Crash landing in the middle of the Alps would have indeed been a bad place to end up, it’s about the same as flying over an active volcano in terms of hopes for rescue. Fortunately everything went smoothly for Jonathan Trappe, and it should, considering he took a test run flying across the English Channel on his lawn chair. The 54-year-old spent 12 hours in the air during his crossing of the Alps. I wonder if he brought a handful of pennies to throw at some point. I know I would have.

via Adventure Blog

Back in the late 90’s and early 00’s adventure racing went through a sponsorship and TV heyday. There were all kinds of High Tec adventure races on network TV, complete with storylines about aging teammates, family histories, and adversity overcome. The audience didn’t bite. But if Hollywood’s shown us one thing, it’s that they don’t come up with new ideas very often. The Raid the North Extreme in British Columbia has found a TV sponsor for their race this July 23-31^st. It will be on something called Global TV, though I’m afraid their reach isn’t too big. Hopefully this is the beginning of something good for all our adventure racing friends.

via Adventure Blog

My friend the Gear Junkie is offering to take the lucky winner of his Most Durable Person Contest to Utah for some kind of all-expense-paid vacation. The particulars of the contest are on his site. I didn’t read the details but apparently HE WILL NOT SLEEP WITH YOU if you win, so, you know, there’s that whole aspect. Anyway, once you make that logical leap, check out the contest on his site.

A cave diver on an expedition supported by National Geographic set a record depth of 636 feet while in pursuit of exploration of a cave in New Zealand. He realized his breathing had become erratic at the great depth and began slowly creeping back to the surface. Cave divers are insane. Say what you want about wingsuit flying or being a bike messenger in New York, this is the most dangerous thing in the world - it’s not like you can just hold your breath and swim to the surface when things go wrong. Much of this particular cave is still unexplored. I hate to say it, but why don’t they just use a tiny unmanned submarine with a camera and a little cord running to the surface? Seems like a better way to reach these unexplored places.

The first half of this video I kept thinking, “Is this guy going uphill or downhill?” I figured it out exactly halfway through - don’t worry, you will, too. This video is what I love about helmet cams. So close to making it, pal.

via Early Ups