impossible2Possible Youth Expedition Across Atacama Desert Set To Get Underway

The team at impossible2Possible are getting ready to do it again. Their latest youth expedition is preparing to get underway in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile. This time, a team of five i2P Youth Ambassadors will attempt to run a marathon a day, for six days, across the driest desert on the planet. As is usually the case with this organization, there will also be a strong educational aspect, as the young men and women making the run, look to inspire others through adventure.

The team is already in the Atacama, and en route to their starting point. They should start running in the next day or two, working their way through one of the most arid environments imaginable. But it isn't just the dry conditions that they'll have to endure. The Atacama also happens to sit at altitude, which means they'll need to acclimatize some along the way as well. The thin air can make running a challenge, even for the very fit.

The Atacama Youth Ambassadors have come from all over the globe to take part in this adventure. They include Jesus Perez from the U.S.; Alessandro Aime from Italy; Valerie Gagne and Stephen Lambert, both from Canada; and Florence Reyonolds of New Zealand.

The team will be following a route that i2P founder Ray Zahab ran back in 2011, when he covered 1200 km (745 miles) of the Atacama. They'll have a support team assisting them along the way, carrying some the gear for their camps and providing them with food and water while they are out on the trail.

One of the key goals for i2P is to inspire and educate young people through the use of adventure. When ever the organization sends an expedition into the field, it always coordinates with students and teachers in classrooms to provide interesting lesson plans that connect to the expedition that is underway. This time out, the focus of those lesson plans are astronomy and the origins of the Universe. The Atacama has some of the clearest skies on the planet, which is why there are several high tech observatories there. Over the next few days, the i2P Youth Ambassadors will provide lessons on a host of topics, including basic Newtonian physics, the planets, stars, galaxies and black holes, and a host of other subjects. Having witnessed the night skies in the Atacama first hand, I can tell you that they are awe inspiring, and very humbling.

I'll post updates of the Atacama Expedition as it unfolds, but if you want to follow along with the team, you'll find daily updates by clicking here.

Good luck to the i2P squad as they set out on this latest adventure.

Expedition 1000 Update: Atacama Whike Crossing Complete!

The latest leg of Dave Cornthwaite's Expedition 1000 project is complete. You may recall, Dave, and his two traveling companions,  Ned Aufenhast, and Jamie Fulbrook, set out from Santiago, Chile a few weeks back with the intention of crossing the Atacama Desert using a Whike – a specially designed bicycle that uses both the wind and pedals to propel itself along.

As with all previous legs of Expedition 1000, the crossing of the Atacama was completed using only non-motorized transportation, and covered a minimum of 1000 miles. It took Dave and company 19 days to wrap up the expedition, climbing more than 18,000 meters (59,055 feet) in the process.

According to Dave's Facebook page, they averaged 6.2 mph over the course of their journey, which may not sound like a lot, but when you consider how mountainous Chile can be, that is a fairly steady pace over a 19 day period. Their top speed was 39.3 mph, no doubt on the downside of one of the aforementioned mountains. Their longest climb in a single day was from sea level up to 2087 meters (6847 feet), which is an awful lot for the body to compensate for if you're not prepared for altitude. Over the course of the journey, they averaged nearly 9 hours per day on their Whikes.

The Atacama Desert is well known for being the driest place on Earth. Trapped between the Chile's Pacific Mountain Range on the west, and the Andes on the east, it falls into a rain shadow that is very difficult for storms to pass over. As a result, there are actually places in the Atacama that have not seen rainfall in recorded history. But the place has a stark beauty to it that can be breathtaking. It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite places that I have ever visited.

The boys will now rest for a few days before they launch the next leg of Expedition 1000. That journey will get underway on April 28, but what exactly it will be remains a mystery. Stay tuned for more!

Expedition 1000 Update: Crossing The Atacama Desert By Wind And Pedal Power

British adventurer Dave Cornthwaite has set off on the next stage of his Expedition 1000 project, which consists of 25 separate journeys of 1000 miles (1600 km) or more, without the use of motorized transportation. In the past, he has skateboarded across Australia, stand-up paddle boarded down the Mississippi River, and swam for over a thousand miles on the Missouri River. This time out, Dave, along with his traveling companions Ned Aufenhast, and Jamie Fulbrook, will be traveling across the Atacama Desert by Whike.

