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Welcome to Adventuresome.US
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ad•ven•ture•some
Pronunciation: (ad-ven'chur-sum), [key]
—adj.
bold; daring; adventurous.
Forty-six years ago last month, before the age of global positioning satellites, Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, thrilled the world by reaching the summit of Mount Everest.
Today, many of Everest's conquerors are part of a growing group of adventuresome travelers climbing the peak with guides, transmitting dispatches on the Internet with laptops and placing calls home by satellite phone.
So many expeditions have made the climb since Hillary's day that the next great mission on the mountain might be getting all the travelers a chance to accomplish their dreams.
Everest is still a dangerous place, to be sure. This is part of the excitement adventurers live for.
But climbing the most famous mountain in the world has become part of many travelers must see and do activities.
How about journeys to Antarctica, Africa, the Amazon, the Arctic. Take yourself, your friends, your family on one of these harrowing expeditions.
"There are a lot of people who yearn to scale the summit of Everest, but never do it. Write down a list of things you'd love to do before you're too old or pass. Many of these expeditions and explorations will probably be on the list.
Which was, simply, finding new places.
Is the age of exploration over?
The major challenges the summits of great mountains, the poles, but their are other alternatives. And those are to attempt more difficult ways of handling challenges. In mountaineering, for example, the strong climbing teams attempt routes that have not successfully been climbed before. If they are successful, then they have achieved something at least as important as following up the traditional route to the summit.
Still, reaching the top of Mount Everest for the first time in your life, is a moment to cherish, of achievement, and many conversations. Not too long ago no one even knew if human beings could survive at that altitude -- 29,028 feet.
The world is full of discovery.
Just this month, researchers said a shipwreck off the North Carolina coast is probably the remains of the Queen Anne's Revenge, the flagship of Blackbeard. On Wednesday, oceanographer Robert Ballard, who found the Titanic and Bismarck, announced the discovery off the coast of Israel of two ancient Phoenician ships. Preserved under 1,500 feet of water, they are the oldest deep sea shipwrecks ever discovered.
The Earth is filled with adventures that are only limited to the imagination. .
"There are unlimited number of spaces for the adventurer. Hundreds of exotic locales remain intact for todays adventurer.
Active volcanoes, studying the local head-shrinking Indians, examining flora, ancient murder mysteries, and ancient culture rituals and artifacts.
Presently there is a boom in adventure travel, which has opened up new worlds to thousands that were closed only a few decades ago. More people than ever are running whitewater rapids, spelunking and ice climbing, and they're constantly ratcheting up the difficulty level.
Explorers, looking for difficult challenges, that's what being adventuresome is all about.
But the new enthusiasm for adventure has also added to the sense of missing out.
The world's highest waterfall (Angel Falls, Venezuela) at 3,600 feet, is a remote wilderness that can be brought to you by helicopters, which whisk you to a paradise at the top.
The time to be adventurous is in the now - Whether it's The Amazon rain forest, or Antarctica, the most desolate and isolated place on Earth, many visitors are putting these places on their Life's to-do list.
So, what else is there, you ask?
The oceans and the organisms in them are largely the most unexplored places on earth. There are also unexplored pockets around the world, in deserts or rugged mountain terrain. Parts of the Himalayas, for example.
Today's adventures capture the imagination. These achievements will remain a pinnacle of your life's dream or "thing to do". Adventurers enjoy a renewed interest in life.
But explorers say new challenges abound even as the 20th century ends.
Expeditions to the inner gorge of the Tsangpo River, the world's deepest canyon, in Tibet. There, explorers discovered a 100-foot waterfall that had never been recorded. Of course, now it has been.
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You could even climb the world's 14 tallest mountains have been scaled, of course, and in 1985, Dick Bass, a Texan, became the first person to climb the Seven Summits -- the highest mountains on each continent. (The list: Everest in Asia; Aconcagua, South America; McKinley, North America; Kiliminjaro, Africa; Elbrus, Europe; Vinson Massif, Antarctica; Kosciusko, Australia).
But there still are hundreds of other peaks throughout the world that no one has climbed, particularly in Antarctica and Greenland.
"If you're looking only for superlatives, most of that's been done, but there are so many mountains in Antarctica that don't even have names," said Bruce McClellan of Forest Hills, a member of the Explorer's Club of Pittsburgh who is planning a Red Sea dive later this year. "There are rivers in northwestern China that are largely untouched. There are plenty of things to do."
