Night Snowboarding

Best Place To Do It:
The French Alps

What Is It?
Quite simply, it’s like normal snowboarding but at night. At most resorts in France there will be a session once a week on one of the lower run. Because it is at night the snow is cold and the cannons are generally on for a while before the session opens, so the snow is soft and powdery. They put some big flood lights on to light up the slope and quite simply you enjoy the fresh night air whilst cruising down the freshly powdered slopes.

Deep Water Soloing

Best Place To Do It:
Viet Nam

What Is It?
Basically it is rock climbing. Climbing is pretty fun as it is, and certainly full of adrenaline, but wanna know how you can make it even more exciting? Simple; get rid of the ropes and replace them with a whole lot of deep blue sea. There is nothing quite like the thrill of scaling boulders in the warm sun above the crashing waves safe in the knowledge that if you fall you will plummet into the warm sea below. Scary? Yes of course. Amazing? Oh yes.

Quad Bike Trekking

Best Place To Do It:
Anywhere where there is mud, lots of land and some quad bikes

What Is It?
Get a group of friends, one quad bike each, an instructor that actually knows where he is going (optional) and a disregard for safety. It’s simple enough really, you just spend a few hours tazzing around on quad bikes, finding trails to explore, corners to navigate and if you’re brave, a jump or two to throw yourself over.

Adventure Diving

Best Place To Do It:
Australia, Caribbean or Egypt

What Is It?
Scuba diving is an amazing thing to learn anyway, but for the true adventure seeker, the next step is to take an adventure diving course. You will need to start with a basic, 3 day open water course or similar and then move on to an adventure course where you will get the opportunity to visit underwater ship wrecks, caves and all manner of unusual and spectacular relics of times gone by. There’s no way I can do it justice here, but try to imagine swimming inside the wreckage of a world war Russian submarine and you get the picture.

Sand Boarding

Best Place To Do It:
Africa, Namib Dessert

What Is It?
Imagine snowboarding but on sand instead of snow… Well, that’s it basically… Cool huh? You will of course need to shed a few layers and pack the sun block, but other than that it’s just like snowboarding, except hotter and more tiring if anything. Enjoy!

See Holiday365 for some great holiday parks adventure holidays deals in the UK.

5 Awesome Activities For The High Adrenaline Traveller is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Corbet’s Couloir—Jackson Hole, Wyoming, US
If you’re hard-core, then this is the place for you. Take the cable-car to the top of Rendezvous Mountain, tighten your bindings, and take the plunge. This course is all about the entry through Couloir’s chute which includes a two story drop onto a 55 degree slope. The narrow passage between skull-crashing rocks is legendary for putting terror into the most seasoned boarders. Fail to make the correct turn in the chute and you’ll redefine the term “killer” snowboard runs.

Delirium Dive—Goat’s Eye Mountain, Alberta, Canada
Corbet’s Couloir not extreme enough? Then venture up to Alberta Canada and try a slope named after the delirious people that attempt to board it—Delirium Dive. However, if you want to attempt this run, wear an avalanche transceiver and carry a probe. This slope features a wide band of rock that funnels into 50 degree channel pitch, making for perfect avalanche conditions. Plus, a visibility from the top is usually poor, so you’ll have to practically navigate the chute blind. But if you’re crazy enough to think you can out manoeuvre nature, the Delirium Dive is the run for you.

Silver Fox—Snowbird, Utah, US
Love height and speed? Take a quick eight minute tram ride 11,000 feet up Hidden Peak to the gate of Silver Fox, one of the fastest double black diamond runs in the United States. Here, conditions vary—one day the snow is like powder, the next day it’s bullet proof. No matter the snow conditions, Silver Fox’s fearsome path through nooks and crannies, steeps and deeps, provides an unequalled experience for the most advanced boarders.

La Chavanette–Avoriaz, France
If a slope like Silver Fox isn’t fast enough, hop on over to France and try out La Chavanette. Known as the Swiss Wall, La Chavanette has the most rapid descent recorded on any piste map. The terror in this run lies once you’ve completed the first few turns and approach the 300 meter drop called The Wall. This heavily-moguled run calls for extreme physical dexterity and strength.

Body Bag—Crested Butte Resort, Colorado, US
If you survive the Swiss Wall and are still hell-bent on finding a killer snowboard trail, visit the slope that lives up to its name—The Body Bag. Located in the Colorado Rockies, this slope boasts a 55 degree 275f foot vertical drop and has been ranked as the steepest cut run in North America. Perhaps this run has earned it’s name because it’s ranked as the fourth deadliest slope in the world.

Over all, if you’re into extreme snowboarding, the above slopes won’t disappoint. However, there’s a reason why they’re deemed killer snowboard runs. So, if you happen to have the misfortune of boarding them, please update your life insurance policy!

