The very active week in the Antarctic continues today with teams making slow, but steady, progress across the frozen continent. Everyone seems to be falling into a rhythm now and even the weather seems to have improved. But, as with all extreme environments, that can change quickly and no one seems to be getting too complacent with the current conditions.

As expected, Richard Parks relaunched his bid to set a new speed record for skiing from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole yesterday. He reports that he faced a strong headwind for most of the day, and of course he is skiing up hill at the moment. Still, Parks managed to cover 31.5 km (19 miles), which is a solid start for his speed attempt. He'll need to pick up the pace in the days ahead, but for now he seems content with his progress. Just 1118.5 km (696 miles) to go and the clock continues to tick.

Jumping over to the Beardmore Glacier, the Scott Expedition has been forced to abandon their skis for now and don crampons instead. They've hit a large expanse of blue ice, which is incredibly hard and smooth, leaving no traction for the skis. It has made pulling the sleds a lot easier, as they effortlessly glide across the ice at the moment. The team started at along the coast at 43 meters (141 ft) above sea level, but have now climbed up to 1014 meters (3326 ft) as they continue to make their way up to the Antarctic Plateau. They've now been out on the ice for 43 days and still have about 2092 km (1300 miles) to go on their round-trip journey to the South Pole and back to the coast.


Aussie Geoff Wilson was dismayed to discover the promised winds have not appeared as predicted. You may recall that he is kite skiing to the South Pole and had hoped to be making great progress on that journey, but unpredictable winds have stymied his attempts so far, leaving him no choice but to ski along like everyone else. The doldrums continued today with practically no wind to assist him, which is disheartening for Wilson, who may not reach his goal if the winds don't turn in his favor. Sadly, the forecast doesn't look great in that regard for the next few days either. Geoff also reports that he had a call on his sat phone from Faysal Hanneche, who was also attempting to kite to the Pole. It turns out Faysal has injured his knee in a fall during the high winds of a few days back and won't be able to continue his expedition. Details are scarce at the moment, but it seems he'll be evacuated from the ice as soon as possible.

The three teams racing in the 2013 South Pole Allied Challenge get a much needed break today. This is their first mandatory rest day in which all teams must take 24 hours off before resuming their race to the South Pole. This is day 5 of the expedition and they still have 10 or 11 days to go before they are done. They happen to be well ahead of all of the other skiers because they started their journey at the 87th degree, rather than along the coast. Still, they are making good time and progress has been steady, if exhausting, for the skiers so far.

South Pole cyclist Daniel Burton continues to struggle. Yesterday he was battered by katabatic winds that made it nearly impossible for him to make much progress. With that in mind, he set up camp early and tried to stay out of those winds as best he could. Later in the day, when they had died down, he resumed his ride, albeit at a painfully slow pace. Once he hits the plateau, things should improve somewhat, but until then it is an uphill battle.

Finally, 16-year old Lewis Clarke has been making steady progress on his attempt to become the youngest person to ever ski the full length to the Pole. He and his guide, Carl Alvey wont' be setting any speed records, but they are putting in the miles they need to complete the journey in a reasonable time. So far they've been covering 21 km (13 miles) per day as they struggle up to the plateau as well. They should pick up the pace nicely once they reach that point and again as they get closer to their destination. Good weather has been on their side so far though and we all know that won't last for long in Antarctica.

That's all from the frozen continent for today. I'll update again next week as the news merits it.

National Geographic Adventure has posted an excellent interview with rock climber Mike Libecki about a recent climb he made in South America where he not only had to face the challenges of the rock, but also nasty ticks, deadly scorpions, and leaping tarantulas.

Libecki is a well known and experienced rock climber who has put up routes all over the World, but this one sounds like it was pretty amazing for what went on off the rock as well. In total it took about two weeks to make the climb, as he and his partner Kyle Dempster, had to shuttle their gear in through dense jungle. But once they were assembled in camp, it took about five days to scale the 2000+ feet to the summit.

Libecki also discusses his love of climbing solo, his own "logistical checklist", his thoughts on the one piece of gear he can't do without, and the proverbial "what's next" on his list of places to climb. In this case, the answer Papua New Guinea. Interesting stuff.

The Grand Trunk Road played an important role in India's history at every step of its way. Some 3500 years ago, with the Aryan invasion of the subcontinent, it served as a corridor starting at the Khyber Pass winding eastward between the Himalayas and the Thar Desert onto the Gangetic plain. Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism spread through it, and Muslim proselytizers traveled on it. Since 1947, Pakistan controls the 300-mile segment between Peshawar and Lahore, while the remaining 1,250 miles link six Indian states, making it lifeline of northern India.