Parts of Tibet are still unexplored, and Western New Guinea has yet to be fully surveyed. Even Canada's Northwest Territories are still remote and wild.
In Africa, the Ndoki forest in central Congo is one of the few remaining bastions of pristine wilderness. It's a swampy expanse so isolated that even the local Africans don't venture very far into it.
Central Africa is also a vast, roadless place that, Rasmus said, is similar to the America of 300 years ago.
Much of the Amazon, too, remains a mystery, despite encroaching development. National Geographic is sponsoring a trip this summer to Ecuador, where an archeological expedition will climb a mountain that researchers believe has been scaled once in the past 400 years. To keep it that way, Rasmus declined to identify the peak.
Other South American mountains have revealed archeological treasure. Earlier this spring, archeologist Johan Reinhard and his team found three mummies atop 22,000-foot Mount Llullaillaco in Argentina. Perfectly preserved, they had been frozen for more than 500 years.
Caves are also a relatively new frontier. The longest underwater cave in the world, Nohoch Nah Chich in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, has been only partially charted. The same is true of the huge Huautla cave system in Mexico. In the United States, National Geographic is working on a computer map of submerged caves at Wakulla Springs, near Tallahassee, Fla.
And some of the old standbys are still being studied, too. Cartographer Brad Washburn and his wife, Barbara, are working on a project funded by National Geographic to determine Everest's precise height and the rate at which it is growing taller.
Someday, of course, Earth will reveal all her secrets. But space is limitless.
"Just think of all the stuff on Mars," McClellan said. "Twenty-nine thousand feet is peanuts compared to some of the peaks on Mars. There's always something out there."
One complication with determining what's left to be explored on Earth is a tendency by Westerners to consider a place undiscovered just because no Westerner has been there. The truth is, no one knows when native people might have climbed forbidding peaks or traversed vast deserts.
"You don't want to disregard the indigenous people," said National Geographic's Martin. "That is an attitude of explorations of the past."
Many modern explorers have a more enlightened approach than the old "I was here first" mentality.
"They're still arguing about who got to the top of Mount Everest. Who cares, in the true spirit of adventure?" said Chip Kamin of Shadyside, an Explorer's Club member who has climbed in Canada, Alaska, South America and the Himalayas. "It's a very selfish perspective to say, 'OK, I've been here, and I don't want anyone else to be here.' "
To Kamin, climbing opportunities are everywhere, whether on sandstone bridge pilings in Western Pennsylvania or off on some mountain in a distant locale. It doesn't matter to him to be first, or even alone, as long as he isn't following the crowds. Last year, he and his climbing partner traveled to the Alaska Range, flew to Ruth Glacier and tried to scale a peak called Mooses Tooth, near Mount McKinley. They didn't make the summit, but the experience was enough.
"Instead of Everest, where you need a ticket to go up, you go to a mountain that isn't that popular," Kamin said. "We had hundreds of pristine peaks around us. There were maybe a dozen people on the glacier. We could see Mount McKinley. ... I think it's unfortunate that we feel we have to go farther and farther and higher and higher. I can find adventure literally in my back yard. It's all in your perspective. Adventure abounds out there. Today's explorers just have to be a little more creative."
The Age of Exploration has just begun: Just glance at the globe! All the spots mapped around the world!
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ALPINE ASCENTS International's Patagonia MOUNTAINEERING SCHOOL
Go to: Soler Valley, Patagonia, Chile
SOURCE: Sarah Tuff, Concierge.com
This is the greatest homeroom in the world, with meringuelike mountain ranges that peak at more than 13,310 feet and plummet to ribbons of turquoise rivers running through valleys. Bienvenido to Chilean Patagonia, the site of Alpine Ascents' ten-day mountaineering school (the next session begins in October 2007). Students include never-evers to experienced mountaineers, and itineraries are tailored to specific backgrounds. After sleeping in tents at the base of the Andes, the intrepid climb to the head of the class along secret glacial bowls and the Paulina Icefield. Clients scout out summits, learn how to evaluate mountain hazards, and acquire the technical skills to tackle even Everest. Then it's time for recess: a celebratory stay at a 2,000-acre ranch on Lago Plomo, for toasting with Chilean wines, and toasty, soft beds.
