Nah, this isn't about youtube clips of disaster, but I thought I'd bring this up after reading about someone looking for new adrenaline sports.

I was watching a Ben Fogle and James Cracknell program, and apparently James was hit in the back of the head by a passing petrol tanker's mirror a few years before, which changed his personality significantly. In a bad way. This guy seems to want to do all sorts of challenges all over the place, and I have to say I wonder why.

Even after months of rehab, they say that its pretty much changed him forever and he seems to have a shorter fuse and less patience. Which affects everything. Not something you think would happen riding on the side of the road in a pretty quiet area.

You read about all these adventurers doing awesome things, but you seldom hear about it when it goes wrong. Maybe that influences people when they decide that they want to do something extreme.

One of the guys I used to work with got it into his head to try to climb Everest. His story was quite sobering in that he almost died reaching base camp, and it was only his wife's insistence, she was with him, that got him out of there and saved his life. Apparently the altitude was too much for him, even though he was fit.

Has anyone here done anything similar? So far I have met two people that have tried to climb Everest, and I don't know how far the other guy got.

Arr, but then there is the other side. I've now lost two mates due to health issues, both 44 and very very unexpected. LIVE LIFE cos **** happens

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kato said..
Arr, but then there is the other side. I've now lost two mates due to health issues, both 44 and very very unexpected. LIVE LIFE cos **** happens

Man, that scares me. When you hear about people younger than you are, it sort of hits home.

I do agree that its good to enjoy life while you can, but I think there is a limit. The other end of the spectrum is most of the people I have worked with whose idea of fun is watching movies and maybe watching their kids play sport. A lot of them live for work, which sounds strange to me. There has to be something in between.

At work there was a guest speaker at a conference, and he was a mountain climber. Relatively well known, he talked about his attempts on Everest, and the lost toes that came with it. The guy was a good speaker, but while he was talking about his attempts I couldn't help but think 'selfish twat' when he described what he was risking, and he had a wife and two kids at home that relied on him.

I know it must feel good to climb a mountain that few have, but its a bit selfish.

Reminds me of the documentary 'Solo'.

The documentary about a very experienced Adventurer named Andrew McAuley attempting the first ever solo crossing of the Tasman Sea, from Australia to New Zealand.

He was an Adventurer who preferred new challenges.

He spent a month in the Tasman sea in his kayak and amazingly survived many storms and huge seas.

He was pushed to the edge and beyond. Somehow he still videoed the experience and some of the footage was later found.

He kayaked all the way to New Zealand and was within sight of the New Zealand mainland when his kayak capsized. His Wife and 3 year old were in New Zealand waiting for his impending arrival that day, but they never got to see him.

His first attempt to leave Tasmania was aborted. He kayaked away from a beautiful sheltered beach in Tasmania to start the epic journey into the unknown. There was a bit of crowd on the shore and his Wife and Son were there. As he paddled away his 3 year old Son can be heard from the shore saying 'Bye Daddy'.

It was all too much, even for a seasoned mentally strong Adventurer, and he couldn't start the Solo crossing attempt that day.

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FormulaNova said..

At work there was a guest speaker at a conference, and he was a mountain climber. Relatively well known, he talked about his attempts on Everest, and the lost toes that came with it. The guy was a good speaker, but while he was talking about his attempts I couldn't help but think 'selfish twat' when he described what he was risking, and he had a wife and two kids at home that relied on him.

I think you may be talking about Lincoln. When his mate Greg Mortimer summitted Everest by a new route in 1984, he had two young children.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Hall(climber)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Mortimer

The problem with limits is you never never know where they are until you get there. All other limits are just in your head. . Just finished a 21,900 step challenge around the MCG and found this years limit. Next year the limit might be higher or lower but I always put "What If" into my adventures. Death is invitable but I'm not going early through stupidity

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Wollemi said..

I think you may be talking about Lincoln. When his mate Greg Mortimer summitted Everest by a new route in 1984, he had two young children.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Hall(climber)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Mortimer

I was, but I didn't want to name the guy after I gave my opinion of him his adventures I might not agree with what he did, but he seems to be a genuinely nice guy.

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Elroy Jetson said... Reminds me of the documentary 'Solo'.
The documentary about a very experienced Adventurer named Andrew McAuley attempting the first ever solo crossing of the Tasman Sea, from Australia to New Zealand.

He was an Adventurer who preferred new challenges.
He spent a month in the Tasman sea in his kayak and amazingly survive many storms and huge seas.

'Very experienced adventurer...' I am yet to hear or read anything about McAuley's blue-water yachting experience - it may have been educational for him. At the tiller on a 6-tonne yacht down 4 metre seas between Flinders Island and Cape Howe short-handed. It hurt when we fell out of a wave - I saw the keel and screamed at the mast to please stand up while the owner/skipper stayed sleeping at my feet in his gore-tex suit.
This all assisted me later to keep it together with during various moments of different sea-kayak crossings across Bass Strait, including being in 76km/h winds, under sail, or earlier on a solo crossing, landing at the isolated Deal Island at midnight. Bass has frequently also been as flat and oily when still six hours in any direction to land.
I met Andrew twice, briefly - seemed to lead by being ahead and being attentive to who was before him by offering a nod and a smile.

When adventure goes wrong? An all-day MTB ride in July on public roads saw me arrive back at my car at 9pm, at the village of Capertee (Central West NSW). At one stage in the day I had over 300 kangaroos bound in all directions around me, then was challenged by a muscly Wallaroo. I still had 45km to go as the sun set - and rode through a causeway to not lose time, but soaked my feet. Though the views were fantastic in every direction, I ached, and put disposable gloves from my first-aid kit on my feet, then the wet socks and cycle shoes.
3 km from the finish, a 4WD passed me, then took out a very large roo, with much smashed glass - but didn't stop. I dragged the quivering kangaroo off the quiet Castlereagh Highway. It died, then I lay down and hugged it for some time. This made all the difference after hours of aching from the cold.
At the finish, my entire car was covered in 3mm of clear ice.

Several years ago a very good friend of mine went with about 4 other guys to spend 10 days on Moorea to surf everyday, as much as they could, nothing else.
On the very first day he sprained his ankle to the point to where he could barely walk, he did it on his way to his room to check it out right after they got there.
He spent the next 10 days hanging out in the bar and listening to the awesome surf stories from his friends daily. He never got wet.

Once my local woolies was out of triple ripple chocolate fudge ice-cream and I had to drive to the next town over to get it from the woolies there. Had to drive home really fast to stop it going all melty

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theDoctor said..


Once my local woolies was out of triple ripple chocolate fudge ice-cream and I had to drive to the next town over to get it from the woolies there. Had to drive home really fast to stop it going all melty

Farq off INTENSE

Trekking Kokoda a few years ago and a porter died of a heart attack. A day or 2 later i ended up being medivac'd by chopper at sunset to hospital when my legs stopped working in a river. That was pretty serious

A pretty bad few days but out of it came some incredible (good and bad) life experiences and lessons.

Then there was the time i made eye contact with big male black bear in a bush in Alaska from about 3m away. He wasn't aggro at all but i was quietly ****ting myself.

The titanic clipped a iceberg and sunk woopsee

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theDoctor said..


Once my local woolies was out of triple ripple chocolate fudge ice-cream and I had to drive to the next town over to get it from the woolies there. Had to drive home really fast to stop it going all melty

No, adventure gone wrong is consuming the entire tub to prevent going all melty and then getting brain freeze.