Spring 2024 was possibly the shortest ever season on Annapurna. When the first weather window opened, after ropes were set to Camp 3, everyone on the mountain had to choose: summit or go home. After that first wave of summiters descended, all the outfitters on the mountain packed and left. But in fact, some summiters didn’t even bother to have their well-deserved post-climb cake in Base Camp. They were airlifted from Camp 3 straight back to Kathmandu. Annapurna in two weeks The earliest climbers reached Base Camp at the end of March and had time for one rotation to Camps 1 and 2. Then the wea ..read more

Suffice it to say it’s not easy to kill a crocodile. Ninety-five million years of evolution haven’t done it, and most animals can’t do it either. But a few jungle predators can, and tourists caught one riveting encounter on video in an Indian national park. T-124, aka Riddhi, is a six-year-old Bengal tigress living in Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, India. In 2023, she mothered three cubs — and recently, the family garnered internet fame with a crocodile dinner. Photo: Screenshot   Shared to the park’s official account, the clip shows the cats tearing at a large crocodile corpse ..read more

Apart from another failed attempt to open the Barneo ice station for the first time since 2018, various small arctic expeditions have unfolded. Here’s the latest update from the far north. North Pole canceled For the sixth year in a row, the Barneo ice camp season has been canceled, this time due to an untimely break-up of the ice. The last-minute abort blew a hole in the plans of a number of marathon runners as well as veteran guide Eric Larsen. Larsen was leading five clients on a North Pole last-degree trip. French adventurer Matthieu Tordeur had planned a solo 200km journey to the Pole fr ..read more

There’s a long tradition of science fiction gizmos pre-dating — if not outright influencing — the technology that follows. The latest example is the Lunar Cruiser, a joint venture between Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), automotive juggernaut Toyota, and NASA. Fans of The Martian and other near-future works of speculative fiction will recognize the general concept right away. This hydrogen-cell-powered, solar-assisted, six-wheeled, pressurized all-terrain vehicle has enough room for astronauts to live and work without the hindrance of bulky space suits. An artist’s rendering of th ..read more

In an experiment out of The Terminator, scientists released a hoard of 20 cyborg cockroaches into a sandy artificial desert. Each live insect wore a tiny computer backpack that could control and steer them across the terrain. Each backpack consisted of a battery, mini-computer, and an antenna. The antenna allowed the scientists to communicate with the Madagascar hissing roaches and prompted them to move as a swarm. The high-tech backpacks attached to the cerci (sensory organs) of the insects. The electrodes applied a current to the left or right cercus. The cockroach then turned in that direc ..read more

Finally, there’s news from China, and it’s not good: Shisha Pangma will not open to climbers this spring, and the North Side of Everest will only open for foreigners on May 7. Climbers are now re-scheduling or casting about for alternatives. For some, that’s easier than others. No Shisha Pangma The nearly 50 clients and staff aiming for Shisha Pangma this season will have to look for something else. The distant view they caught while trekking in Langtang last week is the closest they’ll get to the mountain. “After 17 days of waiting for confirmation to climb Shisha Pangma, we’ve been informed ..read more

It’s hard to overstate the rarity of the Hope and Koh-i-noor diamonds. The stones, excavated from shallow placer mines in India between 1600-1800, are equally famous for their size and clarity. The Koh-i-noor, which is set in the Queen Mother’s Crown of England but India has demanded back, weighs a titanic 105.6 carats. Together, they are called the Golconda stones. Legends swirl around them like the colonialism and controversy that plagued their discovery. The Hope diamond changed royal hands via the hyperviolence of the French Revolution.   View this post on Instagram   A post s ..read more

The route to Camp 2 on Everest’s Nepalese side has finally opened and is about to get busy. Over the weekend, sherpas quickly pitched Camps 1 and 2, just in time for the first climbers on rotation. The Ice Doctors have briefed expeditions about certain areas in the Khumbu Icefall that require special care, but teams report that conditions are good enough. “Safe but long, with lots of zigzagging,” Lakpa Sherpa of 8K told ExplorersWeb, based on what sherpas in Camp 1 told him. Climbing The Seven Summits team members are already in Camp 1. More of them will follow throughout the week. View thi ..read more

The Barneo ice camp near the North Pole may have been canceled, but three Russians managed to parachute from the stratosphere and land on the sea ice nearby. The trio set a world record for parachuting from the stratosphere, which begins about eight kilometers above the surface. They completed the high-altitude jump from 10,500m on April 12 to coincide with the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first human space flight. Mikhail Korniyenko, Denis Efremov, and Alexander Lynnik threw themselves out of the Ilyushin-76 plane. They fell for around two-and-a-half frigid minutes before opening their para ..read more

When we’re not outdoors, we get our adventure fix by exploring social media and the web. Here are some of the best adventure links we’ve discovered this week. Light Lines: Calum Macintyre and Verged Aasen came up with the Light Lines project in 2020. Aasen is a mountain photographer while Macintyre is trying to encourage the outdoor community to become more environmentally political. Aasen wanted to film a ski descent of the couloir that splits the North Face of Norway’s Austabotntind mountain at night. He would be on the opposite peak, capturing the skier’s headlamp as it zigzagged down the ..read more