There are few places on Earth as remote and challenging as the Karakorum. Much of the area is so far away from civilization that is largely remains unexplored even today. Which is why I found this article over at K2Climb.net so interesting. It tells the tale of Michael Beek, a German trekker, who has spent the better part of 35 years exploring the Karakorum. During that time, he has come to know the people that inhabit the area and much of it's landscape.

However, last July Michael decided to get off the well worn trekking paths and head into areas that were far less traveled. Along the way he claims to have viewed K2's North West face from a location that no other westerner has ever seen it, and had the honor to name three mountains and two mountain passes.

At times, he was in such remote areas that border's between countries became indistinct and he had to rely less on the sketchy maps that he had with him and more on satellite images and the help of Pakistani guides.

Beeks sems to exhibit the spirit of adventure. He looks for and finds all kinds of challenges in his exploration, and certainly isn't afraid to get out into some remote areas, isolated from human contact. It sounds like a great adventure to me, and I'd love to hear more about his expedition.

With a motto like "Never Stop Exploring" you know that The North Face has a keen sense of adventure. That is exhibited well in the video below, which not only features some amazing imagery, but also moving narration by Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. This is truly an inspiring clip. Tip of the hat to who ever put it together.

Back in August and September I posted a couple of time about the TitiKayak expedition. For those who don't recall, that was the attempt by Belgian adventurer Louis-Philippe Loncke and Peruvian explorer Gadiel "Cho" Sanchez Rivera to become the first people to circumnavigate Lake Titicaca by kayak. The lake, which is located at 3812 meters (12,507 ft) in altitude and falls along the border of Peru and Bolivia, covers an area of 8372 sq. km (3232 sq. miles) and is widely considered to be the highest navigable lake in the world. Lonke and Rivera set out to paddle 1100 km (683 miles) around Titicaca's parameter while taking photographs if its shoreline and GPS coordinates of its current position. The hope is that the data will allow researchers to study the impact of climate change on the lake in the years to come by having baseline numbers to compare their readings to.

The expedition actually wrapped up in late September but due to busy schedules and other commitments, it has taken a bit of time to upload the photos from their journey and share details of what it was like out on the water. All told, it took Lou-Phi and Cho 38 days to paddle around the lake, staying close to the shore for most of the way. Stopping frequently to take photos and gather GPS data, the two men were meticulous in their approach and stuck closely to their plan as much as they could. They did run into some issues when attempting to cross the border into Bolivia, as law enforcement at the checkpoint between the countries were reluctant to let them pass, in part because they had never seen a kayak before. It took two days to sort out the paperwork, but eventually it came together and the adventurers were allowed to continue on their way.


Dealing with immigration officers were the least of their worries however and there were plenty of other challenges to keep them on their toes. For starters, August and September are winter months in the Southern Hemisphere and this was one of the coldest winters in recent memories. The boys faced freezing temps for much of the way and the Puno region through which they traveled received its highest amount of snowfall in the past 30 years. Cold temperatures, snow and a big lake don't always make for the best of conditions.

The primary focus of the expedition was to not just paddle around its shores but to also survey the health of the body of water. What Loncke and Sanchez Rivera discovered is that Titicaca is facing some serious challenges. The water was littered with garbage and is contaminated by chemicals and sewage dumped into into it from the surrounding communities. In short, the lake faces some major issues in the future and with no regulation or proper water treatment in place, it is going to get much worse before it ever starts to get better.

You can read more about the expedition and the team's experiences on the TitiKayak blog. You can also review the photos they took along the way in their Photo Inventory. All of the images have been uploaded and organized, but GPS coordinates have not been matched to them just yet. That is a big job that will be completed sometime early next year, completing the full data set of the inventory.

Congrats to Lou-Phi and Cho on completing this amazing adventure. Great effort on both the exploration and environmental front.

A team of Australian researchers have quite literally gone where no man has gone before. Scientists from James Cook University recently crossed into a region called Cape Melville, which is completely cut off from the outside world by millions of large boulders that make passage into the remote mountain range nearly impossible. The team of four used a helicopter to gain access however and what they found inside was quite amazing.

Once inside the cape, the team determined that the entire region, which is encircled by impenetrable mountains, is 9 miles (14 km) long and roughly 3 miles (5 km) across. The region contains remnants of a rainforest left over from Gondwana, a reference to an ancient super-continent that existed millions of years ago. They also discovered a variety of new species as well, including three very unique reptiles. Those species included a new frog that lives under boulders and is capable of hatching its eggs without water and a skink that hunts insects by leaping from rock to rock. A third species was the most impressive however, an odd looking gecko that is unlike anything anyone had seen before.

