• Kelly Perkins becomes first woman to conquer Andes climb despite heart transplant

    Kelly Perkins, a 45-year-old Californian is a climber with another’s heart beating in her chest. She has added a dangerous free climb in the Andes to a string of mountaineering feats. She is the first person to climb the Matterhorn, Mount Fuji and Mount Kilimanjaro. She had the heart transplant in November 1995. About 10 months after her operation; she hiked up the backside of Half Dome peak in Yosemite National Park, a 4,100-foot ascent up to the 8,842-foot elevation. Perkins went to the top of Japan’s Mount Fuji in 1998, Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro in 2001 and Switzerland’s Matterhorn in 2003. She used ropes in 2005 to ascend Yosemite’s El Capitan – 3,000 feet up the granite monolith. Her husband Criag, had been a great support throughout. For every major mountain climbed since her transplant, he gave her another atop the ‘Charmed Heart’ route. Argentine guide Ramiro Calvo, A Boulder, Colo.-based documentary filmmaker, Michael Brown joined Perkins and her husband. She had backpack jammed with prescription drugs, medical supplies and a blood-pressure monitor. Thinner levels of oxygen at base camp of 10,000 feet made it difficult for Perkins. The altitude forced her to stop frequently to catch her breath and let her heart rest but nothing could bring down her gusto of hitting the highest point.

    Written on May 14th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
    A.J. Hackett to attempt record-breaking bungee jump

    A.J. Hackett, better known as the father of bungee jumping, is to attempt the ultimate bungee jump, a petrifying 1,499.6 meter free fall from a helicopter. The attempt will be made with a new technology of bunjee jumping cords. Born in 1958, AJ Hackett grew up on Auckland’s North Shore, New Zealand. It was in 1986 that AJ Hackett and Chris Sigglekow executed the worlds very first Bungee jump in New Zealand, after having invented a manufacturing process for a 100% natural latex elastic bungy cord. Says the daring man himself: There we developed this new technology which is a tapered bungee cord, fatter at the top than it is at the bottom. It means you can stretch them a long, long way. With standard cords that you have now you can’t do that because they break. They just get stretched too much at the top. The 48-year-old plans to launch himself out of a helicopter attached to an elastic cord over Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, later this year. If successful the stunt will double the existing record for the world’s highest bungee jump. Sure will be a crazy event to watch. Do keep track, its likely to take place some time later this year.

    Written on May 14th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , , ,
    Come close to flying at Sky Venture, New Hampshire

    With outstretched arms and legs, I fly; the laws of gravity no longer apply while I am in this world. Welcome to the world of wind tunnel skydiving and in New England, SkyVenture New Hampshire brings home this magic. This latest attraction in Hampshire is a indoor vertical wind tunnel where you can experience the freedom of flight. The world’s best skydivers, to train, also use the facility, so you can guess how realistic the experience is. Moreover, just about anybody can experience this flying magic starting at age three. Location: 3 Poisson Ave in Nashua, New Hampshire. Timings: Mon – Fri 2 pm-10 pm, Sat & Sun 10am – 10pm. Fee: Prices start at $48 for a two-minute flight and $85 for a four-minute flight. Laurie Greer, co-owner of SkyVenture New Hampshire along with husband, Rob Greer said: There is no feeling like it. It’s a total freedom and beauty and high-intensity experience. I don’t care who you are, young or old. I believe everyone has dreamt about what it would be like to fly. The vertical tunnel rises 40 feet and is plenty wide enough for roll turns, flips and expert maneuvers. Much of the air is re circulated, air flow is created by a set of four 300-horsepower motors, which move 1.3 million feet of cubic air per minute. The session begins with a briefing on body positioning and hand signals. During flight, a few simple hand gestures from the instructor can remind participants to extend their legs, keep their chin up, or just relax. Then enjoy the freedom of flight!

    Written on May 13th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , ,
    Rio Grande’s Taos Box will be smashing for Rafting this season

    The froth and mayhem of paddling down whitewater rivers comes out in full action here, the challenge is extreme on the 16-mile stretch of the Rio Grande through what’s known as the Taos Box near Taos, New Mexico. It’s called the box because of the steep walls that make the canyon nearly impassable without a raft. Some don’t dare to raft on this portion at all. This year’s snow-capped peaks, rushing water indicate that the Taos Box, could be open for longer than it has been in seven years, whitewater rafting guides say. It’s only been open for short periods over the past seven years because of weather conditions. This year it could be open for up to eight weeks straight during the high-water season from mid-April through May or June. The trip is popular not only for its wild rafting trips but also for its raw scenic beauty. The Bureau of Land Management regulates trips through the Box. The water must flow at a certain level, and only so many people are allowed through each day. In the Box, things get especially wild the last four miles, when the constantly evolving geology combines with a narrowing canyon to create a succession of wildly whipping Class 4 rapids. The stretch of river is remarkable enough that the Box and a neighboring section was the nation’s first wild and scenic river. With news of a good season spreading, weekend bookings for the regular season which generally kicks off somewhere between mid-March and mid-April and runs through late September have been filling up fast. If you are interested then make your bookings now.

