Introducing National Geographic Adventures Guided Tours

Photograph courtesy of National Geographic Adventures

Today National Geographic announced a new line of guided tours called National Geographic Adventures. These trips are more active and more affordable than their Expeditions trips. Partnered with Mountain Travel Sobek, the 11 new itineraries speak for themselves. Basically if you like adventure, you could get pretty seriously excited about any one of these classic itineraries, which combine outdoor activities, authentic cultural experiences, and National Geographic expertise. The trips are rated with an activity level (easy, moderate, strenuous, or ultimate challenge) and have a maximum of 16 participants.

Alaska by Sea Kayak
Bhutan Trekking
Hiking Patagonia (pictured)
England Coast to Coast
Hiking Italy's Dolomites
Mongolian Horse Trek
Everest Base Camp Trek
Trails and Treasures of Andalucia, Spain
Climbing Kilimanjaro
Walking Safari with Maasai

Learn more about all of the trips here >>

Restrepo: Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington Receive an Oscar Nomination For Best Documentary

Editor's Note: Congratulations to Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington for the Academy Award nomination for their documentary Restrepo. We spoke to Junger this summer about his deployment in Afghanistan's Korenga Valley, known as the deadliest place in Afghanistan at the time. Here is a look at the interview, again.


Filmmakers Sebastian Junger (left) and Tim Hetherington in 2007 at Outpost Restrepo—Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Photograph by Tim Hetherington

Bestselling author Sebastian Junger and photojournalist Tim Hetherington, both seasoned war reporters, have just released a powerful new documentary, Restrepo. In order to show the true experience of an American solider, the pair joined the men of Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade for a full deployment. It just so happened that the platoon got assigned to the Korengal Valley, a six-mile slit in the foothills of the Hindu Kush known as the deadliest place in Afghanistan. During their 14-month project, Hetherington broke his leg and Junger tore his Achilles and survived an IED attack. Both men could have easily been taken out during the almost daily firefights. But this isn't their story. The journalists remained far out of the frame to show the soldiers' experience. And unlike The Hurt Locker, this is real. At times devastating, at times playful, this story is very real. We spoke to Junger about making the film, dodging death, the McChrystal question, and what's needed next in Afghanistan. —Mary Anne Potts

You've been reporting from Afghanistan since 1996. Why do you keep going back?

In 2001, it was an easy win. The Afghan people were, for he most part, incredibly grateful to be rid of the Taliban. And it looked like the story was over. And then, I think, we didn’t leave enough troops there, and we moved on to Iraq, and the war got worse and worse. By 2005 I thought, O.K., since we are going to be there for so long, I want to know what it’s like to be a solider in the U.S. military. I was with Battle Company of the 173rd in Zabol province in 2005, and I was really amazed by those guys. It was my first experience with the U.S. military. I decided that if they went back to Afghanistan, I wanted to do a project that shows what it is like to be a soldier in combat in the U.S. military. I wanted to be with a platoon for a full deployment—a platoon is about 35 men. So they went back to Afghanistan in 2007, and I followed them there about a week or two later.

What made you decide to shoot your first documentary in the Korengal Valley, which was known as the deadliest place in Afghanistan for the intense, frequent fighting that occurred there?

I didn’t know it would be. I was going over there because Battle Company was there. I had never heard of the Korengal Valley before. They hadn’t either. It just happened to be a very violent place.

Steve Casimiro's 2011 Gear Forecast - Technical Fabrics, Avalanche Packs, Lighter Footwear, and Pastel Colors

By Contributing Editor Steve Casimiro, editor of Adventure Journal. See more of Casimiro's gear recommendations in our must-have gear gallery >>

After five days in Utah at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in search of the best new products from 800 brands and 18,000 attendees, I returned home with a swag count of two pairs of men’s boxer-briefs (unused, clean) and a shot glass with an unprintable word on it (used, dirty). Parsing the tea leaves of free stuff like the best tasseographer, I can only come to the conclusion that wool continues to remain supreme and a salty sense of humor is filtering into this occasionally parched culture.

