have been on to something.  Information is coming out of the woodworks on Bear, not only about his supposed flight over the top of Mt. Everest..but now it seems it may just be about his whole career…

I recieved a tip today about Mr. Grylls, in regards to his previous military service–after stopping by ExplorersWeb, it seems that they have recieved the same tip, as they have included this in their lead story…seems like the viewers are starting to get disgruntled at Mr. Grylls and are passing on the tips to sites like this one, The Adventure Blog and ExplorersWeb.  Here is the lowdown:

Mr. Grylls was indeed in the SAS or the British Special Forces, as he claims.  What he doesn’t mention to the public is that he was in the SAS (21)–an easier and less dangerous branch filled with prospects looking to get into the SAS (22)–the hardcore, real deal.

Bear also mentions on his site that he got out because he was in a “horendous” helicopter accident in Africa that left his back broken in three places…  We are still looking to verify this information as well–

So much has been coming out about Bear making up stories, changing words as he pleases–and in a sense trying to create a persona in the media that is a little far from the truth, that nobody is real sure about what to believe…

Even his shows Man vs. Wild and Born Survivor: Bear Grylls try to create him as this mythic superhuman that can and does get out of any situation–Alive.  Over the past couple of weeks, reports of what is really going on during these “Adventure Excursions” is starting to become more clear–they have been meticulously set-up to trick the viewer that Bear was actually doing everything he says, yet in reality, it was prearranged.

ExplorersWebs intentions, I am sure, was not to discredit Mr. Grylls in the beginning, but as the story has come around full circle now and every detail of Bear’s career is being analyzed, I think it is safe that we can all assume that nothing is as it seems.

For the complete breakdown of the truth vs. lies of Bear Grylls, I request that you head on over to the ExplorersWeb site and check out their lead story…

I guess to me, personally, I am now even questioning whether or not their is a Bear Grylls, or if this is all just a made up media blitz as well.  I guess we will all have to wait and see..

Many of you have asked for a photo of myself so that you may put a face with who you are emailing and talking with.  I guess for me personally, I have never really wanted to be in the spotlight, as far as myself…now my writing, that is another thing altogether…

I recently had the good fortune of taking a trip to the West Coast….got to enjoy some great weather, some fun in the sun, and surfing some great waves.. Read the rest of this entry »

Markus Kronthaler’s body has been recovered.  This daring Expedition on Broad Peak was successfully initiated by Markus’ brother Georg.

Markus, who was climbing Broad Peak (8, 074 meters) last year, succumbed to exhaustion and dehydration after successfully making his summit bid.  His body was found near the summit by a team of climbers put together by his brother.  Georg, as well as the rest of the Welt de Berg Team members, will successfully go down in history after making the world’s highest altitude body recovery.

Georg Krothaler is hoping that his success at retrieving his brother’s body will help encourage other climbers that these recovery expeditions can succeed.

I don’t just want to bring my brother down—I want to change the ethical principles in high altitude climbing. We can’t only focus on our sport goals and thus walk literally over corpses—someone who had an accident doesn’t deserve to be left there like garbage. Read the rest of this entry »