    Written on May 13th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , , , , ,
    Ski schools to help you improve your skiing skills under supervision

    If Skiing is your favourite sport and want to learn more and improve your skills, there are many ski and boarding schools to help you to be the master of this sport. Chamonix, France: British Alpine Ski and Snowboard School (BASS) run it. You can learn how to ski’steeps’ more effectively and safely. Charges: £117. Contact No: 0033 620 979789 More Info BASS runs similar courses in Morzine, Les Gets, Courchevel and Val d Isere costing between £110 and 168. Courchevel and Meribel, France: Here you can learn terrain park and off-piste techniques. Three hours daily, Sunday to Thursday and full seven hours on Friday. Charges: £202. Contact No: 0033 479 081199 More Info Jackson Hole, Wyoming: It offers the best course for teaching mountain safety and off-piste skills. Its a four day course which covers park and pipe technique. Charges: £276 Contact No: 001 307 739 2788 More Info Kitzbuhel, Austria: You can learn deep snow skiing and boarding as well as avalanche hazards and rescue. Charges: £23 for one day, £108 for six. A former racer Andi Reicht teaches gate technique for slalom and giant slalom at Racing School. Charges: £40 for one day, £135 for six. Contact No: 0043 5356 62500 More info Tignes, France: It offer courses to improve your powder skills as well as discover the terrain park. The course includes video analysis and lasts for five half-days. Charges: £118. A course for boarders can be arranged if there are enough riders to form a group lesson. It also teaches racing technique on its own private run. The school aims at teenagers but also accepts children as young as eight provided they have reached a high technical level. The courses include slalom, giant slalom and speed skiing. Charges: £20 for one morning, £94 for five half-days. Contact No: 0033 479 063576 More Info Val d Isere, France: It offers courses for those who want to develop twin-tip skills. It includes bumps, jumps and full set of tricks. Charges: At present the course runs for three half-days for £129; next season it will run for five days over February half term, costing £235. Contact No: 0033 615 553156 More Info Zermatt, Switzerland: The sessions are designed to appeal to skiers aged 12 to 18 who want to have fun and to take tips to cover as much ground in a day as possible. The course includes terrain park and half-pipe coaching. Charges: £230 for six days Contact No: 0041 27 967 0001

    Written on May 13th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , ,
    Space for Sale: A lucrative proposition

    Space is no longer to be the final frontier for the world rather it has become a competing ground for those who want to profit from commercial space activities. Space Adventures has earned over $120 million in sales for offering commercial seats to the public. It had began receiving commercial services from the Russian Space Agency after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Space Adventures’ clients pay $20 million each for their voyage. Future travelers may even take a spacewalk for an additional $15 million. Eric C. Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures, the first company to send paying passengers into space said: Now the space race is motivated by profit, which is even better because it means it will sustain itself beyond the ups and downs of politics. Even the US space agency, NASA, is thinking in terms of providing opportunity for commercial and international participation. Virgin Galactic, are trying to gain their share of the market by developing their own spaceship for paying passengers. Virgin Galactic plans to fly its first passengers on a suborbital flight in the next two years for $200,000 per person and build a spaceport in New Mexico. In due course, say 30 40 years from now space travel will become more accessible, affordable and not a far-fetched dream!

    Written on May 12th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , , ,
    Virgin Galactic reserves a ticket for India’s first space tourist

    The lucky adventurer is an entrepreneur and TV journalist from Kerala. Santosh George Kulangara is taking a vacation that will be out worldly in the real sense; his destination is the veritable final frontier: space. Until date, he has made travelogues of all travel trips that he has taken, having visited over fifty countries. Virgin galactic has given him permission to film the sub-orbital space flight, which he is totally thrilled about. He got his space ticket after waiting for a year and a half and hopes to take off by the end of next year. Before the trip he will undergo a week’s specialized training for the trip. He said: I am not at all nervous. Space tourism will soon become so common that it will be like taking a flight from London to New York. Mr Kulangara has spent a whopping Rs8,81,400 that is $20,000 for just securing his seat; he will have to pay a further sum of Rs79,32,600 that is $180,000 for joining the momentous expedition. For those of us unable to go there will have the video to enjoy.

