Rugged cameras: Are they tough enough?

Mark Pawlak    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts     Adventure Sports, Adventure Travel, Overlanding, Scuba Diving, shark diving, Surfing, Travel, Travel News, travel photogtraphy, trekking

Everyone is snapping, filming and uploading their extreme adventures. The internet has it all: Nutty off-roaders, wild downhill racers, surfers catching 40-foot waves, mountaineers skateboarding off cliffs, only to then pull out bat-suits and fly toward earth.

It’s off the Richter! But what cameras are built strong enough to take the knocks, and which will just fail the drops?

Here are a few we have our eye on: If you own any of these models, just let us know how they fare.

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Iceland: Adventure Sports, without the ice

Mark Pawlak    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts     Adventure Sports, Adventure Travel, Caving, Overlanding, Potholing, trekking, Volcano

Since a volcanic eruption helped fill our skies and delay our flights, all eyes have been on Iceland.

Strangers to Icelandic travel could be fooled into thinking extreme sports in Iceland are restricted to snow sports: they’re not!

There are a large range of outdoor activities you can get involved in. Lava surfing is not one of them, but be sure that if it takes off, we’ll feature it here!

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Making your expedition a success, it can be done!

Mark Pawlak    Our Experts     Adventure, everest, explorer, Kathmandu, trekking

Mikael explains how to prepare for success:

“Mikael, I had to abandon my expedition! My idea was to cycle through Africa, but I had to give up after just three months. I lost it along the way. What did I do wrong?”

My answer to this email was simple and direct: “You lost motivation and you hadn’t prepared enough!”

Mikael: "Resting and eating are vital to your success."

His email was similar to hundreds I have received in the last 25 years. After reviewing all of them at length, I realised these failed expeditions often had three things in common: Explorers had lost motivation, and they had failed to understand the need for good sleep, and the benefits of good food.

When the going got too tough, they proved not tough enough to keep on going! Key to any successful expedition is understanding why you go through all these hardships – at the most difficult of moments remember what it is that drives you, and draw on this, it can be your motivation.

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Top 10 Shark Dive Destinations

Tim B    Top 10s     Scuba Diving, shark dive, shark diving

Listen to the conversation of a group of divers when they’ve just surfaced, and they’ll be excitedly comparing notes on which fish they’ve seen during their dive. So, what better fish to spot than the largest and most notorious of them all? Those wanting to see great whites will have to do so in a cage, as these are the most dangerous for humans. The advantage of cage diving is that it’s open to those without a diving certificate; those with one can dive with various other gentler species, without being behind bars. This is our list of the best shark diving destinations worldwide.

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Everest teen gets explorer’s support

Mark Pawlak    ash, Our Experts     Adventure, Asia, everest, Jordan Romero, Nepal, Travel, trekking

When I first read that a 13-year-old  boy wanted to climb Everest, I reacted negatively. I thought this has got to be a joke, he is way too young!

But reading more about Jordan Romero it becomes clear that this boy knows his way around a mountain. He’s been to high altitude before and has some top peaks on his CV.

Mikael Strandberg says: "Jordan, go for it!"

So why the worry? His detractors, and there are many, are clearly forgetting what exploring is all about.

Human life is about pushing the limits of what others think is impossible. Or stupid. Or irresponsible. Or dangerous. This underpins all exploring.

Put yourself in the boy’s position; what an opportunity!

So I say to Jordan Romero, aged 13: Go for it!

Red Bull seeks snow-kite heroes

Tim B    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts     snowkite, snowkiting

If snow-kiters want to prove themselves over extreme distances, and test their mettle at the latest extreme sport, then here’s the perfect chance.

This Wednesday, in Norway, more than 200 snow-kite riders will gather to compete in the Red Bull Ragnarok, a full-on hybrid of snow-kiting and enduro sport.

With six rounds of 30 minutes each, competitors will get to ride the challenging courses that organiser Red Bull say will favour the freestylers. read more

Rafting trips: How to pick the best rafting company

Tim B    Our Experts     Chile, futaleufu, Rafting, white water rafting, whitewater rafting

With so many firms out there telling you they are the best and the safest, just what should you be looking for in a rafting company? Expert rafter Hamish McMaster tells you how…

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