Relics Recovered: A Pair of World-Class Climbers Goes Where Archaeologists Can't

“The challenges were daunting,” says Pete Athans of scaling a set of crumbling cliffs—more mud than rock—for the benefit of science. Last summer, the seven-time Everest summiter co-led a National Geographic expedition to Mustang, in north-central Nepal, to explore mysterious man-made cave systems carved 700 feet high into the cliffsides. “At times we were climbing what looked like overhanging drip sand castles,” Athans says. “We’d kick at a feature that we thought was a massive boulder, only to watch it collapse and fall in a cloud of sand and dust.” Locals have long reported seeing old manuscripts fluttering out of one cave, but they never had the means to explore it. The redoubt was simply too high up and the rock too unstable.

Meet the Adventurers of the Year: Biogeochemist Katey Walter Anthony

Last week we announced the 2009 Adventurers of the Year, selected for their extraordinary achievements in exploration, conservation, action sports, and humanitarian work. Now, for the first time ever, you can vote for the Readers' Choice Adventurer of the Year. For the next two weeks, we are going to highlight a different adventurer daily, starting today with Katey Walter Anthony. You can only vote once, so make sure to check out each adventurers' profile, video, and photo gallery, before firing up our voting machine.

Arctic Sage
By the third day of drifting in the storm-tossed Arctic Ocean, with no engine and no real prospects of rescue, a question came to Katey Walter Anthony: “What’s a data point really worth?”

Others might have had other things on their minds, but to Walter Anthony, data is everything. As a biogeochemist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, she studies methane. The greenhouse gas is 25 times more potent than CO₂ and is being rapidly released into the atmosphere from thawing permafrost. But this source of methane is not factored into most climate change models, something that does not sit well with Walter Anthony. Continue reading this story >>

Best New Trips in the World: Volunteer with Inca Descendants in Peru

For our annual Adventure Travel issue, we scoured the globe to find the 25 Best New Trips in the World for 2010, complete with a Best Trips photo gallery. Today, we present Peru. The world's far corners are now well within reach.

PERU: The Real Sacred Valley

Long before the term “voluntourism” became etched into the travel lexicon, Adventure Life Journeys was a model practitioner. For years, the Latin America–focused outfitter has made a point of incorporating meaningful volunteer work into each of its itineraries and employing local guides and lodge owners. Now comes perhaps its most compelling offering: a weeklong stay with Inca descendants in the Sacred Valley village of Cachiccata, followed by a trek to Machu Picchu. “We’re not just showing up and dropping off donations and then leaving,” says Adventure Life’s Jonathan Brunger, who spearheaded the project. Instead, you’ll arrive in one of the world’s most spectacular settings—picture millennia-old Inca terraces overlooking a river in the heart of the valley—and roll up your sleeves to work alongside indigenous community members on various tasks.

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Best New Trips in the World: Bike and Hike Southern New Zealand

For our annual Adventure Travel issue, we scoured the globe to find the 25 Best New Trips in the World for 2010, complete with a Best Trips photo gallery. Today, we present New Zealand. The world's far corners are now well within reach.

NEW ZEALAND: All-Access Kiwiland

The North Island has the Bay of Islands and the best surfing; the South Island trumpets Queenstown and world-class hiking. For decades, New Zealand’s two halves have been vying for the country’s title of premier travel destination. But Active New Zealand just gave the South Island a major one-up: the first guided hiking and bicycle crossing from coast to coast. For this 13-day trip, the high-octane outfitter has chosen the wildest route possible, using little-known tracks (Kiwi for trails) and New Zealand’s excellent hut system, which offers everything from bare-bones shelters to cushy crash pads with private bunks and kitchens.

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Who Will be the Adventurer of the Year? You Decide.

Today we announced the 2009 Adventurers of the Year, selected for their extraordinary achievements in exploration, conservation, action sports, and humanitarian work. Click through to learn about their remarkable achievements with our in-depth profiles, videos, and photo galleries, then cast your vote for the person you think best embodies the spirit of adventure by rating each of the candidates on a scale from 1 to 10. The Readers' Choice Award winners will be announced on Tuesday, January 19.

Grape Camp: Get Your Feet Wet

Foodie-adventurers rejoice: enrollment just opened for Sonoma County Grape Camp 2010. During this traditional wine-tasting tour with a hands-on twist, you'll spend mornings harvesting grapes in California's classic vineyards.  Then you'll move on to tasting, touring, cooking, paring, blending, and eating as you learn from master vintners and chefs. 