    Written on May 12th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , , ,
    Ouray : Perfect destination for ice climbing

    Situated in a river valley at 7,700 ft. in the heart of the Rocky Mountains lies the spectacular mountain town of Ouray, in Colorado, eloquently nicknamed the Switzerland of America. In all Ouray is an outdoor enthusiast’s dream. Whether you set out to conquer the mountains with rope and carbineer, on foot, bike, or four-wheel drive, adventure thrives in this town. Its Ouray Ice Park is a major draw for ice climbing enthusiasts. Earlier a miner’s town, today the swinging axes blaze their way up vertical curtains of ice. In 1995, using a clever plumbing system of pipes and sprayers, a group of locals created the Ouray Ice Park at the south edge of town. At night, water spurts from 150 shower heads over the lip of the Uncompahgre Gorge, dribbling down and freezing across a mile-long stretch of cliffs. The park is open from Dec. 15, 2006 to April 7, 2007. Ice climbing can be a hazardous sport which can include free-falling 400-pound ice chunks, being far from help can be daunting. The Quray Ice Park makes the sport more accessible and less life threatening and most of all the fun is free though memberships are invited to raise funds and earnings are from the Quray ice festival. Besides the ice and the muscle-loosening contrast of the hot springs, there’s snow for skiing and snowshoeing. Ouray is named for Chief Ouray, a diplomatic Ute Indian remembered for keeping the peace between whites and natives. The Utes had long come to this spot to soak in the hot springs, which they considered sacred and curative. Ouray has a huge open-air Hot Springs Pool, first opened in 1927 – a 150-by-250-foot oval reservoir holding nearly a million gallons of low-sulfur mineralized water. Getting there: The closest airport to Ouray is in Montrose, Colo., about 35 miles away. Several airlines, including United and US Airways, offer connecting service. Jeep tours for summer time: In the mountains near town, the driving is epic. With a death-grip on the wheel, its best to take on Guided tours or if you are confident about your driving rent a good jeep. Options are available from several companies. Accommodation: Ouray has several good hotels, you can pick the ones that suit you out of this hotel guide.

    Written on May 12th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , , , ,
    Have you ever thought of crossing the Baltic Sea aboard an Arctic icebreaker?

    If not, then think again! It could be a memorable experience, bashing a passage through the Baltic’s sea ice on the toughest of ships. Sampo the world’s only tourist icebreaker, operates on the northern Gulf of Bothnia out of Kemi in Finnish Lapland. Let me take you through the experience of Christopher Somerville as he breaks the ice, cruising through the frozen landscape on board the icebreaker Sampo in northern Finland. Feel the crackling ice and take a dip in Arctic Waters dressed in a watertight thermal suit. As a long-term average, the Baltic Sea is ice covered for about 45% of its surface area at maximum annually. The ice reaches its maximum extent in February or March; typical ice thickness in the northernmost areas in the Bothnian Bay is about 70 cm for landfast sea ice. The thickness decreases when moving south. The sampo after 30 years as an Arctic icebreaker, making passage for cargo ships has retired to the advantage of tourists. Tens of thousands every winter board Sampo at Kemi for the curious experience of breaking out of port and making a passage through the Baltic’s sea ice. The Sampo is three times as strong, three times as powerful and three times as heavy as a cargo ship of her size. Sampo had bored a way through a six-foot wall of ice one winter in the 1990s. Finland possesses 60-odd ports in the ice zone, and of these about a third are kept open by the efforts of the ice-breakers. The story is repeated all round the Arctic coasts of Russia, too. There is another way to get to her, but, a strenuous and wild one. That is if you are up to weathering the extreme cold! Get yourself the thickest possible snowsuit and padded boots, in balaclava, hard helmet and mighty mittens, and you straddle a nice hot Ski-doo for a wild ride across the frozen sea. This could entail coffee and a reindeer sandwich in the fire lit hut of a deer farmer and some fantastic sights. High point of the trip: A dip in the ice cold waters inside insulated giant orange wet suits. Snowmobile safaris: Cost £90 (day safari) including guides, equipment, instruction, fuel and insurance. Phone; 00 358 16 223 320 The Sampo tour: Runs from mid-December to the end of April, depending on conditions; £147, including cruise, meal and iceswimming, or £240 twinned with a snowmobile safari. Phone; 00 358 16 256 548

    Written on May 11th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , , , ,
    New river, whitewater rafting gets underway at Fayetteville County

    Spring rafting is a thrill ride with typically higher water levels, making the waves, holes and rapids even more powerful,thereby making the perfect menu for you adventure seekers out there. March – May on the New River in Fayetteville County, offers the biggest whitewater of the season. The season has just started as rafters and river guides with Class VI put in to the New River at Cunard early Thursday. Grade of Rapids: III to V River: New River with put in at Cunard Location: Fayetteville, West Virginia Fayette County is situated on the Fayette plateau at an elevation of 1820 feet adjacent to the New River Gorge National River. The New River tumbles over a boulder-strewn riverbed on a scenic 53-mile descent through more than 32,000 acres of river corridor. The Upper New River offers family white water rafting featuring Class II-III rapids that are relatively mild in nature. The Lower New River steps up the pace with exciting white water rafting and over 25 rapids ranging from Class II-IV, V. Other activities of the region: Perhaps it is most widely known for the New River Gorge Bridge, a remarkable single-span arch bridge resting at a height of 876 feet above the New River. The famous Bridge Day Festival is held here annually during October, when hundreds of base jumpers parachute from its side. Other adventure sports are also include rock climbing, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, fly fishing and lake recreation.

    Written on May 11th, 2012 , Adventure travels Tags: , , , ,
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