Is you'll see at the link above, a Whike is essentially a recumbent bike with a wind sail added to it. This allows the rider to both pedal and sail down the road. It looks like a fun ride, although I have never had any experience with one.

Dave, Ned and Jamie set out from Santiago, the capital of Chile, yesterday and have started traveling north to the Atacama. You'll be able to follow their progress on Dave's Facebook page and on Twitter.  Since they have just gotten underway, and intend to cover at least 1000 miles, they should be out on the road for some time. The Atacama provides plenty of great photo opportunities as well, so I expect we should see some great images and video from their journey.

The video below will give you a look at the Whike and more info on what Dave and company are up to in South America.


Welcome to Whike Atacama from davecornthwaite on Vimeo.

impossible2Possible Youth Ambassadors To Run The Atacama Desert!

The impossible2Possible team has announced their next expedition, and continuing with their tradition of running through some of the more remote, and beautiful, destinations, the i2P youth ambassadors will next turn their sites on the Atacama Desert. As with all of the organization's efforts, part of the expedition's mission will be to engage students in classroom through a mix of education and adventure.

Expedition Atacama will take place in May of this year, with the i2P youth ambassadors running approximately 300 km (186 miles) along part of the same route that impossible2Possible founder Ray Zahab ran when he crossed the desert north-to-south back in 2011. Ray's journey covered 1200 km (745 miles), passing through some of the harshest environments on the planet. Thanks to a rain shadow created by Chile's Pacific mountain range on one side, and the Andes on the other, the Atacama is one of the driest places on Earth. It also happens to fall at a fairly high altitude, with much of the region rising above 3000 meters (9842 feet), which can be problematic for anyone who hasn't acclimatized properly. As a result, it'll push these runners to their limits on a daily basis.

But the Atacama is known for more than just being a high altitude desert. It also happens to have some of the clearest skis on the planet, granting visitors some of the best views of stars that can be found anywhere. This is due to an almost complete lack of cloud cover, and a lack of light pollution. Because of this great view of the heavens, the desert is also home to several astronomical observatories, including ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array), which is the highest observatory in the world at 5098 meters (16,725 feet).


With the Atacama being such an important location for scientific research, the i2P educational elements for this expedition will focus on astronomy. The theme will revolve around the origins of the universe, which is something that scientists often visit the Atacama to study as well. The youth expedition will offer a number of lesson plans focused on that subject, with an emphasis on the planets, stars, galaxies and black holes, and a host of other astronomy related subjects.

If you're a teacher who would like to incorporate the i2P lesson plans into your classroom, registration to take part in the expedition is open now. As always, the lessons are free, and seek to blend adventure and education in a seamless way that is very engaging to students.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of what impossible2Possible does. Having been to the Atacama myself, I know just how spectacular a place it actually is. I will certainly be following along with the youth ambassadors when they hit the trail next month, as I'm sure this will be yet another very successful venture for the organization.

Video: Sunrise to Sunset In The Atacama Desert

Here's a brief, but very lovely, video that was shot in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is a timelapse that captures the movement of the skies from sunrise, to sunset, and back again in one of the most amazing environments on the planet. I can tell you from my visit to the Atacama, that the skies really do look like that. It was one of the most breathtaking night skies that I have ever seen, and definitely worth the trip for that view alone. Simply amazing.

Ancients from Nicholas Buer on Vimeo.

Video: The Tropic Of Capricorn

The Tropic of Capricorn is one of the Earth's major lines of latitude, marking the southernmost can actually be directly overhead. It also happens to pass directly through some very interesting and beautiful locations such as the Atacama, Namib, and Kalahari Deserts. Filmmaker Greg Kiss visited those places to capture the stunning imagery in the short film below and he has created another beautiful timelapse video for us to enjoy.

THE TROPIC OF CAPRICORN from Greg Kiss on Vimeo.

Video: A Story For Tomorrow

Earlier today I came across the very well done, and very charming, video that documents the travels of a couple as they make their way through Chile. The story begins in the north, in the Atacama Desert, and works its way south to Patagonia, with plenty of amazing things to see in between. If this short film doesn't inspire you to want to visit Chile, nothing will. Very well done!



a story for tomorrow. from gnarly bay productions, Inc. on Vimeo.