Category archives for Conservation
Everest Hero Jim Whittaker on the Outdoors, Gear, and His Favorite Ice Cream
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 17, 2013 
See more of Jim Whittaker in this video and portrait gallery. Read more about the state of Mount Everest in the June issue of National Geographic. The first time I met 84-year-old Jim Whittaker, a giant both in height (6’5″) and spirit, he was literally throwing around the heavy (and sharp) ice ax he used…
Video: 50 Years on Everest – Climbers’ Candid Thoughts on the State of the World’s Tallest Peak
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 1, 2013 On this day 50 years ago, May 1, 1963, Jim Whittaker became the first American to stand atop Everest, a feat which made him a national hero. A few weeks later, May 22, Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld made the daring first ascent of the West Ridge and the first traverse of the peak, electrifying…
Saving the Colorado, America’s Most Endangered River – Video + Interview with Pete McBride
Posted by Emily Nuchols on April 17, 2013 When we think of the Colorado River, we think of its power and its beauty, running from the rugged peaks of the Rocky Mountains and twisting, turning, and splashing through seven western states and two countries. The Colorado River carved the Grand Canyon—a symbol as iconic to the United States as the bald eagle or…
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See JP Auclair in the “street skiing” scene from All.I.Can, one of our favorite skiing video segments of all time. We are innately drawn to the mountains as skiers and riders. When the autumn aspen leaves curl and begin to fall, we catch our first wave of ski stoke. Memories of last year’s epic pow…
Rios Libres Filmmaker Returns to Chile Seeking Answers – Interview with James Q Martin
Posted by Chris Kassar on March 6, 2013 Streams of Consequence from Rios Libres on Vimeo.
In 2010, photographer, James Q Martin and I joined forces to begin Rios Libres, a non-profit dedicated to keeping Chilean Patagonia wild. Reading about a proposal to place five major dams on the Baker and Pascua, two pristine rivers in the heart of Patagonia, inspired us to take action. We headed to Chile with an…
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Imagine heading out for an adventure in your favorite forest or park only to find it’s been shut down. Closed for business. Off-limits. Left to fall into neglect and disrepair. Sound bad? It would be. And it could happen—if Congress fails to get its financial house in order before the end of the year. You’ve…
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A snowboarding pioneer risked his career to usher in a new era of exploration in the world’s wildest mountain ranges. Vote for Jeremy Jones See photos of all ten Adventurers of the Year! “There is no longer anywhere in the world that I consider too hard to get to,” says big-mountain snowboarder Jeremy Jones. In…
Among the world’s best big-wave surfers, a Chilean and conservationist turns in one of the best barrel rides of all time. Vote for Ramon Navarro See photos of all ten Adventurers of the Year in action! “In my dreams, I’d never thought a wave could be that perfect,” says Chilean surfer Ramon Navarro of the…
Picture this: You’re exploring a pristine backcountry area in a national park. You’ve been huffing up a ridge for some time and are eagerly anticipating the view. When you reach the top, you scan the sweeping valley below you … and see a cluster of houses. At first, you think you must have wandered outside…
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered good news for outdoor recreation by doing nothing. Yep, the justices just sat on their heels and said there’s no point in arguing any more. I’m talking about roadless areas, a federal classification that includes 45 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land. What does this mean…
Think about the greatest adventures you’ve had. Chances are, they started as a dream, slowly incubated in your mind, and finally morphed into reality after careful planning and execution. At some point, pipe dream becomes possibility—usually when you mentally commit yourself to a goal. After all, you never get anywhere in life by sitting on…
Save the Elephants: Challenge 21 Climbers Find the Other Side of Wild
Posted by Kim Havell on August 16, 2012 
Chuck Yaeger stops by my tent at 4:30 a.m. Yaeger, a wild elephant that occasionally roams the Elephant Watch Camp for its tree snacks (seed pods), is a large bull. He is five feet from my head. I lay flat and quiet. Elephants can smell but have poor eyesight. A powerful step or sweep of…
You might think that the outdoor industry is a bunch of tree huggers, and to some extent that’s true. After all, we’re in this business because we love being outdoors, and protecting natural resources and quality places to play goes hand-in-hand with that. But what if I told you that this collective concern for the…
Wild Love Film #1: Jake Norton and Wende Valentine on Love, Hardship, and Challenge21
Posted by Emily Nuchols on June 27, 2012 