Feel free to visit Wish to look at embarking on the great experiences of life!

The Most Difficult Snowboarding areas of 2011 is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

For those needing a break from the stresses of work, city-living, public transport, monotony and the other little things that build up, these three short breaks are sure to get you feeing healthy, refreshed and revitalised again. Aimed at those who have run short on paid-holiday at work or do not have much expendable cash left in the bank, why not try surfing, cycling or walking in the UK.

1. Camping and surfing in Llangennith, Gower, Wales

For those new to surfing there are many places dotted around the UK where you can rent wetsuits, surf-boards, take lessons and have a reasonably priced holiday. This writer has just had a great 3 night break learning how to surf with the Welsh Surfing Federation Surf School. For £25 you get two hours tuition and wetsuit and surfboard rental. For £10 you are able to rent the equipment for the rest of the day – a bargain. This surf school (amongst a few others) was situated right next to the Hillend Campsite in the Gower Peninsula, which has a lively, youthful atmosphere without having many drunken idiots about. As one of five people, the whole trip cost me about £170 which included camping, petrol from London, a surf lesson, equipment hire for two other days and a few barbecues and tinnies. As it was a bank holiday, I didn’t miss a days work and felt suitably refreshed after.

Other top surfing places to check out:

• Point Breaks, Barnstaple
• O’Neill Surf School, Cornwall

2. Cycling on the Isle of Wight, England

The Isle of Wight is a paradise for cycling and has started to attract more and more people in recent years, notably young, trendy Londoners looking for a short escape. Easy to get to for southerners, and free to carry bikes on the ferry, The Isle of Wight is an attractive and affordable weekend break without the need for a car. An off-peak return from London to Portsmouth costs £34. The Ferry price varies.

Other top UK cycling locations to check out:

• Ennerdale Water, Cumbria
• Delamere Forest, Cheshire

Links:

• http://www.forestry.gov.uk/england-cycling
• http://www.lonelyplanet.com/australia/travel-tips-and-articles/76577?affil=lpemail

3. Walking the Southern Upland Way, Scotland’s Coast to Coast Route

To do the 340km coast-to-coast path across southern Scotland isn’t going to be a jaunty weekend trip (in fact it is estimated to take between 10-20 days). This isn’t for the faint hearted, but the rugged beauty of the moors, forests and mountains on one of the toughest, most isolated walks in the UK is worth the trip, even if the whole walk isn’t covered. The only train station on the route itself is Sanquhar which is about an hour from Carlisle though there are other stations which are close. See http://www.southernuplandway.gov.uk for more information.

Other top UK walks to check out:

• Eastbourne to Alfriston East Sussex (12 miles)
• Tennyson Trail Isle of Wight (14 miles)

Affordable Adventure breaks in the UK is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The Rica Surf website has a nice beach feel to it, particularly the rugged background, wooden link images and interesting typography. There’s a nice simplicity to it which is topped off by a very cool logo.

Heli Park NZ

Good use of greys, reds and whites. Usability could be a little better, particularly the huge header and confusing text at the top which look like links. Overall a nice feel to it.

Rock + Rescue

This website is beautiful but retains an edge to suit the content. Nice use of grunge effect on headings. Somehow retains the impressive look throughout the website despite it being a large consumer site.

San Juan Surf

Great use of typography and some good photography. There’s a cool factor to this site.

Kite Morocco

Nice edginess to the site and, like San Juan Surf, a good use of photography.

Of course we would include Kumutu in this list but that just wouldn’t be fair…

5 examples of great design: adventure sports websites is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

List of 5 new extreme sports

5 New Extreme Sports is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

1. Molass to Durango, Colorado

This larger-than-life, 60-mile backcountry run is extreme in every way from the skill level involved to the scenery. This is a difficult trail that only the advanced of the advanced should attempt.

2. World’s Most Dangerous Road, Bolivia

The La Paz-to-Coroico road descends approximately 11,811 feet. The 40 mile route starts in the Bolivian altiplano and ends in the sub-tropical Yungas.

3. Southern Highlands, Iceland

Waterfalls line jeep and single-track routes across lava fields, deserts, jagged mountains, and gorges in truly untouched and spectacular scenery. Finish your day with a dip in the many hot springs.

4. Lake Garda, Italy

Cliffside trails and awesome views of a pristine alpine lake make this one of the best trails anywhere. These Northern Italian trails zig zag down vertical nearly drops. Home to a major bike festival.

5. Carretera Austral, Northern Patagonia, Chile

Ride through temperate rain forests while glacier capped mountains spew waterfalls during Chile’s summer months, the only time this difficult ride is possible.

6. Celestial Mountains to Kirghizstan, Kazakhstan

This spectacular journey under 22,965 foot peaks, through vast open steppes filled home to nomadic horsemen, would make even Borat proud.

