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: Climbing The Monte Rosa Chain

Last summer, mountaineer (and Adventure Blog reader) Marc Lambert traveled to the Italian Alps to do some climbing along the Monte Rosa Chain, a series of mountains that top out at 4634 meters (15,203 ft). Marc was kind enough to share some video footage from his adventure, which featured some scary looking knife-edge ridges along the way up to a series of summits. There are definitely some beautiful views to be seen here, but if you get queasy just at the thought of steep drop offs, you may want to pass.

Congratulations to Marc on a job well done and thanks for sharing the video mate!

Video: Timelapse In The Dolomites

Italy's Dolomite Mountains make a stunning backdrop for this excellent video that features plenty of amazing timelapse images from the region. All the video and photos were captured using a GoPro Hero 3 of course, which continues to amaze me with how great the quality of the footage is. Now I want to go hike the Dolomites for a few weeks.

GoPro Dolomites 2013 from Matteo Zanvettor on Vimeo.

Video: Wingsuit Pilot Makes Water Landing Without Parachute

It seems that a lot of wingsuiters are really pushing the envelope these days in terms of what they are attempting to accomplish. Case in point, checkout the video below which features pilot Raphael Dumont making a landing on Lake Garda in Italy without using his parachute. He simply glides in and touches down much like float plane. I was holding my breath even as I watched. Amazing stuff.

Kilian Jornet Sets New Speed Record On The Matterhorn

Ultrarunner Kilian Jornet continues to demonstrate that he is amongst the best endurance athletes on the planet by once again setting an impressive new speed record. This time he made short work of the Matterhorn, crushing a record that has stood for 18 years in the process.

This latest test of Kilian's athletic abilities also marked the final phase of his Summits of My Life project. The speed attempt started and ended at the Church Square in Cervinia, Italy with the turn around point being the summit of Mount Cervino, which sits at a height of 4476 meters (14,685 ft). The round trip journey covered 17.48 km (10.86 miles) with a total ascent of 2469 meters (8100 ft). Kilian was able to cover that distance in a time of 2 hours, 52 minutes and 02 seconds. That easily beats the previous record set in 1995 by Bruno Brunod, who finished he same route in 3 hour, 14 minutes, 44 seconds.

As always, Kilian never fails to impress. The guy is simply an incredible athlete. This latest record comes on the heels of him setting a speed record on Mont Blanc in July when he ran up and down that 4810 meter (15,781 ft) peak in 4 hours, 57 minutes and 40 seconds. That was 13 minutes faster than the previous best time set by Pierre-André Gobet in 1990. I guess it would be an understatement to say that he's had a busy and productive summer, huh?

Congratulations to Kilian for another amazing run. Thanks for reminding the rest of us that we are just mere mortals.

Video: Team MTN Qhubeka: An African Bicycle Dream (Episode 1)

The newest cycling team to join the Pro Continental competition is Team MTN Qhubeka, which has the distinction of being the first of its kind from Africa. The squad was formed at the end of 2012 and has already raced in two big competitions this year, including the Milano-SanRemo, a tough single-day classic in Italy. That event was won by Gerald Ciolek, who announced the arrival of this team to the cycling world in style.

The video below is the first of series of short films that will chronicle the team's efforts in their first year on the circuit. It is a beautifully shot documentary that gives us a behind the scenes look at cycling with a team of riders who are eager to leave their mark on the sport. If you're a fan of road cycling, I think you'll really enjoy what you see here. I know I'm already looking forward to the next episode.

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!

Paddler Makes First (Illegal) Descent Of Italy's Marmore Falls

EpicTV posted an interesting story today that has me a bit conflicted. The article talks about the first descent of Marmore Falls in Italy by kayaker Dario Vanacore and even features some impressive photos from the stunt. The falls, which stand 165 meters (540 ft) in height, are amongst the tallest in all of Europe and are a popular tourist attraction as well. They feature a three-stepped drop and were partially carved by the Romans to help facilitate the flow of water into Rome, which gives them both a natural beauty and historical significance.

The problem is, paddling the falls is illegal and Vanacore had to take some clandestine maneuvers in order to go over the spectacular 25 meter (81 foot) section of the falls that he was able to successfully ran. According to EpicTV, Dario snuck onto the premises after dark and stashed his boat and paddling gear in an out of the way area. The next day he strolled into the area in his street clothes, slipped into the area where his kayak was hidden, changed into his paddling gear and went over the falls. Once at the bottom, he simply paddled away without any contact with the authorities.

Apparently Vanacore took the plunge six months ago, but because he didn't document his drop, he decided to go back and do it again. This time with photographers, and presumably a helmet cam, to capture the moment.  The image shown here and on EpicTV's website are from that second run down the Marmore.

So here is my conundrum. While I applaud these bold kayakers who make these impressive drops over these massive falls, I am a bit dismayed that Dario did this knowing full well that it is illegal. I think the paddlers who take these plunges must have nerves of steel and more guts than I would have, but I have a hard time condoning their actions when they are running a river (or falls) illegally. It is these kinds of actions that give outdoor athletes a bad name and cause others to be met with suspicion even when they aren't doing anything wrong. There is already enough opposition toward riding mountain bikes on certain trails, climbing on certain walls or paddling some rivers. We don't need to be giving fuel to any argument that prevents us from enjoying the outdoors because certain athletes want to climb, ride or paddle where they aren't suppose to be. See Dean Potter's climb of Delicate Arch from a few years back as an example.

I suspect that Vanacore may still receive a visit from the long arm of the law now that it is known that he is the one who made the illegal drop. If not, he should count himself lucky and move on. I salute him for his adventurous spirit but kindly request he keep future first descents on rivers and water falls that we are allowed to paddle.

Video: Mountain Biking The North Face Lavaredo Trail

The Lavaredo Trail is a 96km (60 mile) long trail that winds its way through the Italian Dolomites and serves as the route for an ultramarathon put on by the North Face. Recently a team of mountain bikers set out to ride the trail over the course of a single day, which featured a staggering 4800 meters (15,748 ft) of climbing and descending. My legs and lungs hurt just thinking about that, but I have to say, the trail looks stunning. Check it out in the video below.