Shackleton. Scott. Amundsen. Mawson. Each of these individuals exemplify the early days of polar exploration and adventure. Their names have been written down in history books around the world. Their adventures, trials, and tribulations have become the backdrop for many explorers and adventurers that still look to them for inspiration. They are men of myth, men of legend, and men of intrigue. Their stories still consume us and occupy a small part of our minds that will forever make us yearn to strive farther and harder, pushing our boundaries to their utmost limits.

Ernest Shackleton, whom most people regard as one of the greatest polar explorers to ever live, never achieved his dream of reaching the South Pole. He was turned back less than 112 miles away from his original goal. In 1911, Roald Amundsen would beat him to the mark. Although Shackleton wasn’t the first to reach the South Pole, he is still remembered fondly for laying the groundwork that would eventually lead to it’s discovery. Through the course of his explorations, Shackleton was able to break many previous records for farthest person south. Just not the first to the South Pole.

In 2008, the Shackleton Centenary Expedition is set to launch. This expedition, led by Henry Worsley, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ernest Shackleton’s 1909 polar expedition aboard the Nimrod. The Shackleton Centenary Expedition will follow the same course, visit the same places, and hopefully reach the South Pole, much as Ernest Shackleton attempted to do in 1909.

Perhaps it runs in the family. Members of the Shackleton Centenary Expedition are directly related to those who were on the original Ernest Shackleton Expedition of 1909. It is a big undertaking that should draw up much interest in polar history, as well as help launch The Shackleton Foundation, a new charitable trust that will be used to honor the original crew of Ernest Shackleton’s expeditions, as well as celebrate the pioneering spirit, through grants and other means, to those who strive to help the less-fortunate of today.

I feel privelidged and honored to be able to present to you an exclusive interview with Henry Worsley, leader of the 2008 Shackleton Centenary Expedition to the South Pole:

Henry, first off, welcome to The Adventurist and thank-you for taking the time to speak with me. In 2008, you and your crew mates are planning on launching the Shackleton Centenary Expedition. How are things looking on your end? Are preparations going smoothly?

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I happened to discover a great publication, put out by Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources, that offers a glimpse into the outdoor life of fellow Hoosiers. Outdoor Indiana. I haven’t had a chance to research the past archives, but by looking at the latest rendition, it looks to be a very nice publication offering some insider news and features involving the great Indiana outdoors.

If you live in other states, you may discover that your own state puts out a similar publication. A simple way to find out is by typing in your state’s name + DNR into any search engine. You should find a link on the DNR site if one is available.

The thing that caught my eye about Outdoor Indiana was this month’s feature on mountain biking. This isn’t your normal run-of-the-mill mountain biking article and most people look to Indiana as anything but a ‘hot’ mountain biking destination, but through the efforts of a few individuals, the state is actually getting pretty well-known with bikers.

This article runs through some of the history associated with how most of Indiana’s mountain bike trails came into existence. Although they don’t exist in multitudes, the mountain bike trails of Indiana are quickly expanding. Much of this is do to one man and some thoughtful volunteers.

Mike Hufhand, who is an avid mountain biker, decided that after traveling to a few bike trails out-of-state that he would like to incorporate something of this nature in Indiana. At the time, Indiana only had one trail that specifically mentioned mountain biking as a purpose. That trail, at Roush Lake (near Huntington, IN), was designed in 1995 as an experimental project.

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This past month has been a bit hectic. First, I moved my website. Then I accepted a new position within Skinny Moose Media, my blog host company. On top of that, I am in the preparation stage of launching a new online magazine (more on that in a later post). All I can say is it’s been a busy month. Luckily, things are getting back under control.

Right before my move to Skinny Moose Media, I decided to launch a small project on The Adventurist. My Indiana. In theory, this would be my way of combining one love (that of adventure) with a more personal touch–my home state. Not everything on “My Indiana” revolves around adventure. This is the one space I allow myself to venture and discover what my home state has to offer. The first installment of My Indiana discussed what I am trying to do in more detail.