"The most unique thing is that you get access to the people who are really doing the harvest," says Larry Levine of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission. "We select people who have long histories in Sonoma County."

The three-day trip (September 27-29) is based out of the luxury Vintners Inn, situated in the heart of Sonoma wine country, and costs $3,500 per couple ($1,900 for solo oenophiles).  Limited to 25 people, the slots are already filling. Book now at sonomagrapecamp.com.—Greer Schott

Photograph courtesy of Sonoma County Winegrape Commission

Best New Trips in the World: Trekking Nepal's Himalaya

For our annual Adventure Travel issue, we scoured the globe to find the 25 Best New Trips in the World for 2010, complete with a Best Trips photo gallery. Today, we present Nepal. The world's far corners are now well within reach.

NEPAL: Visit to Sherpa City

Nestled in the Himalayan foothills at 11,000 feet, the town of Namche Bazaar is home to hundreds of Sherpa families. It’s also the last major settlement trekkers pass en route to Everest, stopping for provisions and little more. But one outfitter is trying to change that. “If you’re traveling so far, why would you pass through quickly instead of settling in and slowing down?” asks Joan Weber, who founded Journeys International 31 years ago with her husband and their Sherpa business partner, Pemba Tsering. That’s the premise behind Journeys’ newest Nepal trip, which bases clients in the Sherpa-owned Moonlight Lodge, in the roadless Khumbu region. The inn steeps you in the local Buddhist and mountaineering cultures, and your Sherpa hosts serve as the ultimate concierges, showing you everything from how to cook momos (similar to samosas) to where to find the best hikes.

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Best New Trips in the World: Dive off the Coast of Montserrat

For our annual Adventure Travel issue, we scoured the globe to find the 25 Best New Trips in the World for 2010, complete with a Best Trips photo gallery. Today, we present Montserrat. The world's far corners are now well within reach.

MONTSERRAT: Dusting Off a Volcano 

Fourteen years after Soufrière Hills Volcano first sent pyroclastic debris flying and two-thirds of Montserrat’s population fleeing, the Caribbean island is hanging out its shingle for tourism again. Along the northern (and nonvolcanic) coast, a new airport, hotel, and dive shop are in place to lure visitors to Montserrat’s black-sand beaches and pristine coral reefs. “Montserrat is still the way the Caribbean was 20 years ago,” says Melody Schroer, co-owner of the Green Monkey Dive Shop. “You won’t walk down the beach and get asked if you want your hair braided.” Green Monkey’s new multisport trip puts you on the front lines of the island’s resurgence.

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Best New Trips in the World: Sail (and Kayak and Snorkel) in Madagascar's Waters

For our annual Adventure Travel issue, we scoured the globe to find the 25 Best New Trips in the World for 2010, complete with a Best Trips photo gallery. Today, we present Madagascar. The world's far corners are now well within reach.

MADAGASCAR: Sail the Indian Ocean

Known for its 70-plus species of lemurs, Madagascar has the market cornered in trips focused on exotic leaping animals. But few travelers are aware of the country’s marine life. Enter Kumuka Worldwide, whose first-of-its-kind sailing trip plunges into the coral-filled Indian Ocean while hitting a cluster of little-visited islets just off the main island. Starting on Nosy Be, the largest of Madagascar’s outer islands, you’ll travel by dhow—the traditional sailboat used by African and Arabian traders for millennia—from one deserted beach to the next, camping on white sand by night, and kayaking, snorkeling, and fishing by day.

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Best New Trips in the World: Exploring Laos's Northern Hill Country

For our annual Adventure Travel issue, we scoured the globe to find the 25 Best New Trips in the World for 2010, complete with a Best Trips photo gallery. Today, we present Laos. The world's far corners are now well within reach.

Laos: An Off-Limits Jungle

Traveling in Laos has always meant either a quick jaunt to Luang Prabang (the former royal capital city) or a monthlong expedition into terrain that wasn’t always worth the trip—think mosquitoes and a hothouse climate. But a new lodge in Laos’s hill country, north of Luang Prabang, is ushering in a fresh era of tourism. Reachable via the Ou River, Muang La Resort and its fleet of powerboats have transformed what was once a multiday water taxi ride to the region into a five-hour cruise. Guests can book rooms directly with Muang La or leave the planning to Asia Transpacific Journeys, the first (and so far, only) outfitter to run trips here.

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