From the inspiring to the tragic, catch up on the news of exploration and launch your week with ‘This Week in Adventure.’
Deadly Everest Season Ends
The brief weather window to climb Mount Everest in the spring closed on May 29. By then, 12 people had lost their lives on the mountain. This Everest season brought unprecedented crowds and sparked many conversations around the mountain’s risks and rewards. It also inspired an excellent graphic representation by ABC News. This one’s worth a read if you’ve ever wondered about the numbers behind the climbers on the mountain.
A New Adventure Race for $1 Million
Feeling like a badass? A new race will pit teams against the elements as they race for a $1 million prize. Casting now, the Race to the Center of the Earth, from National Geographic, pits teams against “jungles, frozen arctic, arid deserts, bustling cities, rugged mountains, winding rivers, and vast bodies of water.” The televised race sounds incredible and very tough. Apply to compete now.
Nirmal Purja Blows Minds With Six 8,000-Meter Summits
As we reported earlier this week, Nepali Mountaineer Nirmal Purja completed six 8,000-meter peaks this spring as part of his Project Possible mission to climb all 14 8,000-meter peaks in a single year. The unprecedented attempt remains on track, with his next hurdle being fundraising. If he completes his endeavor, Purja would knock more than 6 years off the current FKT for the group of peaks.
New Record at Dirty Kanza
Some 1,200 pain-craving cyclists lined up this weekend to race 200-plus miles across the Flint Hills of Kansas for the 13th-annual Dirty Kanza. Red Bull rider Colin Strickland broke free from the lead pack at mile 100 and rode solo for the remainder of the day. The 32-year-old Austin, Texas-native held a blistering pace to set a new record time of 9 hours, 58 minutes, 49 seconds.
Hunting Lawsuit Goes to the Supreme Court
Was it poaching or legal hunting? In a complex case, a Native American man hunting on the border of Wyoming and Montana won in the Supreme Court on May 21.
The short of it is that, in 2014, Clayvin Herrera and his hunting partners shot multiple elk near the Wyoming-Montana border. Apparently, they strayed into Wyoming and off the Crow Native American reservation. The group was charged with poaching because they didn’t have Wyoming licenses, and elk season was closed at the time of the kills.
Although his friends pled guilty, Herrera chose to fight it, first in local appellate court and then in the Wyoming Supreme Court. He appealed it to the highest court in the land, where he won the case last week. Check out this interesting breakdown of the case.
FKT on the Ozark Trail
David Stores and Brandon Vaughn fast-packed about 243 miles on the Ozark Trail in 5 days, 11 hours, 44 minutes, and 15 seconds. They finished the epic route through the Ozarks of Missouri with about 33,000 feet of vertical gain.
The duo, who finished on May 28, reported some gnarly obstacles like nests of ticks and stinging nettles. But it was “not a nightmare. There was so much beauty and wonderment of the forest, animals, birds, creeks. Nothing in Missouri can compare,” they reported on FastestKnownTime.com.
8 Climbers Missing in the Indian Himalayas
Seven climbers — four from England, two from the U.S, and one from Australia — and their Indian liaison officer disappeared during an expedition to climb Nanda Devi East. According to a report in BBC, an avalanche was feared to have caught the group in the area around India’s second-highest peak. Check out the detailed report here.
Don’t Go Rogue on Mont Blanc
Climbers who head up Mont Blanc without reservations at one of the three refuges on the mountain could face serious fines and jail time. According to authorities, crowding and unsanitary conditions spurred the harsh penalties to “rogue” climbers who do not have reservations.
How harsh? How do 2 years in prison and a €300,000 ($335,000) fine sound? Ouch. That should keep even the dirt-baggiest climbers in line.
