xtremesport4u

Archive for July, 2009

The extreme golf course article opened  up all sorts of new vistas for me. For a start I had never heard of Furnace Creek in Death Valley – and very quickly discovered that a seriously extreme ultra-marathon, along with several other races, is held there every year. (The Death Valley Badwater Ultra-Marathon)

La Paz golf course in Bolivia (extreme golf courses in the world) has led me on to investigate Mount Illimani – the highest mountain in the Cordillera Real  (part of the Cordillera Oriental, a subrange of the Andes).  It is the second highest peak in Bolivia, after Nevado Sajama, and the eighteenth highest peak in South America. The name means golden eagle in the local Aimara language. The snow line lies at about 4,570 metres (15,000 ft) above sea level, and glaciers are found on the northern face at 4,983 m (16,350 ft). The mountain has four main peaks; the highest is the south summit, Nevado Illimani, which is a popular ascent for mountain climbers.

Illimani was first attempted in 1877 by C. Wiener, J. de Grumkow, and J. C. Ocampo. They failed to reach the main summit, but did reach a southeastern subsummit. In 1898, British climber Sir William Martin Conway and two Swiss guides, A. Maquignaz and L. Pellissier, made the first recorded ascent of the peak, again from the southeast. (They found a piece of Aimara rope at over 6,000 m (20,000 ft), so an earlier ascent cannot be completely discounted.) The ascent took 5 days, and on the 4th day the Indian porters bolted. The party suffered great weakness during their last hour on the summit, but no actual illness. Conway described the view from the top as “astounding”.

The current standard route on the mountain climbs the west ridge of the main summit. It was first climbed in 1940, by the Germans R. Boetcher, F. Fritz, and W. Kühn, and is graded French PD+/AD-. This route usually requires four days, whereas the summit is reached in the morning of the third day.

The majestic heights of the Bolivian mountains is an awe-inspiring sight for even the most world weary mountaineers. Whether you’ve scaled Everest, Kilimanjaro or Kailas, the spectacular peaks of the Andes beckon you to a climb that is unlike any other you’ll ever experience.

Most climbers would be wise to spend a few days acclimatising at La Paz before attempting any of the many climbs on offer.

Huayana Potosi is a tempting climb and a relatively easy one to begin with. A half day’s hike from La Paz, this easily accessible peak is a must for any climber that visits Bolivia. It’s other name,  Kaka-aka, means, ‘the one who came from the rocks’.

You could easily spend a week or more climbing the Mount Condoriri range, comprised of 50 peaks with a range of difficulty and elevations which welcome the climber who wants to experience some extended time and camping and trekking.

Visible from the capitol of La Paz, the forbidding peak of Illimani summons any hardy adventurer daring enough to scale its snow-covered face. 7 peaks make up this highest of all the mountains in the Cordillera Real, the southern peak being the tallest of all the Andes Mountains in Bolivia. A number of trails will take you to the top. You can try the straightforward ascent from the west, or challenge yourself by taking on one of the more difficult routes. Be sure to give yourself a few days to take in the climb and savor the lovely alpine setting. By the third day you will have reached the summit at a leisurely pace, where you can absorb some of the best views of the Cordillera Real from the top of Mount Illimani.

You may know that we live in the beautiful south of France – Provence to be precise – and so when our godson came to stay with us this weekend we thought (as he is bike nuts) that we would take him along to our very local extreme bike heaven.

Wow what a feast it is – in every sense and it comes with a big shout of recommendation should you find yourselves on these shores and wanting to go biking.

The place is Chateau de Berne – in itself a magnificent 1500 acre estate of which about 200 acres is planted with vines for the production of wine – these you can taste and buy at your leisure – or whilst enjoying a meal in the bistro, grill or gastronomique restaurants.

It is located on the right hand side of the D10 if you are travelling from Lorgues to Salernes but really it is the biking that we want to tell you about – for there is something for all the family.

If you happen to turn up without your bike there are bikes and safety equipment that can be rented. Then it is a matter of deciding what it is that you want to do.

Cross country: there are a number of trails for all levels of bikers combining links and 4 specially designed downhill single tracks with obstacles including bridges, ramps and many natural challenges.

Bike park: for experienced mountain bikers who are technically proven and looking for big thrills. Riders can explore the Jump Park, Dirt and Free Style zone, Pump Track and Dual Slalom.

North Shore: with wooden modules of variable height and width incorporating jumps, seesaws, ramps, wall ride and rollers.

Quad biking: quads can also be hired to take on the estate’s 30 kms of trails and tracks.