Wild Love: Jake Norton & Wende Valentine from Andy Maser on Vimeo. I first met Wende Valentine at Mountainfilm in Telluride in 2011. I had just a spark of an idea about capturing stories that explore the threads of love, loss, and passion for adventure in the outdoor community. Wende was living a story of…
Scuba diving has to be one of the greatest adventures of all. There’s nothing like donning a bunch of clunky equipment that allows you to do something you really aren’t supposed to be able to do: breathe underwater. Once you’re down there, you float along weightlessly, utterly immersed in another world. When you’re diving a…
The Latest #OnEverest: Our Climbers on Instagram, Twitter, More
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on April 3, 2012 
[View the story "The Latest #OnEverest" on Storify] The Latest #OnEverest Storified by Mary Anne Potts · Tue, Apr 03 2012 16:02:19 Check back each week for a look at what’s been happening #OnEverest. Two Routes to the Top: Our 2012 expedition to Everest seeks to repeat the historic climb of the 1963 National Geographic-sponsored…
The Challenge of 21: Climbing the World’s Tallest Mountains for Water
Posted by Kim Havell on March 9, 2012 
This planet has a huge water problem. Luckily, there are people who are working to solve the global sanitation and water crisis. Even in the developed world, this is now our burden. The Challenge21 Team plans to help. Representing the entity Water For People, Jake Norton, Wende Valentine, and Danielle Elkin have created a mission…
Best Adventure Destinations for 2012
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 16, 2011 Our list is out: Each of these ten best adventure destinations for 2012 has new access, be it new parks, trails, hotels, crazy weather patterns, or cosmic events. Combined, it's enough to make a well-traveled world feel full of new frontiers again. And the best adventure destinations are… Skiing + Snowboarding Mammoth Mountain, CaliforniaRafting the…
Snowboarder Jeremy Jones on Protect Our Winters
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 8, 2011 "Jeremy Jones is an alien. He's just inhumanly good at snowboarding." So lives the legend of this pioneering big-mountain rider. We heard this comment this week from an Alaska-based ski/snowboarding operator, but the sentiment is one that rings throughout the snowboarding world. Once a pro rider hitting a different big-mountain location every week, Jones's ethos…
Mountainfilm Comes to New York This Weekend
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on October 21, 2011 Last night we bumped into David Holbrooke, mastermind behind Mountainfilm, the world-class film festival that explores adventure, exploration, the environment, and world issues each Memorial Day Weekend in Telluride, Colorado. He gave us the skinny on what to do this weekend in New York City: Check out the incredible films and adventurers who have arrived…
Afghanistan’s Highest Mountain Reopened to Climbers
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on August 10, 2011 The trail to summit of Noshaq now open to mountaineers as the Wildlife Conservation Society and others anticipate return of tourism to the mountain. Photograph by Anthony Simms/WCS Afghanistan Program Closed off from the outside world for decades due to regional insecurity, Afghanistan’s highest mountain, Mount Noshaq, is once again accessible to the mountaineering community,…
News Update: “Prankster” Environmental Advocate Tim DeChristopher Jailed
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on August 1, 2011 By Jon Bowermaster Two years ago, a then-27-year-old economics student at the University of Utah named Tim DeChristopher spoiled an auction of pristine Western wilderness—intended as a parting gift from the soon-departing Bush administration to some of its oil and gas buddies—by spontaneously bidding nearly $2 million for drilling rights to 22,500 acres. When it…
Fiji Island Declares Part of Reef Sacred, Restricts Fishing For World Oceans Day
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on June 8, 2011 Photograph courtesy Keith Ellenbogen Exploring Fiji is pretty high up on our must-see wish list—the stunning islands, the surf breaks, the marine life, the beach culture. Here's some good news from the Wildlife Conservation Society just in time for World Oceans Day (learn more about the world's seas on our National Geographic Oceans site). The…
New Organization Links Adventure Athletes and Scientists in Conservation
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 9, 2011 By Gregg Treinish, founder of ASC and former Adventurer of the Year As ambassadors of the outdoors—the people who are living in, moving through, and sharing the value of the wilderness with the rest of the world—we have a responsibility to do all that is in our power to protect what we love so much.…
Elephant Ivory Project: Explorers Finally Find Ample Elephant Dung, Begin Journey Home
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on April 26, 2011 By Andy Maser; Photographs by Andy Maser and Trip Jennings, Elephant Ivory Project, EP Films We were recovering at our Obenge base camp when we heard the strange screams. “Pardon Papa! Pardon Papa!” over and over again, with a sound like bamboo being chopped down prompting each yell. Effrin, a local guide, pointed to the…