Ten days, $3,500, including meals and tents
Alpine Ascents
Tel: 206 378 1927
ORVIS FLY FISHING ACADEMY
Kenmore, Scotland
They make it look so easy, don't they? Those anglers along the river, flicking their lines as if they were taming tigers. Meanwhile, all you've tamed are the bushes behind you. Time to head to the Orvis Academy that holds court on the River Tay in eastern Scotland. Check into the Kenmore Hotel, built in 1572, and spend two days immersing yourself in the river's rich fly-fishing with an expert guide. (The Kenmore's Taymouth Restaurant serves a divine roast salmon with red pepper salsa. Consider it inspiration.) You'll learn the nuances of Spey casting, as well as how to catch an Atlantic salmon on the fly, which is sort of like taming a tiger. Only it tastes way better when smoked and shipped back home.
$755, including one night's accommodation, tackle, and lunch
Orvis UK
Tel: 44 1264 349 519
Kenmore Hotel
Tel: 44 1887 830 205
LAS OLAS SURF CAMP
Punta Mita, Mexico
Let's face it: Laird Hamilton makes surfing look like the sport of macho gods, not girls and grandmas. But even he can't hang ten at this secret surf break, near a village somewhere in the province of Nayarit on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Here, waves curl like a long row of eyelashes, and only fishing boats and local kids share the water. That's because the secret password is XX (as in chromosomes) to enroll in Las Olas Surf Safari, a women-only weeklong school that teaches budding Gidgets, aged 13 to 70. Surfers stay in thatch-roof palapas, and attend group sessions each morning and free-riding every afternoon. Yoga, massage, and salsa lessons round out the day. And while the instructor-to-guest ratio is two to three, the guacamole-and-mango-to-guest ratio is off the charts. Feeling bad, you XY types? Head to Richard Schmidt's Surf School in Nosara, Costa Rica, which guarantees beginners (guys and girls) will get up on their first go.
Las Olas, seven days, from $1,995, including double room, meals, lessons, and daily yoga session. Richard Schmidt Costa Rica surf camp, seven days, $2,000, including breakfasts and lunches
Las Olas Surf Safaris for Women
Tel: 831 625 5748
Richard Schmidt Surf School
Tel: 831 423 0928
CONSERVATION CORPORATION AFRICA'S BUSH SKILL'S ADVENTURE
Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa
Envision getting back to nature. Really back, as in creeping through the South African bush, tracking rhinos, giraffes, and antelopes by foot. During the Conservation Corporation's four-day Bush Skills Academy, clients inspect hoof prints, muddy marks left on trees, and animal dung to stalk the suspects. It's like CSI: South Africa, with wine tasting instead of whiny lab assistants. The safari school is held in a private game reserve in the region of Maputuland and is taught by trained rangers. (The program is an extra fee and only open to guests in one of Phinda's six otherwise all-inclusive properties—the Phinda Rock is a good luxury option.) Activities include nighttime spider hunting (they're harder to catch than the kitchen variety), wilderness survival skills, and one night spent out in the great outdoors. That night outside, you'll be equipped with a special weapon against the fiercest critters out here—a very welcome mosquito net.
Bush Skills Adventure, $613 per person; Phinda Rock, $728 per person per night, including meals and liquor
Phinda Private Game Reserve
Tel: 888 882 3742
TEAM O'NEILL RALLY SCHOOL
Dalton, New Hampshire
For anyone who's still doing doughnuts in the Shop-N-Go's gravel parking lot or rocketing the family VW around back roads like Bode Miller on a slalom course, Team O'Neil is the ticket. The sport, big internationally, is called rally, and rookies can learn the art of driving on mud- and snow-covered roads in all-wheel-drive cars here, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Your teacher is five-time champion Tim O'Neil, a zany character who knows his stuff. Class time is spent skidding and slaloming around a six-and-a-half-mile dirt road in an evergreen forest (with his cars, not yours—minor crashes are common). Park at the Mountain View Grand, a 145-room resort in nearby Whitefield, where you can swap rally tales over a couple of Sidecars at the Stagecoach Tavern.
Two-day school, $1,650; four days, $4,150. Double rooms at the Mountain View Grand from $279, including breakfast
Team O'Neil Rally School
Tel: 603 444 4488
Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa
Tel: 800 438 3017
ROPE BRIDGES IN PARADISE
Costa Rica
Who says you have to stay at ground level when you travel? Guests at the well-appointed Monteverde Lodge, adjacent to the virgin Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, can enjoy a monkey's-eye view of Costa Rica's lush rain forest on one of the canopy tours through the preserve. The tours consist of platforms up to 425 feet above the ground connected by footbridges and zip lines; the Original Canopy Tour starts by climbing through a giant hollowed-out tree and includes two descents by rope. Newcomer Sky Trek is more extensive: Its platforms have railings to calm your pulse, but the exhilarating 2,500-foot ride on a steel cable will just get it back up again.