These trends, however, might or might not be making their way to your nearest outdoor retailer. More significant ones, I should note, are. And while it’s impossible for even the most intrepid reporter to suss out every pulse worth mentioning, here are some of the more intriguing developments:

Video: Kayak Over a Waterfall, Ulitmate Adventure Bucket List

Video by Aurora Photos

Attempting a new waterfall record in a kayak requires a lot of scouting, an acceptance that you'll probably get at least a little hurt, and, perhaps most important, an unquestionable belief in one's own immortality. And yet, in recent years, waterfalls have proven an irresistible, if dangerous, frontier for young-gun pro kayakers seeking eternal bragging rights. "The motivating factor for all of this was just that I thought it was possible," says Tyler Bradt, who clinched the record in 2009 with a 3.7-second freefall over 186-foot (57-meter) Palouse Falls in eastern Washington. "I wanted to do it, I guess, because I can."

So maybe you need something a little less insane? We agree! How about kayaking the roiling rapids of the Zambezi? Read about that trip and 19 other paired trips in our Ultimate Adventure Bucket List, which matches one of the world's most extreme (read: craziest!) adventures with a great, doable alternative. See the trips >>

Biking Legend Danny MacAskill: "I have always looked at the world as a giant playground" (Video)

Danny MacAskill - "Way Back Home" from dave on Vimeo.

By Tetsuhiko Endo; Photograph courtesy Danny MacAskill

In 2009, Danny MacAskill was a 23-year-old Scottish kid working in a bike repair shop while spending his free time doing rather extraordinary stunts on two wheels in the scenic cities and countryside of Northern Britain. Then he decided to film his exploits for a video promoting Inspired Bicycles and post it on You Tube. Twenty four hours later, the video had received a few hundred thousand views and turned Macaskill from another kid riding a bike in Scotland to an instant underground legend. A lot has happened to Macaskill since then, but with the recent release of his follow-up video, Way Back Home, he has cemented his reputation as one of the freshest and most innovative athletes in action sports today. Adventure tracked him down as he criss-crossed his snowbound home country in an RV (or “camper van” as the Brits say) looking for more places to ride.

 

 

Adventure: I hear the entire UK has been under a deep freeze. Are you still riding outside in this weather?

Danny MacAskill: I have been very lucky this winter as I only caught the first week of the bad snow and then i managed to escape to Barcelona for a couple of weeks…. I normally ride in rain, wind, snow, ice. I quite often find the best rides I have are when the conditions are at there worst as I feel like I'm beating them by having the best time riding in them.

Free Climbers Take on Patagonia's Cerro Pollone - Plus Get a Look at the Gear in Their Packs

Photographs courtesy of Scott Bennett and Blake Herrington

With its mind-blowing geography and a robust legacy of climbing lore, Patagonia has long lured adventurers from around the world to experience the rugged yet relatively accessible wilderness. That said, there are still firsts to be had. Next week climbers Scott Bennett and Blake Herrington will begin their attempt at the first free ascent of the West Pillar of Cerro Pollone. They hope to continue along the ridge crest to also make the first ascent of the East Summit of Cerro Pollone adopting a light, fast, free-climbing style on both attempts. The journey will begin in the Rio Electrico valley on the approach, traverses a shoulder of the main ice cap and negotiates unknown terrain en route to the base of the climb. We caught up with the duo to find out about the climb, get a look at the gear in their packs, and discover out how climbing in Patagonia has changed over the years.—Mary Anne Potts

ADVENTURE: What drew you to Cerro Pollone?

Scott and Blake: Forming the jagged southern tip of the Americas, Patagonia is one of the truly wild places left on our planet. The mountains rise abruptly from the ocean, and are battered year-round by the raw wind and intense storm systems of the Southern Ocean. As a place to tests one’s resolve and seek out the most austere challenges, Patagonia is a world-class arena.

Our objective, Cerro Pollone, forms an immaculate white pillar of granite that juts from the Patagonian ice cap, and promises aesthetic and physical climbing, far from evidence of civilization.

