Tag archives for climbing
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…
Posted by 
The other weekend, I climbed my first couloir. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure what a couloir was. I knew it was a mountain feature—but I figured it was somewhere in the realm of too extreme for me. I’ve always been intimated by technical mountaineering. So how did I find myself in the backcountry…
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…
Antarctica: Exploring the Frozen Frontier
Posted by Freddie Wilkinson on April 18, 2013 
Pick up the September 2013 edition of National Geographic to read writer Freddie Wilkinson’s feature story about this expedition. Queen Maud Land—the adventure starts in sun-soaked South Africa in late spring. On the evening of November 11, 2012, a little after dinner hours, a group of men steadily forms in the back corner of the departures terminal…
It’s that time of year—the eve of summer, when the earth starts to awaken from her long slumber and I get itchy for adventure. After all, it’s what feeds me. Sure, my weekends are packed with fun outdoor forays all year long. But nothing compares to setting your sights on a somewhat scary goal and…
Posted by 
Jim Harris is currently on a National Geographic Expeditions Council assignment with Gregg Treinish to look for wolverine DNA evidence in Mongolia. Read updates on the expedition here. Windmilling his kayak paddle into the pushy breeze, Luc Mehl, 34, pulls onto the sandbar at the mouth of Mexico’s Rio Antigua and squints at the novelty…
Posted by Action adventure film highlights from the Banff Mountain Film Festival are making their way across North America and around the world in the 2013 Radical Reels Tour. Though the order may vary by venue the series includes 11 movies that sweep the action sports spectrum. “This year’s tour includes films about climbing, skiing, snowboarding, mountain…
Conrad Anker on How War Veterans and Climbers Share Similar Values
Posted by Chris Kassar on March 15, 2013 
I thought I was in solid shape until I tried to keep up with Conrad Anker, one of the best climbers in the world, on a short hike through the snowy trails of Hyalite Canyon, a beautiful gorge located just outside of Bozeman, Montana. Conrad floats over the ground, while I merely stumble. He can…
Posted by 
We often use the New Year to reflect on the year before and instill a new resolve for the year to come. For 2013, this year marks 50 years since Americans first stood atop our world’s highest peak. The climbs on Mount Everest in 1963 stand alone in climbing history and continue to inform our…
Today we are asking you to be part of a social media experiment and to tweet #adventure4good so we can collectively reach 100,000 tweets in 24 hours. Your tweet will help bring the first climbing wall to the slums of Rio. National Geographic Young Explorer Asa Firestone wants to inspire kids through climbing. Though not…
Risky Business: Life Insurance for Climbers
Posted by Steve Graepel on December 4, 2012 
With contributions from Doug Colwell Nothing shouts middle age quite like shopping for life insurance. But there I was, answering questions about my height, weight, smoking … and then came the dreaded question: “Have you climbed in the last three years…?” I quickly try to run the numbers. “In the last three years…?” Stalling, I…
Return to Sender: Pete Mortimer and the Genius of Sender’s Climbing Films
Posted by David Roberts on November 28, 2012 
There’s a moment in Sender Films’s new documentary Honnold 3.0 that is utterly terrifying to watch. At age 27, Alex Honnold has emerged as the world’s premier free-solo rock climber. In the film, he’s in the first leg of his “Yosemite Triple”—an attempt to climb the three biggest faces in the Valley, Mount Watkins, El…
Can you imagine coming back from fighting on the front lines only to feel like a stranger in your own country? Perhaps you’ve been wounded, are disfigured, or can’t walk. Or, maybe worse, you have such severe post-traumatic stress disorder that you can’t function normally even though you have no visible injury. Could you tackle…
Posted by 
Last June, Alex Honnold made headlines, again, when he soloed three of the highest walls in Yosemite (Mt. Watkins, El Capitan, and Half Dome) in just under 19 hours, which included driving time in between the formations. Honnold’s feat totalled 7,000 vertical feet of climbing, with 95 percent of it was free soloing (in a…
Posted by 
