Expedition Mekong: Kayakers Help Scientists Save Fish, Big and Small

 
Text and photographs by Kyle Dickman.

I'm at Khone Falls on the Mekong River in Laos with filmmaker-kayaker Trip Jennings (above, center) and Zeb Hogan (below), the host of the National Geographic Channel's Monster Fish show and an expert on the region's fishes. 

 
We're trying to figure out how a proposed dam at the falls, one of the world's most productive fisheries, will affect migratory fish that range from pinky-sized carp to 500-pound catfish--Southeast Asia's whiskered equivalent of salmon. (Follow their progress here.)

At Khone Falls, the river divides into hundreds of different channels and drops off a 60-foot cascading waterfall. Which channels fish use to migrate depends on the size of the waterfall. Basically, the bigger the vertical drop, the fewer fish use the channel to migrate.
   

 
We've outfitted Trip's kayak with a depth-finder and a GPS to map water velocity, depth, and gradient. We're hoping to figure out what the migration parameters are for different species of fish (as in, big fish migrate up this channel because the water velocity is less than 20 mph, or whatever the case may be). What we find, will tell us if other channels share the same characteristics as Don Sahong, the site of the proposed dam. Don Sahong is hypothesized to be used most by migratory fishes because of its relatively mild whitewater.
  

We've been at Khone Falls for four days now. The first two days we rode mopeds past water buffalo and monasteries to scout waterfalls. On Sunday, we decided to run Somphamit Falls, a difficult stair-stepping 60-foot drop with fish traps lining the banks. Trip fired it up, recorded the data, and sent it to Sea Floor Systems, the California-based company who designed the system we're using to process the data.


The fish traps suggest fish use Somphamit Falls as a migratory channel, but the data will show us whether they're making it past the waterfall in dry season or being turned back. Does this channel share some of the same characteristics as Don Sahong? I'll let you know what we find out.

This expedition was funded in part by the National Geographic Expeditions Council.

Olympics 2010 - Skier Ted Ligety: The Two Sides of American Alpine's Golden Boy

American alpine skier Ted Ligety will compete this week, weather permitting, in Vancouver. See the schedule. See our Beyond the Olympics feature for training tips, ski trips, gear, and more.

Text by Christian Camerota; Photo courtesy of Shred Optics 

The lives of an entrepreneur and a ski racer seem diametrically opposed. That is, until you meet Ted Ligety. Ligety is not normal, of course. Far from it. How else do you explain a compulsion to fearlessly hurtle yourself down a 45-degree-angled, skating-rink slick mountain of ice at 70+mph? But that’s what Ligety has chosen as his career, at least for the time being. And he’s not shy about professing his love for the perks of his job.

“Sometimes you feel like there’s other stuff you’d wanna do,” Ligety admits when asked if he ever feels like he’s missed out on anything. “But at the same time, like, being a ski racer is a pretty kick ass job, you know?” He laughs freely at the thought. “You get to go all over the world and you get to ski…I mean, I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t love it as much as I do…my college friends are talking about fun college stories and I’m like, ‘Okay, well, I’m off in Europe right now winning races.’”

Cartography 2.0: Volunteers Help Map Africa as Never Before

A high-tech mapping project canvasses the African bush

The lioness coughed, and Mark Eveleigh looked up from his laptop. There were seven of them, 400 pounds each—that’s 2,800 pounds of feline—staring right at him. Eveleigh was in northern Uganda helping create a map of Africa, and like so many before him, he was risking his life in the name of cartography. But unlike those early explorers, Eveleigh traveled with a satellite uplink and a GPS—not an astrolabe. 

Hello, British Columbia: Four Trips in the Land of the Olympics

Today the Olympics begin in Vancouver, but in one contest Canada already has the U.S. beat. As an outdoors outpost, British Columbia outscores the American West across the board. The Pacific-hugging province is as big as California, Oregon, and Washington combined. But with only four million residents (Cali alone has 36 million), BC’s rugged mountain miles are far less developed. Still, for all its immensity, the province has a knack for condensing its wonders into accessible packages. Fly into Vancouver and within two hours you can be hiking Whistler backcountry or paddling the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest. And these days, as the host city primps and preps for the Winter Games, consider tacking on a few days’ stay: Catch Canada’s best speed skaters running drills at the freshly renovated Richmond Olympic Oval, or go all out Canuck and cheer on the home country’s hockey team as it practices in the Burnaby 8 Rinks. After a week in BC, you might be tempted to switch allegiance.