The Wild Within TV Host Steven Rinella on Adventuring to Eat (Video)

What if you could use your philosophy toward food to fuel a life of adventure? And we don't mean digging around in your veggie garden. How about hunting octopus off Maui, crabbing in Alaska, or even gathering snails in San Francisco's sprawling Golden Gate Park? For consummate outdoorsman Steven Rinella adventuring to eat is a way of life. The Brooklyn-based writer and his family only eat meat he has hunted himself. It's a noble idea—if you can't kill it, why should you be eating it? Rinella's culinary exploits take center stage in his new show The Wild Within (Travel Channel, Sundays at 9 p.m. EST). Whether you are ready to bowhunt for peacock bass in Guyana or track buffalo in the Badlands, it's pretty amazing just to be along for the ride. Here Rinella tells us about his greatest adventures, the gear he can't live without, and the benefits of truly "eating local." —Mary Anne Potts

Your eating philosophy—to only eat meat that you have hunted yourself—guarantees a lifestyle with adventures in the great outdoors. Is having amazing adventures big part of it for you?

Steven Rinella: Absolutely. I love wild game for the simple fact that I love to eat healthy, high-quality food. But there’s an added element that wild game carries with it: the adventures that went into harvesting and preparing it. I view my freezer as a repository of these memories, almost like a bank. I fill it up with adventures when I’m flush with them and then make small, one-pound withdrawals on a daily basis. It’s a wonderful way to live. And it’s a wonderful way to eat.

How do you pick your locations? By desire to experience a part of the world or by craving for a certain type of meat?

SR: When it comes to locations, there are almost too many considerations to list them all. Novelty is important to me, but then so are routine and tradition. We filmed an episode of The Wild Within in Guyana, a place where I’d never been before. One reason I was drawn to the region is that many of the Amerindians still fish with handmade bows and arrows on a daily basis; they feed their families with these weapons.

Legendary Kayaker Hendri Coetzee Honored With Sunset River Memorial in Uganda

 
By Andrew Tolve; Photograph courtesy Chris Korbulic 

The Itanda Falls in eastern Uganda are a treacherous, quarter-mile run of rapids lined by dense jungle and heaving with Class VI whitewater from top to bottom. Hendri Coetzee, the South African kayaker killed by a crocodile on the Lukuga River in December 2010, considered this “big water kayaking in paradise.” The 35-year-old had a home in Jinja, just upriver, and had run the falls hundreds of times, including on his legendary trip from the Nile’s source-to-sea in 2004.

This past Saturday, January 8, more than 200 friends and family joined at the falls to pay tribute to Coetzee’s memory. A wooden raft filled with flowers and prayer flags, poems, hearts, and photographs, was ferried to the middle of the river at sunset, lit on fire, and set free in the rapids.

“He used to call this the center of the universe,” recalls Pete Meredith, one of Coetzee’s closest friends and the memorial’s organizer. “It was close to the heart of Africa, at the source of the Nile, the people were so friendly, and the water was amazing. This is the way he would have wanted to go.”

Many of those attending the memorial stayed until sunrise sharing stories of Coetzee, an adventurer who, in the era of Google Earth and GPS, proved there were still many beautiful corners of the world left to be explored. He had kayaked all around Africa and internationally, often alone and on lines no one had dared (or thought) to go before. And he did all this with a humility and total disregard for fame or fortune.

“Hendri was a student, and a teacher, and a devotee to his church of exploration,” says Chris Korbulic, one of the two American kayakers with Coetzee when the crocodile struck. “His exploration and adventure were his self-expression, and he didn’t need to go further with it by telling everyone about it.”

Celliers Kruger, one of Coetzee’s close friends and sponsors, recalls that Coetzee routinely turned down new kayaks in favor of an old, scratched up E Solo; insisted on learning Swahili so he could communicate with villagers during his adventures in the Congo; and pursued a degree in psychology between expeditions, not for the shiny degree but to sharpen his personal observations on life.

