Category: video

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paddling and hiking Alaska mid-winter

My favourite travelogue over the past few months has been Erin McKittrick and Bretwood (Hig) Higman’s Journey on the Wild Coast:

“From the Puget Sound to the Bering Sea: Four thousand miles along the edge of the Pacific, by foot, raft, and skis.”

After 8 months, they are only half way finished. (The original plan was 9 months for the entire 4000mi.)

The text and photos are terrific. But it was this video that really brought home to me the difficulty of travelling Alaska in winter.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It’s well worth checking out Erin’s post: Midway Reflections

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revealed – besthike editor LOVES desert off-road vehicles

by Rick McCharles

I was critical of off-road enthusiasts out of Moab, Utah. Clearly they do a lot of damage to the environment.

Related post: motorized vehicles ruin the Utah desert

But I’ve driven off-road myself in Huacachina, Peru. In the highest sand dunes in the world.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube:

That’s not me in the video. But we did exactly the same things there as do all tourists.

It was fantastic fun.

But there is a difference. Those vehicles do very little damage to the dunes or to the plant and animal life of the dunes. Next morning after a windy night, you’d never know a human had been there.

I still want to restrict off-road vehicles in the deserts of the SW USA.

photo-credit-george-novak.jpg
besthike editor Rick McCharles

Huacachina, Peru – Wikipedia

(via Think or Thwim)

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off-road motor vehicles vs hikers in Utah

I spent 2wks last year hiking out of Moab, Utah. Then got grief after criticizing the ethos of the “adventure destination” in this post: Moab, Utah – living a lie?

Comments like this offended:

Moab reminds me more of Mad Max than a desert oasis.

That town is a hub and a flash point for the off-road vehicle debate.
Two rangers are charged with policing 1.8 million acres of Utah wilderness. How well is that working, do you think?

off-road-vehicle-utah.jpg

This issue has finally hit the popular media. Most importantly in a series of New York Times articles including this one: Surge in Off-Roading Stirs Dust and Debate in West

Now in an accompanying video. Click here to watch it.

Personally, I vote to confine motor vehicles to the smallest geographic area possible. And to restrict jeeps and Hummers foremost as they cause far more damage than, by comparison, snowmobiles.

AND I would start in Moab, Utah. That town has it’s priorities wrong. It’s time to force the issue.

(via GOAT)

Related post: motorized vehicles ruin the Utah desert

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Alaska Brooks Range Traverse

Alaska wilderness guru Buck Nelson in 2006 made an incredible solo journey. Maximum pack weight was about 43 pounds.

He’s made a 90min documentary of that adventure.

My trip started June 18 at the border of the Yukon Territory and ended September 2nd at the ocean near Kotzebue.

alaska_map.jpg

The final mileage of my trip worked out to be an estimated 1,050 miles. 600 of those miles I covered while backpacking, with about 450 more miles covered on the Noatak River.

I made countless crossings of small streams. The vast majority of these crossings were in very shallow water where I just waded across quickly in my lightweight Goretex lined boots, which usually kept my feet dry. For slightly deeper water, I “bloused” my rain pants tightly around the tops of my boots with rubber bands and crossed the shallowest spots as quickly as possible. This was also quite successful, depending on how deep the water was and how fast I crossed. At other times I just had to get wet and waded rivers thigh deep or more. On the Alatna, I made a raft for the crossing.

I had grizzlies run towards me at least three times. In each case they ran as soon as they smelled me. (Presumably, they thought I was a caribou or moose at first.) I had bears walk into my camp at “night” about three more times. Again, each time they ran when they smelled me. I didn’t lose any sleep due to grizzly bear concerns.

The mosquitoes were thick at times, but my long-sleeved shirt and pants were both mosquito proof, and along with repellant as necessary it wasn’t too bad. A lot of the time when it was breezy or cool there were few or no mosquitos around.

The toughest unexpected part of the trip was perhaps the unusual amount of rain during the summer of 2006. The toughest part of the hike that I’d anticipated was the rough walking along many stretches.

I followed river and creek drainages that ran east-west along the Continental Divide as much as possible.

Alaska Brooks Range Traverse

A video preview featuring many of the animals encountered:

Alone Across Alaska from bucktrack.com on Vimeo.

Alone Across Alaska: 1,000 Miles of Wilderness – (DVD) $24.95

(via American Hiking Society)

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George Bush – National Parks video – pathetic

From everything I’ve heard and seen over the past 7-years, George Bush has been the worst President ever in terms of protecting the environment. National Parks, in particular, have been near lowest priority for his administration.

Just about every second day I get more bad news from the National Parks Traveler blog.

Now the White House has the nerve at the 11th hour to post a pro-Parks holiday YouTube video. At first I assumed it was an anti-Bush comedy clip. But it’s for real.

Like the Simpsons, George Bush has been reduced to self-parody.

Click PLAY or watch the President appoint his dogs to the rank of Jr. Park Rangers on YouTube.

This would be funny. If only it wasn’t so sad. Who’s advising those guys on how to flipflop to the green cause? This is viral marketing, bungled.