There have been a few other installments of My Indiana, but nothing on the regular basis that I had originally planned. The original plan was for a weekly column. This has been sporadic at best, often times coming every couple of weeks, with nothing in the past month. It’s time to get back on track.

Starting this week, I will probably take this blog down to 5 days a week. One reasoning is that most of my fellow bloggers take the weekend off to enjoy some time away from the computer. Although I won’t be making posts on The Adventurist on Saturday or Sunday, I will still be working on my other two projects. I need the time for that. In the meantime, this is going to give me the perfect opportunity to crank-up the “My Indiana” column. I am going to be setting this as my Friday feature and running it through the weekend. It gives me a nice stopping point for the week and gives me something to look forward to-almost like a day off. Hopefully, you will find the posts interesting and perhaps even learn about a state that gets very little media attention other than it’s sports-even though that could be a future topic, as well.

If all goes planned and people dig the new column, this may lead to a future blogging endeavor, but we will have to wait and see on that.

In the meantime, I mentioned that there had been a few “My Indiana” posts previously. You can find them by clicking below.

• My Indiana: The Adventurist Kicks Off A New Project Posted April 17, 2008
• My Indiana: Indiana and Midwest Rattled by Rare Earthquake Posted April 18, 2008
• My Indiana: Tornado Season Approaches, Beware and Prepare Posted April 29, 2008
• My Indiana: Summiting Mt. Baldy–Indiana Dunes National Lake Shore Posted May 27, 2008

Right above this post, you will find the latest installment, My Indiana: Mountain Biking Makes A Mark.

I have been following a series of articles on the Vice/Virtue and Splitterchoss Blogs for about two months now. Both of them have been offering up some good ideas on how to reuse some of that worn out equipment in some pretty creative fashions. Rather than tossing it out and filling up the landfills, the idea of what can be used, fixed, or recycled–rather than buying new equipment-is a pretty novel concept. Especially when you consider that each year hundreds of new outdoors equipment manufacturers are trying to get you to spend money on items that you may not even need.

Summer, over at the Vice/Virtue blog has put up another very good article. Her first piece, “Reduce, Reuse, Resole,” expanded on the merits that climbing shoes could be fixed cheaper than buying a new pair of shoes. Her second installment, “Rope Recycling, Rugs, and Cheapies“, looks at the climber’s lifeline-the almighty rope.

Ropes tend to tatter. Even the best of climbing ropes will only last so long going through the rigors and weight of holding a climber in place on a rough surface. Rock continuously grinds and shreds at ropes. Many of them are thrown out and replaced after only a few climbs. So what can we do to try to reuse or recycle climbing rope?

Summer suggests a few companies that actually offer up discounts for returning rope when you make a purchase. That would be rather easy, plus you get a nice discount. She also suggests sending it off to places like Mountain Equipment Co-op, who will tear the rope apart and use it as stuffing for other equipment. They offer that as a free service. You donate the rope, they recycle it.

Rope is actually one of those items that can come in handy around the house. You might not trust it to protect your life on a climb, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be good for something else..Summer mentions making a rope rug or practicing knot-tying. You could also use it, especially if you have a truck, as a tie-down, keeping everything in your truck nice and secure. Summer mentions clotheslines, dog leashes, and even pillow stuffing, if you want to take the time to separate the strands.

Along with the Vice/Virtue’s blog of ideas to reuse and recycle, we also get a list of companies that offer cheap rope for your future purchase and replacement needs. Pretty cool she has taken the trouble to come up with this nice article on rope. These ideas should save us time, money, and help with the environment.

While I am on the subject of Vice/Virtue, she is one of two bloggers that have recently joined up with the Skinny Moose Media team. Her blog address has changed so you might want to take note. The other blog to join the team, Discovering British Columbia, offers up some travels, insight, and adventure from the northern reaches of our continent. I approached both of these blogs about joining our team. They offer up some great content and adventure and I look forward to working with each of them in the future. Go check them out and welcome them aboard!

The North Pole could be ice free by the end of 2008. This is some startling news coming from The Independent, a news publication out of the U.K., today.