Coetzee once wrote me in an email, when I was hoping to feature his latest solo adventure in 2009, “As much as I like people thinking I am brave (and I do), it just seems so tasteless and used up, man survives crocodile, savages, and malaria to complete world’s hardest river bla bla bla ... Fact is people live here, 50 million of them, more than half women and children. I am not saying it can’t be dangerous; there are many ways to die here, maybe more than in other places. But the fact is it doesn’t make you Superman to survive here. Grandma is doing it.”

This spirit, in an age when exploration is so often motivated by the attention it will receive, was refreshing and important and will be missed by all those in the adventure community.

Top Five Adventures: Skier Alison Gannett's Favorite Ski Spots

By Alison Gannett; Photograph of Alison Gannett at work gear testing for Patagonia in Crested Butte's Teocalli Bowl.

If your profession is "world champion extreme skier," you are required to suss out the world's ultimate ski spots just put in a day's work. Sounds rough. But even if your day-to-day life isn't devoted to finding fresh tracks, you can still spend your precious free time schussing down them. We asked expedition skier and environmentalist Alison Gannett to give us a cheat sheet to her five favorite ski spots the world over.

1. Las Lenas, Argentina
Endless adventurous steep front, side or backcountry riding.

Down Sides: Too much wind can shut down lifts, avalanches, dinner at 11 p.m. is hard for hungry skiers, partying 'till dawn can hurt fresh tracks, not-so-hot dudes.

Up Sides: Lots of room for fresh tracks, partying 'till dawn, recently affordable, hot chicks. Hot tip: learn Spanish, bring backcountry gear.

2. Andermatt, Switzerland
Couloirs, glaciers, and endless side country may leave you in another town for lunch.

Down Side: Relatively expensive

Up Sides: Some of the longest chutes you will ever ski, picturesque glaciers, great food. Tip: hire a guide to find the goods; wear your avy gear and harness every day.

3. Crested Butte, Colorado
My place for in-bounds adventure and to hone technical skills in the infamous and endless avalanche-controlled powder areas of the North Face, Phoenix/Spellbound, Dead-End Chutes, and Body Bag Glades.

Down Side: Some years can be lean on snow.

Up Sides: Hire a guide for the blue to the double blacks, or forget all that and look for the scariest cliffs to huck (they are all open!). The terrain is so big that it rarely bumps up. There's great coffee and restaurants in this authentic mountain town. Tip: Rent a house in town and leave the car behind; ask a local to show you around.

4. Alta, Utah
My home away from home and my go-to place for the most reliable "best powder on Earth." More dense than Colorado, this snow stacks up and provides a better resistance.

Down Sides: Staying in the affordable black smog of Salt Lake, road closures, and Salt Lake City Mormons close restaurants on Sundays.

Up Sides: It's easy to book a ticket or drive when you see a storm stacking up. Lift tickets are affordable. Tip: try to follow a local to find the goods, if you can....

5. Himalayan Mountains, Manali, India
My ultimate backcountry ski adventure place: Colorado- or Utah-style snow in the world's biggest mountain range.

Down Sides: Three ton carbon footprint to get there.

Up Side: Best food in the world, extremely affordable once you are there, very accessible backcountry in every direction that usually leaves you in some exotic town at nightfall. Tip: Bring diatomaceous earth (wolfcreekranch.com) as a daily prevention for traveler's stomach.

Surfing Photographer Chris Burkard on Capturing That Incredible Shot (Photos)

By Tetsuhiko Endo; Photographs courtesy of Chris Burkhard

What were you doing when you were 24 years old? While most people are entering the work force or moving into their first apartments, photographer Chris Burkard is winning the Red Bull Illume contest. The Illume is a yearly competition that endeavors to choose the best action sports photos from around the world. It doesn’t matter what sport is being practiced so long as someone’s well-being hangs in the balance. This year, Burkard took top honors with a pulled-back shot of a surfer in Chile that, true to his signature style, evokes a beautiful and haunting sense of place.