climbing Island Peak, Nepal

intights from March 2008. Some nice trekking footage. Great music.

Compilation of short video clips and some stills taken on Trek from Lukla to Gokyo, over the Cho-La, to Gorak Shep, Everest base camp, then with an Ascent of Island Peak (Imja Tse). Includes additional photos/footage of Kathmandu and flight to/from Lukla.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (8min)

The rest of this Aussie travel blog posts are well worth a browse.

backpacking the John Muir Trail

An entertaining 6min HD video by Pete Bell.

… an end to end hike of the JMT this past summer. It features 5 high school students from Chapel Hill, NC and their experience along the trail. We took 16 days at about 15 miles of hiking per day to hike all 220 miles from Yosemite Valley south to Mt. Whitney. We had one resupply at Vermilion Resort where the group cleaned out the small store there trying to stock up with 9 days of food.

It includes one bear encounter.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

BestHike JMT information page.

World’s Most Dangerous Hike – Hua Shan


The best video of this hike I’ve seen yet.

Robin takes off to China to find the source of one of the web’s most amazing photos, and see if Mount Hua is indeed the world’s most dangerous hike. More gonzo madness at www.moderngonzo.com

Travel Writer Robin Esrock now has a TV Show, as well, called Word Travels showing in Canada on OLN, and in dozens of countries worldwide on National Geographic Adventure.

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico


I just discovered Adventure-Crew.com, a site devoted to adventuring in the American National Parks.

Click PLAY or watch one of their videos on YouTube.

Adventurer Mike Pudlo hikes through White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo, New Mexico without getting lost. See several highlights and learn why White Sands is well, white.

Adventure-Crew.com has 60+ more videos on YouTube. A great resource!

I am getting them via iTunes in the Podcast section. Or watch them on their website: Adventure-Crew.com

The also offer updates by email newsletter, if you prefer. Or RSS feed.

It’s all free.

Planet Earth – our home

The Secret Team has created a gift for you. This clip features our beautiful Planet Earth. As you experience this clip you will emit positive forces of energy across Planet Earth that will reach every single living thing on it. You will lift yourself, and as you lift yourself, you lift the entire world.

The magnificent music was composed and graciously gifted for this clip by composer Jo Blankenburg.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks George.

VholdR – wearable sport camcorder

I’m looking at options for recording adventure racing events.

This would work.

VholdR Wearable Camcorder (Black)

VholdR Wearable Camcorder (Black) ($330)

Leave a comment if you have any other recommendations.

“Waterproof” (or water resistance) is a big selling point. Here is the VholdR being used on a Jetski.

Survivorman – publish, not perish

… how do you like that headline, Tom?

From the sun-scorched sands of the Kalahari to the snake-infested jungles of the Amazon, Les Stroud has survived it all. Now, the creator, producer, and host of the hit television show Survivorman shares his field-tested expertise and gives you a no-nonsense look at the real world of survival. …

Survivorman.ca

Now he’s an author. I’m adding his new book to my Christmas wish list:

Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere - Alive

Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere – Alive

I’ll add my thanks to the many others who love the reality TV show that Les Stroud did SOLO for three season. That’s impressive.

The first two seasons are available on DVD:

  • Survivorman
  • Survivorman: Collection 2
  • (via The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog)

    Last Nomads wins Banff Festival 2009

    The Last Nomads, a film that tracks Canadian linguist Ian Mackenzie deep into the endangered Borneo rain forest in search of one of the world’s last remaining hunter-gatherer cultures, has won the Grand Prize at the 2008 Banff Mountain Film Festival. Produced and directed by Andrew Gregg, the film follows Mackenzie, who has spent years trying to finish a dictionary of the vanishing language of the Penan people. It was the scientist’s passion and single-minded devotion to this unique project that swung the Film Festival jury in its favour, and was one of many films awarded this year that bring audiences into little-seen cultures and environments.

    ”This is beautifully and sensitively crafted film that delivers a strong message without being evangelical, weaving Mackenzie’s views with a look at a disappearing world on the edge of an insatiably encroaching world,” says jury member Brian Hall. …

    last_nomads_l.jpg

    Banff Centre

    The Festival has posted a list of the other Award-winning Films.

    I’m looking forward to the world tour highlights videos.

    (via Outside)

    magic rock balancing video

    Danny Brown put together an interesting art piece.

    A short film that is played entirely in reverse and involves the “reverse destruction” of balanced rock sculptures. There is one character in the movie that appears to magically create these sculptures. Although the film is played in reverse it appears as the man who is doing his magic is going forwards in time.

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    (via The Adventure Channel)