Watch some of the fun in the videos above and below from janko83720

A great day out for everyone – if you want to go along you can find out more informaton from www.chateauberne.com or for the biking action go to www.provencextreme.com and should you be having such fun tha you want to stay over the Chateau has 19 luxurious rooms in which to stay – booking and a healthy bank account are advised. Enjoy.

Leif Olsen’s hole-in-one at the 2009 Canadian Open has to be seen to be believed…

How lucky was that? or extreme?

Nice little extreme car to drive away in too…

This race is still months away, but the listings for the competitors for the 2010 Iditarod, the last great race in the world, are already in – though the race start is not until 6th March, 2010. The awards banquet will be on the 21st March. On 26th June, 2009 the first musher sign-ups for 2011 began…

The Iditarod Trail, now a National Historic Trail, had its beginnings as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps at Flat, Ophir, Ruby and beyond to the west coast communities of Unalakleet, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain and Nome. Mail and supplies went in. Gold came out. All via dog sled. Heroes were made and legends were born, as they are again and again in this, the  37th Iditarod race.

There are names which are automatically associated with the race — Joe Redington, Sr., co-founder of the classic and affectionately know as “Father of the Iditarod.” Rick Swenson from Two River, Alaska, the only five time winner, the only musher to have entered 20 Iditarod races and never finished out of the top ten. Dick Mackey from Nenana who beat Swenson by one second in 1978 to achieve the impossible photo finish after two weeks on the trail. Norman Vaughan who at the age of 88 has finished the race four times and led an expedition to Antarctica in the winter of 93–94. Four time winner, Susan Butcher, was the first woman to ever place in the top 10. And of course, Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod in 1985.

The 2010 Iditarod sign-ups for 2010 drew a field of 60 on the first day.

Four time Iditarod Champions Jeff King and Martin Buser joined three time Iditarod Champion (2007,2008,2009) Lance Mackey along with a number of top ten Iditarod finishers at the sign ups.  19 rookies have signed up for the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, so far.

Being an ‘even’ year means that it will be the northerly route:

2010 Race Route

You can’t compare it to any other competitive event in the world! A race over 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer. She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska.

From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days.

The Mongol Derby, which sets off on the 22nd August, is a race following in the tradition of the Iditarod in that it will be recreating Gengis Khan’s old mail route. Follow this link to see more about that race… Extreme Dreams, extreme people, extreme challenge – what else could we be talking about but Ben Fogle and the Mongol Derby

If you’ve been watching the news, or if you are one of the guys who keep a close eye one where the next best wave is going to be – you are probably already hanging out in California. Waves there are their highest in years.

A storm in Tahiti, 4,000 miles away from the west coast of America, has created a swell that has reached the coast of southern California in 4 days. That storm, coupled with a high tide, has created monster waves that have been pounding the coastline. 20 ft waves + are the norm – fabulous for extreme surfers, but very dangerous conditions for people not used to the brutality of these big waves. There has already been one death and the life guards are pulling out hundreds of bruised, battered and exhausted surfers daily.

The Wedge, which we have profiled before (I’ve found some more extreme waves…), has been benefiting from this swell with huge waves of over 20 ft. With its exposure to south swells and its unique wave shape, the wave comes in, ricochets off the jetty that guards the harbour mouth, rejoins and reinforces the waves coming straight in and forms towering peaks.

This is NOT a wave to take lightly. It can also be especially dangerous because the waves break close to shore, with little water to cushion the falls of body surfers and board riders before they hit the sand.

Laird Hamilton is there – of course he would be – but with a word of sage advice for all surfers: “if you, for one second, lose your train of thought, you’re going to panic… If you’re somebody who don’t know what they’re doing out there, and they weren’t wearing flotation devices, I mean, you’d be hauling them in. There’d be an ambulance there every day…”

So be careful everyone…

You can see for yourself the sort of action they’ve been getting at Newport Beach with thanks to rwongphotodotcom and dirtpro21
.

People rushed to the coastline to see the waves as they have been so incredible…

We were interested to learn from the Earth’s most extreme summit , that Mount Everest, (29,035 feet or 8,850 metres) had in June been conquered for a record 19 times.

On Wednesday, June 10, Apa Sherpa reached the summit of Everest,  for his 19th time—more than anyone else in the world. The 49-year-old Sherpa, originally from the village of Thame in Nepal and a resident of Salt Lake City since 2006, has climbed Everest for eight straight years and 19 of the last 20 years.

Apa also carried a sacred two-pound vase, called a Bhumpa, to the summit. The high monk Ngawang Tenzin Zangpo, Rinpoche of the monastery of Tengboche below the mountain, asked Apa to take the Bhumpa, which was filled with 400 different ingredients, relics, plants, and elements, to the summit as an offering to Chomolangma, Mother Goddess of the World, to protect humanity and help deal with climate change.

