I keep wanting to call John Jackson by the name Jack Johnson, and I’m willing to bet he gets that from time to time. Poor guy. Great video that somehow manages to combine Jefferson Airplane and Iggy Pop - though I guess they’re close in spirit if not style.
Oh, SWEET IRONY! Only tractor pulls and monster truck rallies are supposed to mess up butterfly habitat. The Idyllwild Spring Challenge mountain bike race in California is in jeopardy as the National Forest Service is conducting studies on the habitat of the Quino checkerspot butterfly, which is on the endangered species list. It sounds like the race is quite a draw and everyone posting up on the course with coolers and lawn chairs plus the hundreds of bikes lapping the course can do some damage. Fortunately it would be hard for the Forest Service to find a crowd more sympathetic to their cause.
“We’re [cyclists] an extremely responsible user group,” she added. “We want to work with the Forest Service. These are things everyone should be concerned with.”
Over 400 applied to compete in Germany’s 3rd annual naked sled race (absolutely NSFW), but ultimately only 13 men and 13 women were allowed. A crowd of 17,000 people showed up to support them on. What cheer and camaraderie the Germans offer their fellow countrymen!
via Deadspin
Russia has closed a major resort to tourists after an attack on a popular ski resort that left four dead. The four weren’t killed when this tram crashed, but when a group of suspected Islamist gunmen fired on a bus near the base of the mountain. According to local reports, a bomb blast later blew up the lift tower that sent this cable car crashing down, though it must have been empty since no one was hurt.
Some sea kayakers paddling through Lake Windermere in England snapped a cell phone photo of this four-humped animal rapidly swimming across the water’s surface away from them. At first they thought it was a dog, but fortunately for conspiracy theorists everywhere, one of them realized it was the monster just before it was out of camera range. They actually call it Bownessie over there, and the mystical beast has been spotted a handful of times recently. One tour company is offering people ‘cruises for a year’ if they can prove that it doesn’t exist. WELL, CAN YOU PROVE IT DOESN’T EXIST?? No, then it must be alive. There’s some airtight logic for you.
Whenever I see something like this all I think is, “But can we bet on it?” The Senior Winter Games land in Bear Valley this March from the 11th to the 13th. It’s an Olympic-style event that includes ski racing, wine tasting, and for some reason, kids’ activities. Hopefully it’s as big a success as the last winter Olympics in Vancouver.
This video is a bit older but I’ve yet to see it make its way around. Chasing Ice is a movie that seeks to document Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey, an effort to measure retreating glaciers in some of the earth’s most remote locations. The film uses time lapse photography to make the massive destruction of our earth look especially beautiful.
Thanks Austin
Steve Casimiro at Adventure Journal pulled together some Vittorio Sella photographs that document early climbing expeditions in Italy. Sella was the first to climb several iconic peaks in Italy during winters, and he was certainly the only one willing to haul the massive gear required to shoot photos. See more of them on the Panopticon Gallery’s site.
Take an hour long break in your cubicle to read the tale of Hendrik Coetzee, one of the finest paddlers in the world who died last December guiding an expedition down the Lukuga River in the Congo. Coetzee was attacked by a crocodile that pulled him from his boat and dragged him underwater, never to be seen again. He was also a prolific writer and chronicler of his adventures, which gave Outside a lot of fodder to write a fantastic article on the man. Read the Coetzee article, Consumed here.
via Adventure Blog