The initial expedition to explore Cape Melville lasted just four days with the team seeing less than a tenth of the area contained there. The group is already planning a return trip to plumb further into the depths of the region to see what else they can find. The team believes that considering what they discovered in just a preliminary scouting mission, they could find some really unique species of birds, plants and even mammals once they really get the opportunity to check out the forests there. Considering that the Cape has been evolving on its own, almost completely cut off from the rest of the world for millennia, there could be some very unique creatures just waiting to be discovered.

These store always fascinate me. I love that our world is so vast that we still don't have regions to explore, even in the age of satellite mapping, GPS navigation and instant communications. It must have been a humbling experience for these scientists to become the first humans to step into this lost world and lay eyes on the wonders there for the first time. What an amazing world we live in.

Here's a really cool article from Newsday.com about a group of explorers who are setting out to retrace Captain John Smith's historic voyage to explore the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding tributaries.

The crew set off in a ship that is an exact replica of the one that Smith used himself, and the 1500 mile journey is expected to take about 120 days. Their launch coincides with the opening of the Capt. John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, the first national historic water trail in the United States. It is also the 400th Anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown Colony, which you can find out more about over at National Geographic's Jamestown site.

This sounds like another cool adventure for the sailors heading out to recreate this expedition. However, this is an adventure that we can recreate too. The water trail sounds like it's tailor made for canoe and kayak camping. I'm also guessing it won't be too long before someone set off to paddle the entire length of the trail.

Thanks Jason!

Update: Interested in helping out the planning for this historic trail? Then head over to NPS.gov/cajo to see how you can lend a hand. It's a great opportunity for any of us to get involved with a very cool project.

Also, if you're in the area and want to check conditions on the James River, you can do so at The Interpretive Buoy Site or by calling 1-877-BUOYBAY.

Thanks to the anonymous poster in the comments section for these!

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the International Space Station, a program that has successfully proven that countries can work together to achieve things in space. In the case of the ISS, more than 15 countries have contributed to the project and over the past decade and a half, a lot research has been conducted in orbit above our planet. To celebrate this special occasion NASA has released the video below which is a celebration of one of our greatest achievements in space exploration to date.

If anyone knows how to be an explorer in the 21st century it is Mikael Strandberg. His various adventures have taken him on bicycle rides from Chile to Alaska and Norway to South Africa, amongst other places. He's traveled through Patagonia on horseback and trekked through East Africa. He has wandered the most remote regions of Siberia and crossed Yemen by camel. He is a Fellow in the Explorers Club, Royal Geographical Society and the Long Riders Guild. So when Mikael offers advice to aspiring explorers, you know that he is doing so from a place of experience.

In a blog post that was published today, Strandberg shares his 9 tips on how to become a modern day explorer. These simple pearls of wisdom form a solid foundation for anyone who is considering pursing a life of exploration, something that comes with sacrifices and challenges, but also great rewards and satisfaction.

I won't spoil the list because I think the entire thing is well worth a read. I will say that his final tip is perhaps the most important one of all. It simply reads: "9. Finally: Get out there and just do it!" For many of us, the biggest stumbling block towards pursuing our dreams and goals is ourself. Sometimes we need to take that leap of faith and just go for it. The people that I have known who have been the most successful at whatever it is they do have always been the ones who are willing to believe in themselves and make the leap.

Mikael's tips are excellent ones for just about anything you'd like to do in life. While he puts them into context of pursuing the life of an explorer, they could also be just as easily applied to someone who wants to start their own business, quit their day job to pursue other opportunities or just about anything else. He advocates for having a clear vision, staying focused and believing in yourself - qualities that are important no matter what goals you set for yourself.

To read the entire article and discover all of Mikael's tips, click here.

The Washington Post has created a new webpage entitled Exploring Antarctica with lots of nice information, including some cool audio and video files to help you get a feel for what's it's like way down under.

There is some nice photography here, and the site is very interactive, offering up all kinds of information on the Antarctic continent. There is even a live chat room area to discuss Antarctic topics with "experts". Couple that with interesting facts, features on how to get there, and even a slideshow on Mt. Erebus, the souther-most active volcano.

Very cool stuff. Some of those images would make great desktop images for my computer (some are available for download), including a few that look like the Wampa ice cave from The Empire Strikes Back. Thanks goes to Daniel for this one.