Americans — If you love National Parks, you should vote against the Republican Party.

(via Modern Hiker)

Read more details on the worst environmental President ever on the Get Outdoors blog.

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Banff Festivals – good not great

After 5-days at the Banff Mountain Festivals 2007, here’s my FINAL review:

totempole_190.jpgThis was my first trip to Banff for the festivals.

THE GOOD:

  • bringing together so many outdoors enthusiasts
  • Banff and the Rocky Mountains
  • food available on site
  • sponsors, especially National Geographic and New Balance
  • “reading rooms” for previewing the books
  • TV monitors showing the performances for those without tickets
  • no bottled water on site (reduced environmental impact)
  • enthusiastic volunteers

    • =====

    THE BAD:

  • Banff Centre is a surprisingly poor venue
  • events are widely scattered across campus
  • trade show spaces too small and scattered
  • theatres are not great
  • confusing website
  • confusing schedule of events

    • Small gripe: I could walk in and out of movies when I wanted. Except Sunday morning when suddenly I was not allowed in after the first movie had started.

    My biggest complaint, though, is too much focus on mountaineering at the expense of all other Mountain activities. If you are not interested in climbing, don’t bother coming. That’s the message I get, as a hiker.

    That’s amusing since the Canadian Rockies are infamous for dangerous rock climbing. The infamous “rotten Rockies”. Most of the world’s best climbers don’t come here — except for a holiday at the Banff Festival.

    For Books, 2007 was not a banner year. The movies were better, I thought.

    I’m not sure the Banff Centre could ever host a great festival. The venue is limited.

    My advice is that you attend, instead, the superb World Tour. Or the Radical Reels tour. Check out the award winning books and award winning movies on-line. No need to spend the time and money to come to Banff.

    The Kendal Mountain Festivals in the UK looks better to me at first glance.

    Ask anyone else who travelled to Banff, you’ll get a more positive review, I think. I may be too critical.

    Banff Mountain Festivals 2007 – official website

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    Radical Reels Tour – Banff Mountain Film Festival

    This is a spin-off of the regular Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. But is also highly recommended. See both, if you can. Radical Reels tours much less widely.

    The Radical Reels Film Tour complements the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, and focuses on dynamic, high-adrenalin films featuring sports such as skiing, climbing, kayaking, BASE jumping, snowboarding and mountain biking.

    Radical Reels Tour: Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre

    The upcoming promo video trailer has not yet been posted. But you can click PLAY or watch last year’s promo on YouTube.

    More information for those who can tolerate long blog posts:

    … the Banff Mountain Film Festival has included the Radical Reels night, which is a special screening of the wildest high-adrenaline films entered in the Banff Mountain Film Festival. So many action films were being submitted to the film festival that they could not fit into the regular screenings, resulting in the creation of the hugely successful Radical Reels evening presentation.

    Now you don’t have to journey to Banff each fall to see these exciting films! Since 2004, the Radical Reels Tour has also been out on the road. The established Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour has been thrilling audiences since 1981.

    Most World Tour screenings include a range of different themes (adventure sports, environment, mountain culture, heritage, etc.) and styles (action-filled shorts; longer, more comprehensive films; amateur and professional productions; etc.). The Radical Reels Tour presentations incorporate all these elements, but the focus is on dynamic, high-adrenaline films featuring sports such as skiing, climbing, kayaking, BASE jumping, snowboarding and mountain biking. These activities continue to be included on the World Tour, but Radical Reels Tour is for audiences who prefer all action films.

    The Radical Reels Film Tour visits approximately 19 states and provinces, reaching over 35 different locations. Most screenings take place in the September to October and February to May time periods. …

    locations visited linked from this page – more information

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    Banff Mountain Film Festival WORLD TOUR

    Do what you have to to get tickets for the Film Festival if it gets anywhere close to you.

    It’s brilliant. Highlights from the multi-day festival.

    The Banff Mountain Film Festival is on the road across North America and around the world. Whether you are an experienced mountaineer or an armchair adventurer, this event is for everyone. Don’t miss the excitement!

    The Tour Schedule is linked from the home page – World Tour: Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre

    The event sponsors are prominently mentioned — OK, it’s a commercial — in the second half of the video. But it’s still worth watching. This is the kind of TV commercial I like.

    Click PLAY or watch the promo trailer on YouTube.

    Frequently Asked Questions

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    Alone across Australia – John Muir

    One man and his dog, 128 days and 1553mi (2500km), the first person to walk solo and unassisted across the continent of Australia.

    Adventurer of the Year Andrew Skurka just completed 6875mi on his Great Western Loop, but I reckon John Muir’s trek across Australia in 2001, on his fourth attempt, was even tougher.

    Mainly because there is no water in most of Australia.

    My favourite, the People’s Choice favourite, from the Banff Mountain Film Festival 2005 was the emotional story of Jon Muir and his Jack Russell, Seraphine.

    This is a survival epic. The psychology of pushing yourself to the brink.

    Alone Across Australia

    Alone Across Australia

    The distributor of the documentary posted a 10min trailer on YouTube. Well worth checking out. I love this film.