See the trips >>

Gear Crush: The $10K Bike

 
Ask a pack of pros to create their dream ride and this is what you get: a supremely aerodynamic carbon fiber frame; handmade, impossibly lightweight wheels; internal cable routings that actually increase torsional rigidity; the perfect balance of stiffness, weight, and comfort. You get, in other words, the Focus Bicycles USA Izalco Team Milram ($10,000): designed by yesterday’s champs (including Olympic gold medalist Daniel Becke), tested by tomorrow’s (Team Milram, top-25 finish, 2009 Tour de France).

Text by Catharine Livingston

Travel Tech: The Second Coming of GPS in Smartphones

 
 

A new wave of smartphone apps is changing the way we get around.

Text by Steve Casimiro; Photograph by Joshua Scott

After a long day of shooting in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, I was heading back into Durango, starving. Where to go and how to get there? My buddy’s car didn’t have GPS, so I pulled out my iPhone and fired up Navigon’s GPS application. Within minutes, voice commands were guiding us toward Zia Taqueria, home to killer fish tacos. As we pulled into the parking lot it struck me that, without a second thought, I’d been party to a sea change in personal navigation.

Crash the Games: Ski With Olympians at Whistler Blackcomb

Contrary to popular belief, Whistler Blackcomb will stay open—and skiable—when the Olympics hit this February. Only 10 percent of the mountain will close to the public, leaving, oh, 7,500 acres for non-elite athletes. “Most of the major chain hotels are already near capacity,” says Breton Murphy of Tourism Whistler. “Look for condos and town houses, or lesser known chalets. Everything in Whistler Village is within walking distance of the lifts.” A good thing, given all that’s in store: Downtown events will range from ceremonial (performances at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Center) to crazy (concerts every day). And if you’ve ever wanted to party with the Jamaica Bobsleigh Team, they’ve named the Savage Beagle their official headquarters for the Games (whistlerblackcomb.com).

Read about nine more great ski trips >>

Photograph courtesy of Whistler Blackcomb

Get Lost: Four Must-Do Hawaii Adventures

Photograph by Michael Dyches, My Shot, see more island wallpaper like this.

Last night ABC aired the highly-anticipated two-hour premiere of the final season of Lost. Shot on the island of Oahu, the show stirred a large amount destination envy as the survivors of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 hacked through dense jungle, hiked impossibly steep cliffs and rugged mountains, and waited (sometimes with heavy artillery) at camp on that gorgeous golden-sand beach.

To help you get Lost, we just published a special The Big Trip: Hawaii. Trips include:

- Hiking, paddling, and biking on Kauai
- Cruising from Oahu to Molokai, Lanai, and Maui on a live-aboard yacht
- Surfing and volcano-trekking on Maui
- Road-tripping the Big Island

In her research, writer Katie Arnold discovered that return visits to the archipelago are unusually high—65 percent of visitors go back (something the Lost crew knows all too well). So here's how to plan a Lost Hawaii escape now. Time travel aside, it's sure not to be your last.

Everett Ruess Update: How the DNA Test Went Wrong

Text by David Roberts; Photograph of Utah's Comb Ridge by Dawn Kish

The discovery of explorer Everett Ruess’s skeletal remains, as detailed in the April/May 2009 issue of Adventure ("Finding Everett Ruess"), appeared to be a slam dunk. A team of forensic scientists laid out an impressive case, backed by a DNA test that linked bones found in the Utah desert to the long-lost explorer, an icon of the American Southwest. Well, DNA results are only as good as the process that produces them, and in this case, a peculiar set of blunders managed to complicate, rather than solve, a 75-year-old mystery.