Eight Women from Eight Countries Ski to South Pole
There may not be much powder skiing in Antarctica. Nonetheless a team of eight women from Commonwealth countries set off on skis toward the South Pole yesterday. Hailing from Cyprus, Ghana, Singapore, India, Brunei, New Zealand, Britain, and Jamaica, they are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth with the aim of spreading the good word of cultural exchange and the power of women. They expect the 500-plus-mile journey across Antarctica to take about 40 days, depending on blizzards and such.
"I don't think I could put in words how empty it all seems," reported Stephanie Solomonides, an expedition member reporting after day one. To follow their progress, check out their podcasts and updates on the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition's website.
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November 24, 2009
The Good Route: Picturing Climate Change at COP15
©Daniel Beltrá, courtesy of The Prince’s Rainforests Project and Sony
Some of Daniel Beltrá's photographs are shockingly beautiful, but many are just plain shocking. And it's the latter group—which illustrate burning, drought-stricken and clear-cut rainforests of Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia—that just may push our political leaders toward making real progress at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) to be held next month in Copenhagen.
The Prince's Rainforests Project, an effort that Prince Charles of Wales established in 2007 in order to raise awareness about rainforest destruction and raise funds to support rainforest preservation, appointed Beltrá (through the Sony World Photography Awards) to photograph the world's largest and most important rainforests as part of the campaign. Now, some of these images—which show not only wide-scale damage to the rainforests but also vignettes of pristine sections (after all, leaders need to know what they're fighting for)—are collected in a book, Rainforest: Lifebelt for an Endangered Planet, which key world leaders at COP15 will receive.
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November 17, 2009
Marine Animals Help Create Patagonian Atlas
The Wildlife Conservation Society and Birdlife International have released the first atlas of the Patagonian Sea, and it's all thanks to penguins, albatrosses, and other marine animals, reports ENN. The organizations fitted various animals with satellite transmitters to track migratory patterns and feeding spots, and the atlas is said to contain the most accurate maps of the area in existence. The Patagonian Sea reaches from southern Brazil to southern Chile.
-- Lisa Lombardi
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November 10, 2009
Eric Larsen Prepares for South Pole
Eric Larsen is now in Chile, preparing for his expedition to the South Pole as part of his Save the Poles project, which will involve a year-long expedition to the ends of the Earth and the summit of Mount Everest to raise awareness of global warming. Larsen is trying to get as much sleep as he can to prepare for the journey, according to his blog. He's also stocking up on food--180 soup packets, 180 Rittersport candy bars, 36 salamis, four bottles of olive oil, and 20 packages of butter, to be exact. You can read Outside's interview with Larsen in the November issue.
--Aileen Torres
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October 14, 2009
The Good Route: Rogue Stretches Out for Salmon, Boaters
The Savage Rapids Dam prior to removal.
In our August issue, Grayson Schaffer argued that whitewater kayak industry is drying up. But thankfully, a number of the most important waterways in the US are doing just the opposite, thanks to the removal of about 40 dams each year, as reported in New York Times this summer.
And just last weekend, another barrier—the Savage Rapids dam near Grants Pass, Ore.—was removed, opening a stretch of the Rogue between Gold Hill and Grants Pass that, by keeping them from their spawning grounds, had been a known killer of salmon and steelhead for decades.
But after so many years being pent up, this section of the Rogue is going to need some time to settle into its new surroundings and flush out debris left by the dam. The Oregonian reports that this has already been made tragically clear by the death of a jet-boat driver at the removal site.
Many other boaters were able to navigate the newly-opened section safely in a large flotilla carrying about 80 people, according to the New York Times. The conservation group WaterWatch played a major role in getting the dam removed, but the battle took more than 20 years. Here's hoping that more sections of the Rogue, and other rivers, will be returned to their natural state more quickly.
--Mary Catherine O'Connor is a freelance writer, covering the environment, sustainability and outdoor recreation. The Good Route, her new blog for Outside Online, is focused on the places where the active life and sustainability merge.
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October 05, 2009
The Gear Junkie: Free USGS Topo Maps
Beginning in the 1940s, the U.S. Geological Survey's National Mapping Program was tasked with the immense cartographical feat of surveying the entire country to create a series of more than 50,000 topographical maps. Widely-available and mostly accurate, the 1:24,000-scale government maps canvas the total of the contiguous U.S. They are de rigueur today on outdoors adventures, ranging from mountain climbs to canoe trips.
Not occurring to many people--including me!--these maps exist within the public domain and are thus free for use and distribution. Taxpayers funded the decades-long project, and now you, dear taxpayer, are allowed the keys to download thousands of maps from a U.S. Geological Survey web site.
To be sure, printed maps from the USGS still come with a fee. But a download of the agency's cartographical creations, which open in Adobe Acrobat as PDF files, is as simple and free as a few mouse clicks.
Continue reading "The Gear Junkie: Free USGS Topo Maps" »
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September 24, 2009
Swimming the Arctic in a Speedo
Combining chilling (pardon the pun) statistics about the rapidly melting ice in the arctic with fascinating narrative, Lewis Pugh tells the story of his record-breaking swim across the North Pole at the 2009 TED Conference. Listen to him describe how he trained for this, and see footage of the historic swim -- which he did wearing a Speedo.
-- Lisa Lombardi
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September 11, 2009
New Species Discovered in Papua New Guinea
A group of explorers visiting Papua New Guinea discovered a slew of new species while visiting a remote area of the country. Gadling writes that the group of scientists and trekkers spent five weeks in a previously undiscovered volcanic crater, and found new species including a giant rat, a grunting fish, and 16 new types of frog. Wanderlust reports that the group was filming a TV series for BBC when they made the initial discovery.
-- Lisa Lombardi
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September 10, 2009
The North Pole's 100 Year Old Controversy
This week marks the 100th anniversary of the dueling claims made by Robert Peary and Frederick Cook that they alone were the first to reach the North Pole. Both men have since been proved to be fame-hungry exaggerators, and many agree it is unlikely either of them reached the pole at all. Cook shot himself in the foot by faking an ascent of Alaska's Mount McKinley, and Peary's own teammates refuted his polar claim. The debate continues today however, with National Geographic backing Peary and Smithsonian Magazine supporting Cook. See the full story at the adventure life.
--Alison Kelman
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August 24, 2009
The Good Route: Toxic Seas Need Advocate
Artist's Rendering
As if he needed more motivation, David de Rothschild can add one more item to his list of reasons we need to stop dumping plastic into the world's oceans: At the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society last week, scientists said they've discovered that plastics break down while floating around at sea much sooner, and at cooler temperatures, than first believed.
The findings contradict a long-held assumption that plastics littered in the ocean maintain their stable composition for many years. "We found that plastic in the ocean actually decomposes as it is exposed to the rain and sun and other environmental conditions, giving rise to yet another source of global contamination that will continue into the future," says study lead researcher Katsuhiko Saido, Ph.D.
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