They mention that for the first time in human history that the North Pole could lose all of it’s ice by the end of 2008.

The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

Polar scientists, who incidentally they do mention by name, think that the chance of the North Pole being ice free in 2008 is 50-50.

The sea ice at the North Pole and the Arctic Ocean melts away during the summer. Last year’s melt-off was more extensive than previously believed, which left this years ice only a single year to build.

Ron Lindsay, a polar scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, agreed that much now depends on what happens to the Arctic weather in terms of wind patterns and hours of sunshine. “There’s a good chance that it will all melt away at the North Pole, it’s certainly feasible, but it’s not guaranteed,” Dr Lindsay said.

I think this news has caught everyone a bit off guard. Drudge Report already has it for a headline, but those that question the effects of even a slight temperature rise, may get their answer from the North, sooner, rather than later. Santa Claus rowing a boat just doesn’t have the same effect…

WILLISTON, VT (June 19, 2008) – Officials from Julbo, Inc. are pleased to announce the signing of new climbers, including: Colin Haley, Freddie Wilkinson, Althea Rogers, Ben Gilmore, Kevin Mahoney, Johnny Copp, Micah Dash, Heidi Wirtz and Emily Stifler, all world-class alpinists, to its athlete roster.

Julbo has been setting the industry standard in lens and frame technology since the company’s inception 120 years ago. These new athletes embody Julbo’s heritage in core mountaineering performance optics.

“Julbo is happy to be working with such a young and talented crew of athletes who are currently testing the boundaries of what’s possible in the mountains,” said Nick Yardley, Julbo’s U.S. president. “Above all, they are a great people whose company we enjoy. We are psyched that these athletes are looking at the world through Julbo glasses.”

• Colin Haley, 23, from Seattle, Wash. Career highlights: First ascents on The Entropy Wall on Mt. Moffit, the first linkup of the Marsigny-Parkin, the West Face on Cerro Torre, and the first ascent of Patagonia’s Torre Traverse. “I’m stoked to join the team of Julbo athletes,” says Haley. “I honestly think Julbo makes the best sunglasses on the market.”
• Althea Rogers, 23, from Bozeman, Montana. Career Highlights: First ascents in the mountains of Western Greenland and Alaska’s Absaroka Range.
• Freddie Wilkinson from Connecticut. Career highlights: First ascents in Patagonia’s Cerro Poincinot, The Fin in Alaska and Mount Mahindra in the Indian Himalayas.
• Emily Stifler, 27, from Montana. Career highlights: Freelance writer, climber and skier who spends winters as a ski patroller at Moonlight Basin. She is headed up to Alaska this year to explore new route possibilities on a group of granite domes near Bristol Bay.
• Ben Gilmore, 36, from Sonoma, Calif. First ascents include: Moose’s Tooth in Arctic Range, The Fin Wall, and Mantok Group in All Talk Couloir.
• Kevin Mahoney, 39, from New Hampshire. Career highlights: First ascents of Moose’s Tooth in the Arctic Range, Alaska, and in 2004 awarded the Golden Piton Award
• Micah Dash from Yosemite, Calif. Career highlights: First ascents of the Regular Route on Half Dome and El Capitan’s Freerider, also Nalumasortoq in Greenland and the Eternal Flame on Nameless “Trango” Tower in Paksitan.
• Johnny Copp, 32, from Boulder, Colorado. First ascents include: Shafat Fortress in Kashmir, India, South East Face of Cerro Mascara in Torres del Paine, Chilean Patagonia, and Mount Andrews in Alaska.
• Heidi Wirtz, 36, from Colorado. Career highlight: First ascent of the S. Howser Minarette, has climbed many giant rock walls all over the world as “Air Voyage” in Black Canyon and “Qui Lombo” on San Rafael in Patagonia. Heidi has plans to climb in Europe, Tasmania and Greenland in the near future.

For additional information on Julbo eyewear, visit www.julbousa.com or call 800.651.0833.

