Video: Mountain Biking Adventure in Argentina

Looking for another great mountain biking destination in South America? Then check out this video of Hans Rey and Tibor Simai, who spend three days traversing the wild backcountry of Argentina on their mountain bikes. They being in the town of Tilcara and ride to Calilegua National Park, with a whole lot of climbing in-between. It looks like beautiful country to go for a ride. Or do just about anything else for that matter.

Video: Rediscover Your Inner Explorer

Here's a beautiful little video shot in the Dominica that is meant to inspire us to explore and seek adventures. It features some excellent shots of the wonderful settings there, with narration that reminds us to go out to seek new experiences, new places, and new adventures. That seems like a fitting message to share.

Dominica - The New from Trent Hilborn on Vimeo.

Video: TravelSmith Travel Tip #20 - How and Why to Pack Light

Adventure travel legend Richard Bangs is back once again with yet more helpful tips for travelers. This time out, Richard gives us some advice on how to travel lighter, and why it is good for us to do so. He learned this lesson on an expedition to Ethiopia, where he lost his pack containing all of his gear, but still managed to have one of the best journeys ever. As someone who takes pride in traveling light, this particular video especially hit home.

Himalaya 2014: Summits Across the Himalaya!

As expected, there were a number of summit pushes across the 8000 meter peaks this past weekend, with climbers finding success on several mountains. It was a busy couple of days in the Himalaya, where teams sought to take advantage of a weather window, and top out during a period of relatively calm winds and good all around conditions.

We'll start on Kangchenjunga, where Denis Urubko summited the mountain solo after his teammates turned back out of fear of an unstable approach to the summit. Climbing along the North Face, Denis completed a new route that is a variant of the British Route used in the past. He has already returned to Camp 4, where his teammates, Alex Txikon, Adam Bielecki, Artjom Braun and Dmitri Sinev, were waiting. Alex and Adam had hoped to summit, and traverse down the South Face, but conditions were not good for such an attempt. All members of the team will now head down to Base Camp, and most likely prepare to head home.

On the South Side of Kangchenjunga, ExWeb is reporting that Spanish climber Carlos Soria has also topped out, nabbing his eleventh 8000-meter peak at the age of 75. He was joined on the summit by Italian Marco Camandona and Finnish climber Samuli Mansikka, who topped out without the use of supplemental oxygen.

Jumping over to Cho Oyu, Mike and Matt Moniz successfully topped out on Saturday, right on schedule. They had a very narrow weather window for their summit bid, as high winds are expected back on that mountain today. After setting out at 4 AM, the reached the summit at 11 AM that morning, before descending all the way back down to ABC before taking a rest. The father-son team had originally planned to now travel to the South Side of Everest, and attempt a double-summit of that mountain and Lhotse. With things shut down on the South Side however, we'll have to wait to see if they just head home instead.


Mike Horn and Fred Roux found success on Makalu on Saturday as well. They reached the summit of that 8463 meter (27,765 ft) mountain without supplemental oxygen or high altitude Sherpa support. Fred topped out at about 10:30 AM local time, while Mike followed along at 4:00 PM in the afternoon. That should give you an indication of how good the weather was, at that is late in the day for summit. Both men descended the mountain safely and reunited in ABC.

Other climbers who have reportedly topped out on Makalu this weekend include Serbian climber Dragan Celikovic, Canadians Al Hancock and Monique Richard, Norwegian Arvid Lennard Lahit, and  French alpinist Philippe Gatta with Pasang Gombu.

Not everyone was successful on Makalu however, as ExWeb reports that a team of Indian climbers led by Arjun Vajpai were forced to turn back just 150 meters below the summit due to exhaustion and a lack of fixed ropes going to the top. Other teams were in position to summit yesterday and today, but we'll have to wait for further confirmation on their success.

ExWeb also reports that there were 10 summits on Dhaulagiri this weekend as well, with clients of Seven Summits Treks topping out on Saturday that includes two Chinese climbers Jing Luo and Zhu Gang, Peruvian Rimac Trejo Victor and Nepalese clients Nirmal Purja and Krishna Thapa Magar.

Meanwhile, the climbers on Everest's North Side continue to wait for their turn to come. A weather window is now expected later this week so that rope fixing can be completed at long last. Most teams are now looking at making their summit push starting on Friday and extending into the weekend. We'll just have to wait to see how things play out then.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Outside Picks Gear of the Year for Summer 2014

Last week, we received some great gear tips courtesy of National Geographic, and this week we'll start things off with the Outside magazine selection for the Gear of the Year for Summer 2014 as well. The editors at Outside have narrowed their selection down to just 15 amazing pieces of kit that you'll want in your gear closet for that next big adventure.

Some of the items making the list include the upgraded version of the very popular MSR Hubba Hubba tent, which somehow managed to get a little bigger, while still shaving a half-pound off the weight. They also gave a nod to the new Sierra Designs Mobile Mummy sleeping bag, which is rated down to 15ºF/-9ºC, and can be worn like a jacket while around the campfire. The Granite Gear Nimbus Trace backpack is lauded for its all-around excellent performance, while the North Face Ultra Trail running shoes took the crown as the best new trail runners on the market. Other gear making the list included a new mountain bike from Norco, a jacket from Marmot, and a kayak from dagger.

If the Gear of the Year items aren't enough to satiate your gear lust, than checkout Outside's  Summer 2014 Gear Buyers Guide. It expands the selection nicely, offering up more than 360 gear items to choose from. Categories include the essentials for car camping, the best new luggage, the best new tents, backpacks, cameras, and much, much more. It is a very comprehensive list, and one that will surely leave you wanting gear that you probably didn't even know existed. 

Between Outside's suggestions and Nat Geo's selection for gear of the year, we should have plenty of good choices heading into the summer months. 

Video: 80 Years Old and Still Cycling!

Here's a great little personal documentary about an 80 year old cyclists who fell in love with bikes as a child, and continues to ride to this day. It is an inspiring short film that is very well put together. I hope I'm still riding when I get to his age. As we head into the weekend, lets all get out and go for a ride!

Portrait of my grandfather : 80 and still cycling from Florent Piovesan on Vimeo.

Video: Surviving the Iditarod Trail Invitational (Part 4)

Our friends at EpicTV have brought us the next installment of the Sport & Survival series, in which host Patrick Sweeney is attempting to complete the incredibly difficult Iditarod Trail Invitational, an endurance event that follows the same route as the famous Iditarod sled dog race. This time out, our intrepid host races the most dangerous section of the trail, which includes a wild climb and descent of the treacherous Rainy Pass at night. Good stuff as always, and a great look at this amazing event.