Adventure Quickies: 10-Year Old Climbs the Nose, Froome Out of TdF, and Other News!

As you can probably imagine, there is a lot of adventure news to share from the past week while I was away last week. So much so that I probably won’t have nearly enough time to recap it before heading off to Outdoor Retailer first thing Monday morning. But before that happens, I have some things to share in this week’s edition of Adventure Quickies, which includes big climbing news, adventure travel opportunities, and gear notes.

Ten-Year Old Climbs The Nose in Yosemite: One of the best stories from the past week has to be the news that 10-year old Salah Schneiter has become the youngest person to successfully claim the iconic Nose route on El Capitan in Yosemite. She finished up her ascent, which took place over five days, at 5:45 PM on Wednesday. Read more about her climb at Outside Online.
Honnold and Gobright Climb El Nino for the Second Time: The day before they were upstaged by a 10-year old, Alex Honnold and climbing partner Brad Gobright made just the second ascent of El Nino on El Cap as well. The duo made a free ascent of the route, which was first established back in 1998 by the Huber Brothers. Find out more at Rock and Ice.
Chris Froome Out of 2019 Tour de France After Crash: Heading into this year’s Tour de France there was little doubt that Chris Froome was amongst the pre-race favorites. After all, he’s won the event on four previous occasions. But on Wednesday of this week he suffered a terrible crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné and now faces at least six months of recovery time following surgery for multiple injuries, including a broken femur, hip, elbow, and ribs.
Dates of 2020 Kilimanjaro Marathon Announced: Looking for a new place to run a marathon in 2020? Why not do it in Tanzania in the shadow of Africa’s tallest peak –– Mt. Kilimanjaro? This week it was announced that the Kilimanjaro Marathon would take place on March 1, so mark your calendars now and get started on that training schedule.
Big City Mountaineers Celebrates 30 Years: Big City Mountaineers, the nonprofit that engages with underprivileged youth by introducing them to outdoor adventures, is celebrating its 30th birthday in 2019. Over the past three decades, the organization has interacted with more than 10,000 kids, conducted almost 800 expeditions, worked with over 5500 volunteers, operated 120 overnight camps, and spent more than 45,000 nights under the stars. Not a bad start! Congrats to the team at BCM for their great work.
Red Bull 2019 X-Alps Adventure Race Starts Sunday: Red Bull’s incredibly challenging –– and fun to watch –– X-Alps adventure race is set to being on Sunday, June 16. Over the next few weeks, racers will be charged with traveling from Salzburg, Austria to Monaco on foot and by paraglider. Essentially, the competitors trail run to the summit of a mountain, launch themselves off, glide through the air as long as they can, then repeat the process. The first to the finish line wins!
International Wilderness Leadership School Announces New Courses: Looking to sharpen your skills in the outdoors? Perhaps pick up a guide certification or other trade skill? The International Wilderness Leadership School can help, and now the organization has announced new dates for course taking place in Argentina, Nepal, and various other countries for 2020. Find out more here.
Quark Expeditions Announces New Ship Name: Small-ship adventure cruise operator Quark Expeditions has taken the wraps off the latest edition to its fleet, and revealed the name for its most technologically advanced vessel ever. Joining the Quark family is the new ship is Ultramarine and she promises to be quite an experience. The craft features two helicopters and helipads, a zodiac hanger with 20 zodiacs, a 70-day operational range, and options for paddling, mountaineering, trekking and a variety of other activities. The ship will go into operation soon, with opportunities to book polar tours coming later this summer.
IAATO Announces New Drone Restrictions for Antarctica: Last week the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators announced strict new rules for the use of commercial drones in Antarctica during the tourist season. Those rules reflect those that are already in use for personal drones, banning their use altogether unless permission has been granted by the IAATO trip organizer ahead of time. This supersedes any permissions that may have been granted by any other organization prior to departure. Seems like a good and worthy choice to me.

That’s all for this week. More adventure quickies to come soon!

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Kraig Becker

Kraig is an outdoor and adventure travel writer based in Nashville, TN. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to numerous online and print outlets, including Popular Mechanics, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, National Geographic, Digital Trends, Business Insider, TripSavvy, about.com, and of course The Adventure Blog.