After a summer of training hard in Washington’s Cascade Range, British Columbia’s Waddington Range, and Alaska’s Chugach Range, the Expedition Denali team is poised to embark on their journey to Denali in June 2013. This film clip will give you a brief window into their training this past summer and their thoughts on the upcoming…
Exhilaration Gives Way to Gratitude in Our National Parks
Posted by Kim Havell on October 5, 2012 
Dangling on the side of a big wall, perched up on a small ledge, or reaching high to grasp a good hold, adrenaline runs through your veins. A black raven swoops down past your head, giving a sharp sensation of the exposure below. Layers of deep connection to the environment are built through the survival…
Climbing Crimea: Cedar Wright on New Routes with New Friends
Posted by Cedar Wright on September 28, 2012 
Cedar Wright is currently on a big-wall climbing first ascent adventure on the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine with fellow North Face athletes Emily Harrington, Matt Segal, and athlete and National Geographic Photographer Cory Richards. I’ve been climbing professionally for more than ten years, and along this learning curve, my philosophy on climbing, adventure, and travel…
Climbing Crimea: Cory Richards – After a Delicate Suffer-Fest, Gravity Brings Clarity
Posted by Cory Richards on September 25, 2012 
Jumping off a cliff is a never natural thing … and gravity is a funny thing. This occurs to me as I feel my quadriceps contract into a half squat and then launch me forward at a 45-degree angle over a 300-foot abyss. Gravity doesn’t care about our sufferings or joys, doesn’t think about what…
Behind the Shot: Photographer Jordan Manley’s Tyrolean Traverse Kayaking Shoot
Posted by Sarah Polger on September 14, 2012 
See more photos like these in our Extreme Photo of the Week gallery From remote skiing to extreme climbing, photographer Jordan Manley is always up for a challenge. To shoot kayaker John Irvine paddling Seymour Canyon in British Columbia, Canada, Manley knew he wanted to photograph the action from above the river. It took two…
Wild Love Film #3 – Climber Timmy O’Neill’s Boomerang of Love
Posted by Emily Nuchols on August 28, 2012 
Wild Love: Timmy O’Neill from Andy Maser on Vimeo. “I am love. In order for me to perceive love, I have to be love, I have to emanate love…” I first met Timmy O’Neill in the packed aisle of a trade show. I was wearing a salmon suit and we chest-bumped our way onto the…
Wings of Kilimanjaro: Prepping to Paraglide Down Africa’s Tallest Mountain – Part 2
Posted by Jayme Moye on August 23, 2012 
This summer, a small international team scouted a route up Kilimanjaro for a paragliding attempt off the mountain, planned for February 2013. Award-winning adventure travel writer Jayme Moye reports in this two-part series. Read Part 1 Our team takes seven days, longer than most people spend hiking up Kilimanjaro, to reach the summit. We have…
Adventure movie fans fortunate enough to attend 5Point or Mountainfilm festivals in 2012 got a sneak peek of an amazing film project in progress. House of Cards from Camp 4 Productions details the three-year journey of climbers Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk, and Conrad Anker as they make an epic first ascent of the Shark’s Fin…
No one attempting to climb Mount Rainier thinks it’s going to be easy, or even necessarily fun the whole way. The very notion of mountaineering means tackling challenging terrain in an unforgiving environment. Cold, wind, exposure, hunger, blisters, discomfort, and fear come with the territory. Suffering is almost guaranteed. Reaching the summit is never guaranteed.…
The Latest #OnEverest – Update #3 – Our Climbers Head for the Summit
Posted by Mary Anne Potts on May 21, 2012 
[View the story "The Latest #OnEverest " on Storify] The Latest #OnEverest Storified by Mary Anne Potts · Mon, May 21 2012 15:10:03 #Himalayan #sunset from inside the #Khumbu #glacier. #OnEverest @natgeo @thenorthfaceSamuel Elias Last weekend provided a weather window that allowed teams to take to the summit. Perhaps as many as 300 people attempted…
Everest 2012: Pete Athans on the Evolution of Nepali Guides
Posted by Freddie Wilkinson on April 22, 2012 
Few climbers know Nepal like Pete Athans. Beginning in 1981, the Washington-based high-altitude mountaineer has made regular pilgrimages to Mount Everest and other regions of the Himalaya. At last count he had participated in 16 expeditions to the world’s highest mountain, attempted five different routes, and personally summited seven times. Along the way, Athans learned…
