Video: Mountain Biking The Tour du Mont Blanc

The Tour du Mont Blanc is one of the best hiking trails in all of Europe, if not the world. At 170 km (105 miles) in length, it circles its namesake mountain, and passes through three countries - France, Italy, and Switzerland – in the process. Typically it takes 7-10 days to walk the entire route, but last summer a team of Belgian mountain bikers rode the entire thing in three days. The video below tells their story, and it is a good one. The 17-minute short film, will leave you wanting to ride and/or walk this route too.

Big thanks to reader Mar Knox for sharing this great video.

Video: The Mountains Of Valais

This video is the result of 15 days of filming, stretched out between August and November of last year, in and around Valais, Switzerland. As you can see, the finished product speaks for itself. It is simply a beautiful look at some breathtaking mountains.

Tip of the hat to the Adventure Journal for this one.

Mountains of Valais from Christian Mülhauser on Vimeo.

Video: Wingsuit Flying And Paragliding Over The Alps

The video below was shot at the International Hot Air Balloon Festival in Europe and features some excellent images of wingsuit pilots and paragliders cutting through the skies above Switzerland. It looks like it was quite an experience with snowy mountain tops making for a dramatic backdrop.

TOTALGAZ Eco Balloon : Wingsuit and Paragliding 2014 from Yannick Barthe on Vimeo.

Video: Champéry Still Rocks!

The Swiss mountain resort of Champéry has a reputation for being one of the best mountain biking destinations in Europe due to its extremely steep course. The video below gives you a taste of what that is like, while also giving you a healthy dose of adrenaline in the process. As you can imagine, the trail is fast, technical and wild. Definitely not for the beginner rider, but it looks like fun!

Champéry still rocks! from Shaperideshoot on Vimeo.

Video: Wingsuits Over Switzerland

Here's a dose of adrenaline to get you through the start of a new week. It's a short but wild wingsuit flight through the mountains near Hintisberg, Switzerland with the pilots going very fast and close. Scary stuff as always and something I prefer to see in a video and not first hand.

GoPro: Close Encounters - Proximity Flying With Jokke Sommer from GoPro on Vimeo.

Video: Training For The Swiss Irontrail

The Swiss Irontrail ultramarathon, now in its second year, is the longest and highest single-stage running event in Europe. The race, which takes place this weekend, covers 201.4 km (125.2 miles) through the Alps in the Graubünden region of Switzerland. It promises to be a tough and demanding event that will test both the mental and physical endurance of the athletes.

One of those athletes is ultrarunner Rebecca Byerly who has been prepping for the Irontrail and creating a series of training videos for Mammut in the process. In the video below, you'll see Rebecca and friends running a 222 km (137 mile) race known as La Ultra - The High, which takes place in the foothills of the Himalaya. The race climbs through the Khardung-La pass, which falls at an altitude of 5395 meters (17,700 ft), making this a truly difficult high altitude challenge. Just another day in the life of an ultra-runner who is preparing for even more challenging races to come.

Video: Mammoth Media Reel 2013 Inspires Adventure

Mammoth Media is a company that specializes in making beautiful short films, often about the places and activities that we love so much. Last week they released the video below showing off some of their skills, while simultaneously giving us a glimpse at some fairly spectacular settings. The clips were shot on location in places like Costa Rica, Switzerland, Alaska, Africa and more. The reel is suppose to serve as an online resume of sorts, but it is also a great inspiration for adventure. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

MAMMOTH Reel 2013 from MAMMOTH on Vimeo.

Trekstock Takes You To The Great Gig In The Sky!

Looking for a fun, challenging and fulfilling adventure later this year? Then checkout Trekstock's intriguing Another Great Gig in the Sky hike. The event is a 6-day trek through the Alps that crosses three countries (Italy, France and Switzerland) that culminates at the Paléo Music Festival. But the trip isn't just about hiking through some of the most beautiful regions in Europe, it is also a charity fundraiser that will earn much needed cash to help young people dealing with cancer.