A wonderful achievement and we send Apa laudable messages of  respect – and so we started thinking about these extraordinary people – the Sherpas. We googled them and found this fascinating article – thanks to www.mounteverest.net  – from which we have made a precis.

‘Sherpas are the inhabitants of the Khumbu-valley, the national park surrounding Everest. Living at altitude for generations, they have developed a genetic natural allowance for it. If you are well trained yourself, you might find in Kathmandu that the Sherpas do substantially fewer push-ups than you do. Don’t get too excited. Once you go above 3,000 metres/10,000 ft most of them will easily outrun you. Their natural advantage is strongest up to 8,000-metres/23,000 ft, there after they too will face problems. Most sherpas will consequently require oxygen above camp 4 in order to perform at their best…………….

Since Sherpas are stronger than us at altitude, they are very well suited for alpine style expeditions in the Himalayas. You will need them to carry the oxygen, the gear and as a safety on the summit push. Many “solo” climbers actually bring sherpas with them all the way up.’

The summitting of Everest is without doubt an extrem feat, but to do that 19 times – well – is there a word beyond extreme?

Apa Sherpa photographed in May 2009 shortly before he achieved his record 19th summit of Mount Everest.

BUYERS BEWARE – the July/August 2009 Kitesurfing Magazine has exposed an internet scam on the purchase of kites and kite surfing equipment – and we thought we should bring it to your attention too.

“BEWARE THE SCAM

I’ve just been ripped off big time. Bought two Cabrinha Switchblade IDS’s (12m and 8m) online and paid the supplier who has now taken all my money and sent nothing. They are ignoring all emails etc. and seem to have disappeared…

If you go to www.alibaba.com and then search for almost any kite brand (I put in Cabrinha Switchblade), there are loads on offer – AND cheap too! But it’s a scam. They’ll take your money and never send you kites. Maybe you’d like to warn others through your magazine? It won’t do any reputable manufacturers or dealers any good for these rip off merchants to be around! Maybe some of the other manufacturers should join forces and clamp down on these guys. Lesson learned is “always go to a reputable UK recognised dealer”…

Iain”

This scam is unlikely to have anything to do with Alibaba.com. The Alibaba site is a well established global trading site that acts as a portal for business to business trade, and just like with eBay where a scammer can create an account with irresponsible ease, so too can they on Alibaba.

Remember the old maxim, “if it sounds too good to be true, it ususally is” - and go to a bonafide dealer.

South Africa has to have it. Have you ever seen anything like this?

Hole 19, or ‘Xtreme 19′, is a par 3 – a par 3 whose tee is atop a cliff on Hanglip Mountain, more than 1,400 feet above a green carved like the continent of Africa.  The 630 yard hole requires a helicopter to reach the teebox.

This magnificent new golf course is in South Africa at the Legends Golf and Safari Resort. 

This is an 18-hole championship course that was designed by 18 different  top flight golfers including  Colin Montgomerie, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, K.J. Choi, Justin Rose, Trevor Immilman and Retief Goosen.  

But it’s the ‘Xtreme 19th’ that has caught and held the world’s attention.You’ve got to take a helicopter to get to the tee box, and from there it’s more than 630 yards to the pin. Golfers have the opportunity of teeing off from one of three tee boxes.  With advanced technology in the form of four separate cameras and the latest tracking equipment, the golfer can follow and capture the tee shot and the flight of the ball.  Once you tee off, it takes nearly 30 seconds for the ball to hit the ground.

Playing all 19 holes will cost about 2,000 South African rand, or about $220 in American dollars, but for that you get the helicopter ride,  a DVD of your shot amongst other things. And, and here’s the teaser, if you get a hole-in-one on the 19th you will also net yourself a cool $1 million bucks – and the right to call yourself the most xtreme golfer on the planet. But what a beautiful green – the whole idea must have been created with a chuckle and a wry grin…

Unlike certain signature holes, you can play just the Xtreme 19th, if you like, without messing with all that full-round business. And for tournaments held at the Legends, it will serve as the playoff hole.

The Legend Gold and Safari Resort is 2 hours north of Johannesburg. The design and layout of the Resort has been done in a way that minimizes the impact of the development on the natural environment. It preserves the pristine bushveld and makes the Resort one of the most environmentally sensitive of its kind in Africa.

Felipe Massa has undergone surgery after a horrific 170mph head-on crash at the Hungaroring race circuit outside of Budapest, Hungary. He was hit on the head by bouncing debris which had fallen from fellow Brazilian Rubens Barichello’s Brawn during Saturday’s Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.