Monteverde Lodge
Tel: 506 645 5057
Doubles from $127
Original Canopy Tour
Tel: 506 645 6950
Canopy tour $45
Sky Trek
Tel: 506 645 5238
Canopy tour $40
SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS
Galapagos Islands
Darwin never got this close to the Galapagos' aquatic anomalies, but Lindblad Expeditions does—the company's well-equipped ships have been exploring the islands since 1967. Join the crew of its new flagship, Islander, staffed with roving naturalists and professional photographers, to get up close and personal with equatorial penguins, blue-footed boobies, and giant tortoises. (There are few natural predators here, so the wildlife is extraordinarily tame.) For the ultimate adventure, grab a snorkel and fins and rendezvous with a real-life whale shark. The behemoths can grow up to 40 feet long and 30,000 pounds, making them the world's largest fish, but they're so docile you can swim right up to them. Go ahead, get a picture with one—your friends don't have to know it only eats plankton.
Lindblad Expeditions
Tel: 800 397 3348
Ten-day trips from $3,680 per person
RIDING ELEPHANT CROSS COUNTRY
Sri Lanka
Back in Action
Recovering from the 2004 tsunami and 20 years of civil war, Sri Lanka is working hard to regain its title as the "Jewel of the Indian Ocean." The world-class beaches, ancient temples, and rugged landscape are still there. And if the Aman chain of ultraluxe retreats knows something the rest of us don't—they recently opened two resorts on the island—this place will be the next Thailand in a decade. For the best of both worlds, stay at the eco-conscious architectural landmark Kandalama Hotel, situated deep within Sri Lanka's interior. Flanked by two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the hotel offers all the usual diversions—hiking, boating, cycling, and horseback riding—plus the rare opportunity to tour the countryside on the back of an elephant. You'll feel like Hannibal crossing the Alps as you and your gentle giant traipse through some of the world's most biodiverse forests and explore the fifth-century mountaintop fortress.
Kandalama Hotel
Tel: +94 11 2308408
Doubles from $175
For Information regarding this site please e-mail us at info@steeringsales.com
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WHISTLER MOUNTAIN BIKE PARK British Columbia If hard-core mountain bikers could design their afterworld, it would probably look something like Whistler's Mountain Bike Park, with 124 miles of lift-served singletrack snaking through the coastal forest of British Columbia. (It would probably have endless beer and free nachos and stuff, too. Can't always get what you want.) Waiting at the entrance to this heavenly land are the gatekeepers of Whistler Bike, who can teach every level of rider the tricks of fat-tire fun. Newbies pick up knobby-tired basics at the three-hour Magic Chair clinics; women roll along the three-day Spokeswomen camps; and armor-clad downhillers storm through six-day Summer Gravity camps. Soak saddle sores in the hot tub at the Adara, a new boutique hotel nearby. Going back to reality afterward? Now that's hell. Magic Chair clinic, $89; Spokeswomen camp, $354; Summer Gravity camp, $1,949. Rates include guide, lift ticket, and rentals. Double rooms at the Adara Hotel, $179 Whistler Mountain Bike Park Tel: 866 218 9690 Adara Hotel Tel: 604 905 4009 CARIB KITEBOARDING Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands Imagine strapping your feet to a board and being pulled over the water by a kite, catapulting over waves. Now imagine learning in chilly waters with second-rate instructors. Enter the bathtub-warm bay in the Caribbean's Virgin Gorda, just off the beach of the Bitter End Yacht Club. Pros here show clients the ropes on high-tech Slingshot boards and kites, and winds blow consistently, ensuring nobody's caught in the doldrums. Even if the skills are slow in coming, beginners can dry off with a rum Painkiller at the resort (which bills itself as a "nautical village"). Even better are the comforts at night inside one of the Bitter End's teak-outfitted villas or an estate house. The phrase "yacht club" isn't just whistlin' Dixie: It's nice enough to entertain such clients as America's Cup sailor Russell Couts—who knows a thing or two about wind power. Kite-boarding classes from $75; double rooms, including meals, $800 Carib Kiteboarding Tel: 284 495 7740 Bitter End Yacht Club Tel: 800 872 2392 Rider's Edge Training Program at YELLOWSTONE HARLEY-DAVIDSON Get to: Belgrade, Montana The patented roar of a Harley seems as friendly as a purr after a four-day lesson in Zen and the art of motorcycle riding. To