7. Surveyor’s Ridge, Oregon

You’ll need to power through an intense climb on this empty trail to get a good view of Mount Hood, but it’s well worth the effort.

8. Hokitika, New Zealand

The West coast of the South island is singletrack redefined. Trails around Lake Kaniere through pine plantations under the eye of snow capped peaks are simply stunning.

9. Garden Route, South Africa

Departing from crowd pleaser Knysna and its salt water estuary, this favorite collection of trails offers cliff top riding, river gorges, and ostrich farms.

10. Chamonix, France

The French Alps are the setting for some of the world’s best known single track trails within an earshot of charming chateaus and under the shadow of Mont Blanc.

Copyright, 2010; http://www.iexplore.com/activity/Mountain+Biking/Overview

Top Ten Mountain Biking Locations is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

“There isn’t a lot that scares Tyler Bradt, so before he steered his kayak off the lip of eastern Washington’s Palouse Falls and dropped 18 stories amid water rushing at 2,000 cubic feet per second, he recalls his mind running gin clear, just like the current. “There was a stillness,” says the 22-year-old extreme kayaker. “Then an acceleration, speed, and impact unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I wasn’t sure if I was hurt or not. My body was just in shock.”

So was everyone else. The previously held record for kayak descents, set only weeks earlier, had been off a 127-foot fall in the Amazon. “The risks on a 180-foot drop are exponentially greater,” says kayaker and filmmaker Trip Jennings. “Your rate of descent is multiplied, so the time you have to react plummets.”

Before the record-setting run, Bradt repeatedly visited Palouse Falls State Park to read the water and scout the descent. “The first time I saw the Palouse, I knew it was runnable,” he says. “There’s a smooth green tongue of water that carries about a third of the way down the falls. That was my route.”

This spring Bradt prepared by effortlessly knocking off a string of 70- to 80-foot waterfalls on Oregon’s Hood River. But that didn’t allay the concerns of his fellow paddlers. “Honestly, I told him I didn’t know if it was the best idea,” says Rush Sturges, who followed Bradt down a 107-foot waterfall in Canada two years ago. For the Palouse run, Sturges and eight others were at the ready should anything (concussion, broken back) befall their friend. “But,” Sturges admits, “if something really bad had happened, like getting pinned behind that curtain of water, he would have been on his own.”

On April 21 Bradt emptied his mind and paddled slowly into the river. He made tiny adjustments during the 3.7-second free fall. “The key to controlling the descent was to stay with the curtain and not get launched into the air,” he says. At impact, Bradt tucked his nose to the kayak, kept his body tense, and directed his boat into the heart of the torrent, where the aerated water cushioned his landing. After six seconds beneath the surface, the kayaker re-emerged with a broken paddle, a sprained wrist, and a record that, considering the risks, is perhaps best left unchallenged. “The motivating factor for all this,” Bradt says, “was just that I thought it was possible. I wanted to do it, I guess, because I can.” -Ryan Bradley

Falling 189 ft in a Kayak with Tyler Bradt is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Originally from Ardwick in Manchester, he said receiving the award was like being recognised for “doing something he loved every day”.

Joe had a visionary eye for new climbs and is responsible for making the first ascents of some of the UK’s most famous and highly sought-after rock climbs, such as Cenotaph Corner in the Llanberis Pass. In 1955, he became the first man to reach the summit of Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. His name is synonymous with the imposing cliff of Clogwyn Du’r Arddu on Snowdon and gritstone crack climbing test-pieces in the Peak District.

Not only was Joe at the cutting edge of rock climbing in the fifties and sixties but he was also an accomplished alpinist and mountaineer. His 1955 first ascent with George Band of the notoriously difficult Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain, made him only one of two Britons to have made the first ascent of an 8000 metre peak.

Joe moved to Snowdonia in the sixties and together with his wife Val he set up Joe Brown outdoor shop on Llanberis High Street in 1966. Although he’s no longer involved with the business it still proudly bears his name. Last September he turned eighty and until a few years ago was still leading rock climbs graded Extremely Severe.

For deals on climbing and outdoor equipment, click here; http://www.joe-brown.com/

Mountaineer Joe Brown awarded CBE: The British Empire Medal is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Dean Dunbar is founder of The Extreme Dreams website (www.extremedreams.co.uk), launched in 2002. The website content is based around the adventures of registered blind extreme sports enthusiast and adventurer Dean (Deano) Dunbar. An inspiration (though he doesn’t like to be called this) to anyone who wants to take control of their life, Dean was the first registered blind person in the world to bungee jump from a helicopter, be thrown by the Dangerous Sports Club’s Human Catapult and to participate in the gruelling 5 day Hebridean Challenge adventure race.

I telephoned Dean on a cold winter day just before Christmas:

First of all, for those who haven’t been on your website, when did you first realise you were blind and how blind are you now?

