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.

Video: Dave Cornthwaite's Expedition 1000 Project

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you've no doubt seen me mention Dave Cornthwaite and his Expedition 1000 project on more than one occasion. The concept is a simple one: Dave wants to undertake a series of expeditions, covering 1000 miles (1609 km) or more, completely under his own power. He's already been successful at a number of those expeditions and he is always planning his next one too. The beautiful and inspiring video below shares the philosophy behind Expedition 1000 – where it came from and where it is going. It also gives us a glimpse at some of the things Dave has accomplished so far on his amazing adventures.

Dave isn't letting up however. Later this year he has a 2000 mile recumbent bike ride through Chile's Atacama Desert scheduled and another 1000 mile non-motorized expedition in Europe as well. After that, it'll be 2000 miles of kitesurfing in Brazil.

At this point, I'm not sure if he ever stops moving.

Dave Cornthwaite's Expedition1000 from davecornthwaite on Vimeo.

Expedition 1000: Go Trekking Around Europe

Over the past several years we've been following adventurer Dave Corthnwaite as he's ridden a tandem bike from Vancouver to Las Vegas, taken a stand-up paddleboard the length of the Mississippi River and swam more than 1000 miles along the Missouri River. All of those adventures were part of Dave's Expedition 1000 project, during which he is attempting to complete 25 individual excursions of at least 1000 miles (1609 km) in length without the use of motorized transportation. Today, Dave sets out on the next leg of his project on what he calls the Go Trek.

While on the Go Trek, Dave will cover more than 3000 miles (4828 km) as he buzzes around Western Europe on an Elliptigo – a strange mash-up of an elliptical machine and a bicycle. Riders propel the bike forward by using the same motion as when they are on an elliptical machine, which sounds like a lot of fun and a lot of work at the same time. Dave will be joined on this journey by adventurer Squash Falconer, who has a name like a Bond villain but looks more like a Bond girl. Her resume includes successful summits of Everest, Cho Oyu and Aconcagua, amongst others.

Over the next nine weeks, the Go Trek will pass through the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and France. Along the way, Dave and Squash are encouraging the general public to come join them and to that end they've published their schedule and route so that we can all plan accordingly. The plan is to share the fun of adventure with any who are willing to join them. And of course, as always with an Expedition 1000 journey, the Go Trek will also be used to raise funds for the CoppaFeel organization, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting breast cancer through early detection.

While we're on the subject of Dave and his many adventures, I'd also like to point out that his latest book, Life in the Slow Lane (Kindle UK link) is now available on the Amazon Kindle or on the Kindle App for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. The e-version of the book costs just $3.49 or £3.08 and won't be available in paperback until June. It tells the tale of how Dave changed his life from someone who went about the daily office grind into a person who embraced adventure and travel. Obviously this is what he does now, and his life is more enriched for it. I haven't had the chance to read the book yet myself, but it is on my summer reading list.

You'll be able to follow Dave and Squash's progress on Go Trek's official website. And if you live in one of the five European countries that they'll be visiting along the way, be sure to check when they'll be passing through your area.