JULBO – OPTICAL SOLUTIONS FOR ACTION SPORTS

source:  ABC or Mountaineering

The Huber Brothers made headlines last year for breaking the speed-ascent record up The Nose of El Capitan. Their record may be in jeopardy of being broken when former record holder, Hans Florine, attempts to recapture his title of having the fastest ascent of one of the world’s hardest rock walls. Most climbers take 3-4 days to ascend the massive wall. The Hubers’ took a mere 2 hours, 25 minutes, breaking Hans Florine’s previous record by a mere three minutes.

Hans Florine has teamed back up with his former climbing partner, the one who originally helped him set his world mark, Yuji Hirayama. Yuji happens to be a man of celebrity in the world of rock climbing, especially in his native land of Japan where he has put up some amazing first ascent free-soloes on some of Japan’s largest cliffs.

The team is planning on making a run of the record at some point today. Don’t be surprised if you see some headlines in the coming days. Suffering from jet lag, a bandaged and sore finger, and barely any sleep, Yuji and Hans put up a time of 2 hours and 48 minutes–for practice.

By the way, the cool video in the corner is of the Hubers’ record breaking run up El Cap last year which will be featured in a soon-to-be-released movie “To The Limit.” Pretty incredible that this can now be done, under the right circumstances, in under 3 hours. Maybe we should have a nationally televised climb-off between the two–that would be sweet!

Outward Bound, the non-profit organization famous for leading kids into the wilderness and teaching survival skills, had to backtrack a bit and get rescued themselves this week. A group of nine kids and two instructors became lost in the Southern Sierra, an area where the Outward Bound students were looking to go climbing for a couple of days. Luckily, they were all rescued and are now safe.

First, I am going to give you the article, then I am going to make a few comments. You can find the article by clicking Outward Bound.

If you read this article, you will discover a couple of mistakes. First off, the group of teens being lead by their Outward Bound instructors, became sidetracked and got onto a different trail. When they failed to meet up with another instructor at a designated time and place, the third instructor called the Outward Bound home office looking for help–REDFLAG #1

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Jamie Emerson has unleashed a nice video montage of a recent bouldering trip to Switzerland, with few friends.  Luckily, it was also released on YouTube, offering me up the opportunity to show it here.

Jamie, who runs the B3Bouldering blog, is from Boulder, CO.  He offers up a great inside look at bouldering and what it has to offer-in his spare time.  Spare time doesn’t come easy though, not long after the Switzerland trip, it is now being noted that Jamie is off to Alaska for vacation.  I always thought climbing WAS the vacation!  Enjoy the video, then go check out the B3Bouldering Blog.  During the video, keep your eyes peeled for a very rare species of new elk that Jamie ran across.  I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like it before..

Arizona is set to build a massive new water park smack-dab in the middle of the desert.  This isn’t going to be any normal run-of-the-mill water park.  Developers are planning on offering surfing, kayaking, snorkeling and scuba diving at the new center.

The most interesting part of this whole article is that the new center will use approximately 110 million gallons of water a year.  Water, I might add, that is in very limited supply in drought stricken Arizona.

Just to put that in a bit of perspective–that is enough water to serve every person in the United States for close to a week.  This new water park will be built in an area that only gets 8 inches of waterfall per year.  What are they going to do, redirect the Rio Grande?

IF THAT WASN’T ENOUGH…

Dubai is set to build the world’s first spinning skyscraper.  Every floor of the newly designed skyscraper will be built to spin.  They are banking on the opportunity that people will be interested in having a continuously changing backdrop when they look out their windows.

The building will also continuously change shape for the passersby on the street.  The “Building in Motion” as it is being referred to, will stand 80 stories tall at a height of 1,380 feet.

The Rotating Tower Dubai Development Ltd., the company in charge of planning and building this skyscraper, already have a second and third rotating skyscraper in development.  The second one will be a few feet smaller and will be built in Moscow.  The plans for the third such skyscraper are still in the beginning stages, but they are hoping to put it up in New York City.

Could we be looking at a new “Golden Age” of architecture around the world?