Category archives for Exploration
Adventure in 60 Seconds: This Week in Exploration
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on June 6, 2010 Text by Tetsuhiko Endo At the NG Adventure Blog, our reporting often focuses on adventurers of leisure–people who test themselves against Mother Nature in dogged adherence to the George Mallory school of philosophy: "Because it's there." Risk and reward for these modern thrill-seekers is high, but measured on a mostly personal scale. However, there is…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Humbled by the Alaskan Spring
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on June 2, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here. The Alaskan wilderness has brought me to tears twice on this trip, both times…
Adventure in 60 Seconds: This Week in Exploration
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 29, 2010 By Tetsuhiko Endo And just like that, it's over. The circus has left the Himalaya and the only evidence that an army of international climbers spent all spring scrambling up and down its forbidding peaks are a few optimistic stragglers and the perennial accumulation of garbage on Mount Everest. As is usually the case, most…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Spring Conditions Terminology
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 27, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here. In talking recently with my parents and friends I gather that not everyone is…
Finding Machu Picchu: A Look at Explorer Hiram Bingham, A Real-Life Indiana Jones
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 26, 2010 Almost one hundred years ago, on July 24, 1911, a Yale University history lecturer named Hiram Bingham III climbed to the top of a mountain ridge in Peru and encountered one of the most extraordinary sets of ruins on Earth: Machu Picchu. In his new book Cradle of Gold: The Story of Hiram Bingham, a…
Adventure in 60 Seconds: This Week in Exploration
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 21, 2010 "Come hither! come hither! my little daughtèr, And do not tremble so; For I can weather the roughest gale That ever wind did blow." Those words were written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1842, and although they were inspired by a storm off the East Coast of the United States in 1839, they sum up…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: It’s On, Mother Nature. Bring It.
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 17, 2010 Posted from Delta Junction, Alaska In an earlier post, "Becoming a Lean, Mean Adventuring Machine," I identified a "go big or go home" moment as part of the hardening process. I finally had that moment, a few weeks ago in the western Alaska Range (as predicted), and I'll share it now. The western Alaska Range…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Andrew Answers Your Questions on Avalanches, GPS, Socks, Motivation
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 12, 2010 Thanks for submitting your questions last week. We sent them off to Andrew when he was in Delta Junction, Alaska. As to be expected, he came through with great answers. He also told us that he's happy to answer more, so feel free to submit new questions at the end of this post. What's…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: The Challenges of Going Solo
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 10, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.Posted from Delta Junction, Alaska I enjoy solo wilderness travel. I also enjoy group wilderness…
Adventure in 60 Seconds: This Week in Exploration
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 7, 2010 Nepal Annapurna trek, photograph by Jeremiah Cunningham, My Shot This week in adventure, the mountains are taller, the controversy fiercer, the waves bigger, and the oil slicker. Thankfully, the beasts are tamer and the expeditions are sending back some pictures that you have to see to believe.—Tetsuhiko Endo MOUNTAINSMount Everest saw its first summits of…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Andrew Will Take Your Questions Now…
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 6, 2010 Adventurer Andrew Skurka has now been skiing, snowshoeing, and trekking for almost two months of his 4,700-mile expedition through Alaska and the Yukon. When he's done in October, he will have crossed through six U.S. national parks and two Canadian national parks, floated some of North America's wildest rivers, and hiked the Alaska and Brooks…
Adventure in 60 Seconds: This Week in Exploration
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on April 30, 2010 It has been a wild week in adventure: Man has confronted nature with every type of result, but in the end, it was the women who stole the show. —By Tetsuhiko Endo MOUNTAINS Spring is always hectic in the Himalaya and 2010 has been no different. This week proved to be noteworthy for both its…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Eat Fat – A Guide to the 5,000-Calorie Wilderness Diet
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on April 15, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here.Posted April 9, 2010, from McGrath, Alaska My outdoor diet has been honed through years…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Finally Into the Wilderness, the Most Challenging Terrain Begins Now
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on April 12, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America’s wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here. April 11, 2010, posted from Nikolai, Alaska I think about this expedition in three…
Want to seach for the Northwest Passage like a 19th-century British explorer? Bring your sterling silver flatware and hubris.