Ferrari, the Formula One champions, said in a statement that the Brazilian was conscious on arrival at Budapest’s AEK hospital and his general condition was stable.

“Following a complete medical examination it emerged that he had suffered a cut on his forehead, bone damage of his skull and a brain concussion,” it said.

After the operation Massa was reported to be stable but the results of further tests are awaited and it will then be decided on the best course of action for the young Brazilian. The accident, which rules Massa out of today’s race at the Hungaroring, brought back grim memories of the crash that killed his compatriot and triple world champion Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994.

Massa, championship runner-up last year, was hit by a fist-sized spring weighing between 600 and 800 grams, his car, leaving streaking brake marks across the asphalt, ploughed straight on at turn four and into the tyre wall.

Massa, who appeared to have been knocked unconscious before the car left the track, was extracted and taken by ambulance to the circuit medical centre and then by helicopter to hospital.

Photographs of the driver showed his visor half ripped off and a bloody gash over his closed left eye.

Barrichello was reported to have later visited Massa in hospital – below you can see the tragic accident and the reason it happened in this video from  konamigiants

Renault’s Fernando Alonso will now start Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position with the Red Bull pair of Vettel and Webber in second and third positions and McClaren’s Lewis Hamilton in fourth.

With Massa out of contention for championship points for some time it will be interesting to see whether it is now the Red Bull pairing of Vettel and Webber who bring pressure on Jenson Button’s (who starts in 8th position today) commanding lead.

Current driver standings

All that is left to say is to wish Felipe a speedy and full recovery.

This is an event which has just happened, but until yesterday I didn’t even know about Furnace Creek and all it stood for. I mean – here’s a town in a desolate desert landscape, 214 ft below sea level, boasting a permanent population of 31, temperatures that can surpass 125° (52°C), and where most lodging is closed in the summer.

So what does one propose to do there? Well, why the hell not – an ultra-marathon? and in the middle of summer? And they say it’s a “mad dog an Englishman out in the midday sun”… hey, we’ve nothing on the Americans!!!

So a little more about the extremely extreme Death Valley Badwater Ultra- marathon which was completed on 15th July. There were 86 starters and 75 official finishers – an 87% success rate – not bad, not bad at all for one of the most hostile environments in the world.

Badwater, itself, is just 17 miles south of Furnace Creek resort. It is the lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level and has massive salt flats.

Globally recognized as the toughest race of its kind, the Badwater Ultramarathon is a pure athletic challenge of athlete, shoes, and support crew versus a brutal 135 mile stretch of highway, a hellish environment of up to 130 degrees, and a sixty hour time limit from its start line in the bowels of Death Valley at Badwater  to the finish line high on Mt. Whitney at nearly 8,300’ (2530m). The Badwater course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000’ (3962m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 4,700’ (1433m) of cumulative descent. The Portals are the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States. This one-of-a-kind foot race offers the promise of a supremely personal achievement along with international accolades for those who rise to the occasion.

Next event up for Death Valley, an arena favoured by AdventureCORPS, the organisers of these extreme events, is the Furnace Creek 508. This is another well known cycle event which starts on 4th October and finishes on the 6th. It’s a race for endurance athletes where the cyclists will cover 508 miles from Santa Clarita, California, across the Mojave Desert and Death Vallez to end in Twenty Nine Palms. This race is touted as the “toughest 48 hours in sports”.

Athletes who complete both the Badwater Ultramarathon and Furnace Creek 508 in the same year are recognised with the Death Valley Cup – only 15 people have earned that recognition since 1996.

In the words of Keith Wetiz of Team Black Angus Cow, a Furnace Creek entrance:  “There are occasionally people in your life with whom you have an innate sense of communication. I’ve found that these people are often your training partners. Perhaps it’s due to the countless hours spent together not always being able to communicate verbally. Instead, we consciously and subconsciously study and learn their movements and expressions. Over time words are needed less and less. Rather a subtle gesture or body movement or quick look is all it takes to completely understand each other.

“Back home a couple months after our rookie appearance at the 2008 Furnace Creek 508, my Black Angus Cow teammate Scott and I met for dinner at our favorite local hangout, the Q-Shack. As always, the barbequed brisket was tender and the conversation light, but when a friend brought up the previous year’s 508, we both knew what was coming. We had both sensed it since leaving the desert. We had heard it in the still of night and just as clearly during the noisy backdrop of the world during the day. With a quick glance, just like the countless ones during all our rides together, I saw his eyes and knew.

“The desert was calling us back.”

The application period for the 2010 Badwater Ultra-Marathon will open on 1st February, 2010 and in the meantime enjoy this video of the 2008 race (AdventureCORPS) which’ll give you a pretty good idea as to what it’s all about…