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ExplorersWeb Week in Review
05:03 pm CST Nov 29, 2009
Some explorers are truly testing the waters for human limits; such as the kids roaming the oceans and people like Geoff Holt, about to cross the Atlantic in a wheelchair.
Last week also brought Himalayan female milestones and polar speed records; ending with the annual Turkey story for the Thanksgiving weekend!
StatCrunch, take 3: ladies of thin air - beyond Wanda's footprints With only Annapurna left, Oh Eun Sun is currently leading the world's14x8000er female rank. But who was the first woman to summit an 8000er? And what is the history of women in Himalaya? Last week ExWeb's Rodrigo Granzotto Peron continued his interesting crunch of the Himalayan stats, focusing this time on the ladies of thin air.
Spring 2010 Everest preview: Kaltenbrunner & Dujmovits Gerlinde and husband Ralf are reportedly aiming for Everest north face next spring.
2008/2009 Antarctica speed records... The fastest time from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole (1130 km) is currently 33 days, 23 hours and 55 minutes by Canadians Richard Weber, Kevin Valley and Ray Zahab. The fastest solo from Hercules Inlet is 39 days, 7 hours and 49 minutes bagged by American Todd Carmichael. From the Ronne-Filchner (Messner) start point, a distance of 890 km, the speed record is 24 days 8 hours and 50 min done by Norwegians Christian Eide (leader), Rune Midgaard, Mads Agrup and Morten Andvig - averaging a very fast 36.87 km/day. None of the teams/skiers used airdrops or sails for their record-breaking performances.
...and new season roundup Fewer teams are on the ice this season and 11 out of the 17 skiers are women. 5 skiers summitted Everest: Cecilie Skog, Ryan Waters, Meagan McGrath, Bill Hanlon and Arnold Witzig. 5 out of the 17 skiers are Canadians or Canadian residents.
Antarctic wrap-up: Cecilie Skog and Ryan Waters crossed Berkner Island and are skiing on sea ice towards the Dufek Massif, their gateway to the Antarctic continent. They travel fast, up to daily 25 kms in spite of lugging a full load so early in the crossing. Eric Larsen, Dongsheng Liu and Bill Hanlon reported one degree down while the Commonwealth Ladies were “almost sweating” in the sun.
Desert wrap-up: The river Nile Christian Bodegren reached his first big landmark on his Sahara crossing, The Nile. He changed guides and bought a new camel for the next leg.
Two Clipper Race yachts collided A dramatic start on 22 November to Race 4 of Clipper 09-10 in Cape Town, South Africa saw eight of the boats cross the start line for the 4,700-mile race to Geraldton, Western Australia, while a collision between Hull & Humber and Cork resulted in the two teams returning to harbor reported the Clipper team.
ExWeb interview with Geoff Holt, “I’ll be returning as master of a sailing yacht, despite my disability” Twenty-five years ago Geoff’s sailing career was cut short by a life changing accident which left him paralyzed from the chest down. He is now heading back to the Atlantic Ocean which he had crossed three times as a teenager; this time as master and commander of his boat, in a wheelchair and full of life lessons. “You can only achieve any of these things when you are comfortable with who you are as a person,” he told ExWeb.
17-year old Ryan Langley preparing for a sail around the world non-stop He got an introduction to sailing when he was just months old and is playing the violin since he was nine: American Ryan Langley is currently preparing to sail non-stop around the world, working full steam ahead with high hopes to secure a main partner.
A little turkey story rerun It began in 2003. The next year there was a rerun. Now it's an ExWeb tradition. Here goes the annual turkey story. Happy Thanksgiving, guys!
So here you are, getting ready to enter the world of extreme adventure. You are preparing your sponsor and media pitch and time has come to decide on a strategy. Before you decide on which tale to present, ponder this:
A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, but I haven't got the energy." "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients."
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.
Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.
Moral of the story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.
Read these stories - and more! - at ExplorersWeb.com.
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