Trekstock is an organization that officially launched back in 2010 with the expressed mission of helping to raise funds to battle cancer and to help educate youth about leading a healthy lifestyle. Since then, one of their major fundraisers has been their Great Gig in the Sky adventures. Last year the trek took them to Mt. Kenya in Africa and this year the route will wind through the Alps.

The route for the 2013 "Gig" was designed by 360 Expeditions exclusively for this event. The challenge trek will follow the Tour Du Mount Blanc circuit starting in Courmayeur, Italy and ending in Chamonix, France, with a stop at the Swiss music festival along the way.  Registration for the Gig is £350 ($550) and includes flights from the U.K. to the start of the hike and a 2-day weekend festival pass to the Paléo. Each of the trekkers will be expected to raise a minimum of an additional £2800 ($4425) for the cause.

For anyone interested in joining the trek the dates that it will be underway are Friday July 19 - Sunday 28. Find out a lot more by clicking here.

Hmm...definitely intriguing. Maybe I should add this to my list of things to do this year!

Video: Mountain Biking St. Moritz, Switzerland

Feeling a little depressed to be back at the office on a Monday? Would you rather be outside somewhere, riding your mountain bike instead? How about a (virtual) trip to St. Moritz in Switzerland to help brighten your day? The five-and-a-half minute video below follows a couple of riders as they make their way from the summit of Corviglia back down the mountain, dropping about 4000 meters (13,123 ft) in the process. This will either help your office blues or make them worse. The jury is still out.

Downhill Madness from Glen Eaton on Vimeo.

The North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc Begins Friday

One of the toughest endurance races on the planet will take place this weekend with the start of the North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, which officially gets underway on Friday. The course begins and ends in Chamonix, France and crosses into Switzerland, as it covers 168km (104 miles), of tough mountain terrain, completely circumnavigating around Mont Blanc in the process. Oh, and it also happens to feature 9600 meters (31,496 ft) of ascent too.

This year, for the first time ever, the event will be broadcast live on the web. Considering the coverage kicks off tomorrow and runs for 84 hours straight, that's an impressive feat of endurance as well. The live broadcasts start Thursday, August 30 at 06:00 local time and will continue with 15-minute news briefs through Sunday, September 2.

At the start of the event, more than 6000 runners from 73 countries will take the line. How many of them actually finish remains to be seen. This is one of the largest and most difficult tests of endurance on the planet and isn't for the faint of heart. We'll probably get to witness some of the suffering first hand on these live broadcasts over the next few days.

Good luck to all the runners!



The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® by UltraTrailMontBlanc

Video: Wingsuit Flight Over New Zealand

It has been awhile since we had a really great wingsuit video. The one below will certainly change that however. It features GoPro athlete Alexander Polli floating through the air above New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway as he effortlessly soars through canyons, buzzes rock towers and generally plays chicken with gravity. Consider this your shot of adrenaline for the day.

Video: The Eiger: Wall of Death From The BBC

The Eiger just might be the most iconic climbing face in all of Europe. Located in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, it is an intimidating 3970 meters (13,025 ft) in height and has been challenging the world's best climbers for more than 150 years. The BBC made an interesting documentary on the beast and you can watch the entire thing on YouTube. The video is below, so pop some popcorn, get comfortable and find out why this is one of the toughest and most well known climbs in all the world.

Video: Mountain Bike Race Across A Glacier

I came across the video below when one of my friends at Gadling posted it to the site yesterday. It shows a crazy mountain bike race down a snow covered trail near Saas Fee, Switzerland that looks like a lot of fun, at least for those who don't mind taking their lives into their own hands. This will definitely give you a shot of adrenaline to get your day started. Wow!





More Mountain Biking Videos

Video: Snowboarding Across Switzerland

Professional snowboarder Xavier de Le Rue spent his February traveling through Switzerland where he rode the famous Glacier Express train and visited several top ski resorts to get some snowboarding in. The results are the beautiful video below that will leave you wanting to recreate the trip for yourself. Xavier and a group of friends traveled from Zermatt to St. Moritz and found some of the best powder in Europe along the way.


Xavier de Le Rue: jumping cliffs and train trip through Switzerland - TimeLineS02E04 from TimeLine Film on Vimeo.