Nowadays, the road used by Alexander the Great, Ibn Battutah, Mughals invaders and other conquerors and the just curious, is ruled by truck drivers roaring through countless tiny villages.

NPR features a hybrid multimedia project in which its journalists travel the route and tell the stories of young people living there, who make up the majority of the populations in India and Pakistan.

GPS technology company Garmin has released yet another GPS watch for consumers to ponder over. This time it seems less fitness/sports oriented and more aimed at a law enforcement/military crowd, although it brings a host of options that I'm sure many outdoor enthusiasts will find appealing. It also happens to deliver them in quite an attractive package.

The new watch is called the tactix and it retails for $450. It sports a high-sensitivey GPS sensor with automatically calibrating altimeter and a 3-axis compass. It's built in memory allows the device to store up to 1000 waypoints and 10,000 track points, and allows the wearer to quickly and easily retrace their steps back to previous positions. In a nod to its military roots, the U.S. version of the watch is preloaded with tidal data and all versions include Jumpmaster software for airborne personnel. It also features sun/moon data and a calendar for hunting and fishing. A stopwatch, countdown timer, world clock, and alarm functionality are all built in as well of course, and as with most GPS enabled watches, this one will tell you distance traveled, speed, calories burned, etc. The tactix will also pair with Garmin's heart rate monitor and bike pod to measure performance and will even control the company's VIRB and VIRB Elite action cameras.

The tactix is designed to be rugged and survive in the outdoors. Its case is tough and durable, making it water resistant down to 50 meters. It's all black styling is designed to be non-reflective and subtle in nature, while the built in battery can reportedly go 50 hours between charges with GPS enabled and 5 weeks when being used as a standard watch. That performance is actually quite good for a watch of this kind.

The new watch is available now.

This news is a week old now, but sue me, I've been busy. ;)

Martin Strel has completed his 5,265km swim down the length of the Amazon River according to the Globe and Mail.

I first reported on his attempt a few months back, and now he's done it. The swim began in Peru and proceeded through Brazil, and along the way he encountered piranha, sickness, and exhaustion as he averaged more than 80km per day. At one point, he was even told by doctors to give up on his quest, and yet he pressed on, setting another world record for long distance swimming.

I can't even imagine swimming that far. The endurance and determination for such a task is simply amazing. Congrats Martin!

Thanks Adventure Blog

Actually, it wasn't even until today that I realized that the name of this airline is pronounced in terms of an acronym (E-V-A) rather than one of the Desperate Housewives. Anyway, the last time I took this airline was many years ago...far before they joined Star Alliance. That was also when they were one of the first airlines to have a premium economy seat; I could hardly remember what it was like, but surely the current premium economy seat has changed since then. It's now called Elite Class, for starters.

Interestingly, our corporate travel team found that Elite Class was still far cheaper than SQ Economy Class. Of course, these were not business class seats, but they were far better than SQ Economy (or UA Economy Plus). You actually got a good six inches or so of an armrest between you and the person next to you, not to mention a rather comfortable cradle position if you wanted to recline and kick your legs up halfway. Sure, the food was forgettable, but I'd still much rather take this than SQ Economy. Gotta love Star Alliance!

It might be interesting to see if these guys are worth taking to the US next time, assuming that the layover in Taoyuan isn't too painful. Oh - and in case you're wondering what that green drink is above, it was their "Evergreen Special," which I ordered out of sheer curiosity given that it was named after their corporate parent. It turned out to be a rather off-putting combination of Midori and vodka, but nonetheless I guess I can see the corporate color scheme that they were trying to go for with this thing.

I'm not a big fan of Akashi. So when I first heard about them opening this place at the basement of the new Robinsons Orchard (260 Orchard Road #B1-02A, 6737-5581), I didn't really make any effort to come here. Still, it came up as a suggestion for dinner tonight, so now was the chance to finally see if it were any good.

It was much better than I had thought it would be. Granted, the gyoza skin was not the texture that I was expecting (and the filling fueled some delightful dragon breath), but ultimately these piping hot things were still fun to eat. Perhaps much more exciting was the jyajya men, the noodles of which were tasty enough that I wolfed down that little bowl in seconds.

Yes, I like this place better than Keisuke's Gyoza King, in part perhaps simply because it kinda feels like I'm being force fed over there. Here, the portions are nice and small, making it easy to come back for a little snack. Either that, or maybe I'll just go over to Ohsho, who still has some of the best gyoza from what I can remember.