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on April 7, 2010 Longtime adventure author and editor Anthony Brandt has just released his latest work, The Man Who Ate His Boots. The intensely researched book examines the search for the Northwest Passage, the holy grail of 19th-century British exploration for the shortcut it could provide to Asia. Too "civilized" to adopt any of the customs of the…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: The Modernization of Life in Rural Alaska – Is it Sustainable?
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on April 5, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America’s wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here. April 1, Day 19, Mile 500.8 Posted from Ruby, Alaska To travel between Kotzebue…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Just 4,600 Miles to Go? How to Stay Motivated
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 22, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here. The Enormity of the Task – Posted From Koyuk, Alaska, on Saturday, March 20…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Secrets to Surviving the Bitter Cold
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 19, 2010 Follow adventurer Andrew Skurka as he skis, hikes, and rafts 4,720 miles through eight national parks, two major mountain ranges, and some of North America's wildest rivers in Alaska and the Yukon from March to October. Read his blog updates here. Staying in Control – Posted March 18 in Buckland, Alaska It was -25° F…
Space and the New Age of Exploration – An Interview With Explorers’ Club President Lorie Karnath
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 16, 2010 More than 1,000 explorers from around the globe will converge in New York City for the 106th Explorers' Club Annual Dinner on Saturday at the Waldorf=Astoria (watch a video from last year's event). While sharing a Versailles-styled ballroom with the world’s best polar explorers, bushwhacking biologists, and dusty archaeologists—some in native dress—might sound like a…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: What’s in My Pack? A Guide to Ultralight Backpacking
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 15, 2010 Today adventurer Andrew Skurka begins an ambitious, seven-month expedition that will take him 4,720 miles across Alaska and the Yukon by skis, foot, and raft. Follow his blog dispatches here and his tweets via twitter.com/andrewskurka. The contents of my pack are almost entirely need based. During this trip, my legitimate needs will include staying hydrated…
Alaska-Yukon Expedition: Andrew Skurka Embarks on 4,720 Miles by Skis, Foot, Raft
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 13, 2010 On Thursday Andrew Skurka arrived 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Kotzebue, Alaska, to begin his latest expedition. Similar to his Great Western Loop hike (a feat which made him our 2008 Adventurer of the Year), this is an ambitious, never-before-attempted endeavor. For the next seven months, he'll cover more than 4,720 miles…
Bob Ballard Update: The Explorer Gets His Dreamboats
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on March 4, 2010 Bob Ballard’s new fleet is changing how discoveries are made. Last summer, two telepresence-enabled research vessels hit the high seas. No, we’re not talking Star Trek—the E/V Nautilus and Okeanos Explorer use satellite communications to bring scientists across the globe aboard, virtually, in 20 minutes flat. The system, designed by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Robert Ballard…
Meet the Adventurers of the Year: Explorer Albert Yu-Min Lin
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 4, 2009 Conjuring Genghis Khan: Explorer Albert Yu-Min Lin Picture the young explorer, standing in his StarCAVE, searching for the tomb of Genghis Khan. Picture the world around him, the wilderness stretching away in all directions. Picture him stooping to inspect some rocks near his feet, rocks that together form a suspiciously tidy rectangle, a rectangle that…
Go Green: Eco-Voyagers Take on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 3, 2009 And the award for green cause of the year goes to . . . the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. After decades of anonymity, the floating trash pile located midway between California and Hawaii had a breakout 2009—luring news crews, a trio aboard a raft made of junk, a zero-impact rower, and some hipsters from Vice…
Field Notes: Whitewater and Monster Fish on Brazil’s “River of Doubt”
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on December 1, 2009 I’m in Cacoal, Brazil, with National Geographic explorers Zeb Hogan (left), the world's foremost megafish expert, and Trip Jennings (right), an accomplished kayaker and filmmaker. Located 130 miles east of the Bolivian border, the town is just a few hours' drive from the where we’ll launch the first-ever expedition to study the aquatic life in…