Well, I was born with full sight and had it until I was nine years old, but at this age my sight went bad pretty much over night and I was classed as being partially sighted; I remember one day being sat at the back of the school classroom and couldn’t see the blackboard. From the age of nine to the age of 25 / 26 that’s how it stayed until it started taking a dive and I was registered blind and told by the end of that year i’d need a guide dog and should start learning braille. So far it hasn’t quite gone to the guide dog or braille, but a guide dog would probably be a useful tool. I tend to be a bit vain for this though!

What was the first adventure sport you did and what drove you to do it?

Have you always had an extreme side to your personality, and if so, where did this develop?

It’s purely down to the tandem skydive. I think if I didn’t do that then I probably wouldn’t have gone over to what i’m doing now… I wouldn’t have gone over to the dark-side so to speak! Until then I hadn’t really got an interest, but as soon as the parachute opened I was off my head and by the time I hit the ground I was thinking ‘I need to do this again!’ It’s how this started and now i’m constantly thinking where I can get my next fix. It’ll never be the same as the first one. I think it’s the same with drugs and alcohol, you can try ten times but it’ll never be the same. I’m still looking for the next high!

What has been your most enjoyable experience in adventure sports?

There have been things since the tandem skydive that i’ve really enjoyed and thought ‘that was much better’ but the buzz has never been quite the same as that first time. It’s very hard now to get that same feeling. I’ve had a lot of great buzzes though and a lot of scary experiences…

Well this leads me into my next question, what has been your most scary moment and have you had any moments when you thought ‘this is it’?

Ha ha, yeah definitely! On several occasions i’ve thought maybe i’ve gone too far. The first time I was out in New Zealand in 2001 doing some Hydro-Speeding (River-Boarding if you’re American or Whitewater Sledging if you’re from New Zealand) which is basically body-boarding down a river. It was in the middle of winter, there was snow all around and because it was so cold, only myself, two instructors and a trainee instructor took part. We got to a point at the river when they said to me ‘next thing we’re about to do is a small waterfall. You’re ok doing it but there’s a tree in the middle: if you go to the right of the tree you’ll survive, if you go to the left of the tree we can’t rescue you. Can you see the tree?’ I said ‘no, I can’t see the tree.’ So they decided it was up to me whether I decided to carry on. They told me ‘to the right of the tree was a simple one metre waterfall which is not a problem. To the left is a three sided waterfall which will just trap you and it’s highly unlikely that we’ll get you out so you’ve got to make the decision’. So I went off for a few seconds and had to think about it. It’s the first time I thought, maybe i’ve done enough, but decided ‘what the heck, let’s just give it a go, it’s a good way to go!’

And you’re still here…

Do you feel like you have inspired other blind people to try adventure activities when they might have felt unable to?

I don’t know. I don’t like to think of myself in that way. What I’m hoping is that people will come and see the website and maybe think ‘if that bugger can do it, what’s holding me back’. I like to think that, while people might not be inspired, they can see that this sort of thing can be done. The point of the website is to make it easier for blind people to do these sports. For example, when I first started out I would contact a paragliding centre and ask if I could go on a certain day. They would say that it’s fine until I would mention that I’m registered blind. Then they would say things like ‘oh no you can’t come, we’re not insured’ or ‘no, health and safety’. 9 times out of 10, i’d try things and get told ‘no’. Eventually I got a few ‘yes’s’ which is why I created the website to say to people, ‘if you’re going to try something out, go to this company because these people are that little bit more special’. Here is a link to Dean’s list of great adventure operators.

When you’re not doing these adventure sports what do you do with yourself and what’s your next plan?

I’ve got an Ebay shop which sells outdoor and travel kit but my main objective is planning the next adventure! My next challenge is to swim the channel in 2012.

Good luck to you Dean!

Interview with Dean Dunbar; blind adventure sports hero! is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Following on from our last post about Scotland being the world hub of adventure for sports such as kayaking and mountain biking, it seems that Scotland also offers some great skiing and snowboarding this year as a result of some heavy pre-Christmas snow.

It wasn’t long ago that doom-mongers were predicting the end of skiing in Scotland but following a successful season last year, companies are investing in new hotels and lodges in the mountains.

For UK based snow enthusiasts it would seem wise to avoid getting stuck at an airport waiting to get out to the alps (as has seemed common over the last few months) and instead get up to the hills of Scotland. At Kumutu we have a great operator in Scotland called Active Outdoor Pursuits. You can request a booking for a days skiing or snowboarding with Kumutu now.

For those who want to know more about Skiing in Scotland, there’s a nice little video on the BBC website which shows lots of whiteness and some pretty scenery.

Skiing and snowboarding in Scotland is a post from: blog.kumutu.com

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.