When we’re not outdoors, we get our adventure fix by exploring social media and the web. Sometimes we’re a little too plugged in and browsing adventure reads can turn from minutes to hours. To nourish your adventure fix, here are some of the best adventure links we’ve discovered this week.
How Men Muscled Women Out of Surfing: Mindy Pennybacker has been surfing since she was a teenager. She had always seen surfing as a man’s sport despite women’s involvement in the birth of the sport.
Decades later, Pennybacker is regularly pushed off waves. Men dominate the sport and surfing spaces. In recent years, efforts have been made to promote women’s surfing and competitions are becoming more inclusive. She hopes that this drives more women to take up the sport.
Working on the Edge: Some people are lucky enough to have a job that involves adventure. But many of these jobs are not without risks. From chasing tornadoes to clearing land mines, Longreads has put together a list of some of the world’s most extreme jobs.
Matilda Söderlund climbs Niemisis 9a: Matilda Söderlund has made the first female ascent and the first repeat of Niemisis in Sweden. She has suggested a grade of 9a for the route.
Söderland began the project in 2021 when she spent 35 days working across the route. This year she spent a further ten days on the wall, and finally completed the route on the final day. It is the route she has spent the most time on and the hardest climb of her career. It was first climbed in 2020 by Hannes Puman.
Swimming Scotland
Swimming the Scottish Wilderness: Ian Watson came up with the idea of canoeing, hiking, and swimming his way across Ranch Moor in Scotland while reading. His next job was to convince two friends to do it with him.
After nine months of planning they found themselves in Glencoe, ready to start their unsupported journey. They started in Loch Ba, and though initially concerned when they realized the first section was too shallow to swim, they persevered. For two days they made they made their way across the moor, finishing in Loch Laidon.
Jerry Gallwas Established the U.S.’s First Big Wall: Jerry Gallwas first climbed the Northwest Face of Half Dome in 1957. Along with Royal Robbins and Mike Sherrick, he was a pioneer of big wall climbing in America.
Gallwas had been climbing for six years before he tackled the route. Despite his early success, Gallwas never made a career from climbing, he saw it as a hobby.
Canada’s First Couple of Canoeing: Joanie and Gary McGuffin have been canoeing together for 40 years. Their honeymoon turned into a canoe trip across Canada and into the Arctic Ocean.
Since then, the McGuffin’s have never looked back and have likely paddled more of Canada than any other couple. Even when children and pets came into their lives, they continued to take to the water. During this podcast, they talk about their experiences, and challenges and advise anyone who wants to couple’s who would like to attempt a long-distance canoe trip.
Joanie and Gary McGuffin tackle white water in Lake Nipigon. Photo: Gary McGuffin
The incredible Karakoram Highway
The Road that’s the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’: The Karakoram Highway (KKH) is sometimes called the eighth wonder of the world. The 1,300km route stretches from Hasan Abdal, Pakistan, to Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang region.
Samantha Shea discusses walking the section through the Hunza Valley. Mountains surround the valley, but it is the people and culture within the valley that attracted her. Along the way, she stops in towns and villages to learn about their traditions and how the KKH has affected their communities.
The Mountain Will Make Cowards Out of All of Us: Nate Boyer and David Vobora are former professional footballers. This year they swapped their football boots for trail shoes and attempted the Leadville Trail race.
The 160km route features over 15,000 feet of elevation and both men wanted to be the first NFL played to finish within the 30-hour cut-off period. Seven hundred runners started the race. Just 365 finished before the cut-off time.