teach new riders how to handle their hogs, Harley-Davidson offers Rider's Edge courses in 37 states, including the ultimate in open-road freedom: Montana. Local fly-fishermen, lawyers, and moms on vacation from their own hell's angels need only show up to the Yellowstone Harley shop, near Bozeman, with a valid driver's license and the skills to ride a bicycle. Then it's a few evenings in the classroom and two days on the range, straddling a lightweight, easy-to-handle Buell Blast. (It'll be a while till you're blasting around mountain passes as in the picture to the right, though.) Sound too easy? Play hooky, even once, and you have to start over. 25-hour class, $300 Yellowstone Harley-Davidson Tel: 406 388 7684 Harley-Davidson Rider's Edge Academy Tel: 414 343 4056 PHIL RITSON-MEL SOLE GOLF SCHOOL Go to: Ireland Phil Ritson and Mel Sole are the pros who teach the pros—Gary Player and Curtis Strange are among their big-name students. Luckily for amateurs, Sole also likes to relax by traveling to Ireland and South Africa—and he takes strangers with him. Next August 2007, he'll lead a dozen golfers around eight fabled courses on the Emerald Isle, dispensing tips, assigning handicaps, and officiating mini-tournaments. Usually these guys teach using video analysis and psychology lessons, but here things are looser—that stuff happens over a pint of Guinness. Can't wait that long? Consider Sole's golf-and-safari trip to Cape Town and the coastal areas of South Africa in September 2006, where the 19th holes include a Champagne-and-oyster cruise on the Knysna Lagoon and lion-viewing at the Shamwari Game Reserve. Ireland, nine days, $5,490 (includes accommodations, breakfasts, and green fees); South Africa, 14 days, $6,900 (includes airfare, accommodations, meals, and beverages, safari, and green fees) Phil Ritson–Mel Sole Golf School Tel: 800 624 4653 CARNIVAL Salvador, Brazil The Fest: Two million partiers gyrate down super-crowded streets in this coastal city in northeastern Brazil. The three-day bacchanal makes Rio's festival look like a five-year-old's birthday party. Party Central: Avenida Sete de Setembro, the street running along the beach. The Costume: Nothing elaborate here—the Salvadorans wear funky color-coordinated T-shirts that they've ripped and sewn to show off tan lines and curves. Da Funk: Live bands atop 18-wheeler trailers pound out electric grooves with a heavy bass line and jump-up-and-down beat, a style called axé (pronounced ah-SHAY). Da Drunk: Caipirinhas—a lethal mix of sugar, lime, and cane liquor. Historical Twist: Once a major port for the slave trade, the city retains elements of African culture; the drums- and rhythm-heavy music reflects this influence. The Big Moment: On the morning of Ash Wednesday, the parade groups converge at the lighthouse for one last rowdy run along the beach. The Hangover: Post-party revelers binge on Bahian specialties like moqueca de peixe, a rich coconut-and-fish stew, and acarajé, a crispy white bean and onion cake stuffed with shrimp. MARDI GRAS New Orleans The Fest: With less than 50 percent of the city's population moved back in, this year will be less crowded, but it's still Mardi Gras, baby! Beginning two weeks before Fat Tuesday itself, social organizations known as Carnival krewes coordinate 70-some parades with floats, marchers, and brass bands. Party Central: Locals tend to stay in neighborhoods like Faubourg Marigny and the Lower Garden District, which are mostly intact post-Katrina. There's plenty of drinking, flashing, and bead-tossing in the French Quarter, too, but it tends to attract out-of-towners. The Costume: If a drunken man can conceive it, it will show up on the street: A clergyman groping strippers, Elvis at any period in his life, two men in a bathtub. Expect an increase in politically charged satire this year. Da Funk: Marching brass bands belt out hip-hop-influenced jazz and funk. Da Drunk: Hurricanes, Hand Grenades, or anything in a "Go-Cup." Historic Twist: The origin of New Orleans's celebration dates back to 1699 when two French explorers, Bienville and Iberville LeMoyne, celebrated reaching the mouth of the Mississippi River on Mardi Gras day. The Big Moment: When one of the most historical and popular social clubs, Krewe of Rex, rolls through the city on Mardi Gras. The Hangover: Soak up the rest of the booze in your stomach with a New Orleans favorite, an overstuffed po'boy from Mother's (401 Poydras St. at Tchoupitoulas; 504-523-9656). This Central Business District institution is famous for their French-bread sandwiches filled with baked ham.
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