From the inspiring to the tragic, this is GearJunkie’s weekly wrap on exploration and adventure news of the week. Here’s what you missed this week and a few things to look forward to.
Talk about a wild week at the Olympic Winter Games. Here are a few gems you should know about.
First, Swiss skier Beat Feuz (35) set a new precedent on Feb. 7 by skiing the fastest downhill race of all time — clocking more than 68 mph on average. His gold-winning performance of 1:42.69 outpaced silver medalist, France’s Johan Clarey’s time by one-tenth of a second.
Clarey’s downhill ski performance was historic in its own right — at 41, he’s now the event’s oldest medalist by 5 years. The previous record was set in 2014 by American Bode Miller, who was 36 at the time.
Snowboard great and three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White put a wrap on his fifth and final Olympics on Feb. 10. The Flying Tomato took fourth in the half-pipe, his specialty.
But despite just missing the podium, White seemed upbeat and said he’s looking forward to life after competitive snowboarding. Sounds like he’ll hit the ground running after Beijing — January marked the launch of his new snowboard equipment and clothing brand, Whitespace.
On Feb. 13, Americans Lindsey Jacobellis (36) and Nick Baumgartner (40) captured gold in the Olympic debut of mixed snowboard cross. The pair of Oly veterans (it’s Jacobellis’ fourth and Baumgartner’s fifth) were the oldest team in the event. “To come out here and perform the way we did being the oldest two competitors is pretty cool,” Baumgartner told reporters.
The victory was Team USA’s fifth gold and Jacobellis’ second at this year’s Winter Games; the snowboarder took first in women’s snowboard cross on Feb. 9.
In more sobering news, inclement weather in Patagonia has thwarted efforts to recover the body of alpinist Corrado ‘Korra’ Pesce. Pesce, an extremely accomplished climber and mountaineer, perished last month in an avalanche on the north face of Cerro Torre.
Fellow alpinists Matteo Della Bordella, Matteo De Zaiacomo, and David Bacci christened their newly established route on Cerro Torre ‘Brothers In Arms,’ in honor of Pesce.
The U.S. National Toboggan Championships returned to Camden, Maine, after last year’s COVID hiatus — the first in its decades-long run. Now in its 31st iteration, this year’s toboggan competition drew 400 teams of two to four individuals and a nationwide fanbase. The race objective is simple: teams must slide down a 440-foot chute onto a frozen pond at the base of a hill. The fastest team wins.
Learn more and check out the results at camdensnowbowl.com.
In 2021, Emily Ford and her trusty sled dog Diggins forged a new path for BIPOC women by thru-hiking the entire 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail in winter. And they’re back at it again this year — on skis. On Feb. 11, the expeditious duo set out from Crane Lake, Minn., for a 200-mile ski/skijor trek along the Minnesota-Ontario border, reports ExplorersWeb. This year’s tour will end in Grand Portage near Lake Superior, and Ford to arrive there within 30 days’ time.
Follow @emilyontrail to keep up with their journey.
U.S. District Attorney Judge Jeffrey S. White ruled to restore Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf on Feb. 10. Those protections had been lifted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under orders from the Trump administration in 2020, reports the Washington Post. By revoking protections, “the Service avoids analyzing these wolves by concluding, with little explanation or analysis, that wolves outside of the core populations are not necessary to the recovery of the species,” wrote White in his 26-page ruling.
The ruling comes after 20 wolves were poached by Montana hunters just outside of the Yellowstone National Park boundary line. However, it does not apply to wolf populations in the Northern Rockies.
Endangered Wolf Killed in Arizona, Officials Offer $12K Reward for Tips
In early January, officials confirmed that an endangered Mexican gray wolf was found dead in Northern Arizona. Later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a reward for tips leading to an arrest as it investigates the case. Read more…
An aerial image of two widely cast fishing nets has won the Save Our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation distinction at this year’s Underwater Photographer of the Year awards. The shot, taken in Vietnam by 34-year-old native Thien Nguyen Ngoc, serves as “a stark visual reminder of man’s reach and control over the surrounding habitat and its devastating effect on the natural balance,” stated the awarding judge, Peter Rowlands.
“Photography is a very powerful tool for me and photographers like me to deliver a conservation message to the world because the language of photography is universal,” Ngoc said upon accepting the award.
Eddie Bauer is calling all outdoor-oriented LGBTQIA+ filmmakers to apply for its second-annual ‘One Outside’ Film Grant. In 2021, the program, which focuses on amplifying work created by members of underrepresented communities, awarded grants to BIPOC filmmakers.
This year, Eddie Bauer will provide up to six $10,000 grants to ‘One Outside’ applicants that identify as LGBTQIA+. Applications are open through March 17, 2022. Learn more and apply at eddiebauer.com/campaign/one-outside-film-grant.