The Road from Karakol [FULL]
The full (25 minute) version of Kyle Dempster's The Road from Karakol is on Youtube. Great scenery, and an amazing adventure, but I think his voice over narration is a little hamfisted.
Posts
Oh Goody 2
Lyme disease in next week's New Yorker . I assume it's only a matter of time until I get it. I find a tick on me or George about one for every two or three hours of running.
Underwhelming
Am I being an elitist adventure snob, or is this year's crop of Outside Adventure Grant finalists a little weak? 4 out of 5 of these won't take longer than a month. The run across Africa seems the toughest, but it bugs me that they hype the vertical climbing as "two and a quarter times that of Everest." Over the course of 3,000+ miles? You know that means your route is essentially flat, right? But I guess they're trying to raise money for a good cause, so I'll stop hating on them.
The Best Gear Review Ever
Semi-Rad's shoe review is amazing. Like he says, "You should get a pair. Of shoes." Like my friends at The Trail Show say, "Less gear, more beer."
Ben Got His PhD
My friend Ben was posthumously awarded his PhD in economics from UCSD this past weekend. The UCSD economics department has a tribute page that is worth reading here . Also, the department and Ben's friends are raising funds for the Benjamin C. Horne Memorial Prize to further research in Ben's areas of interest: peace, international cooperation, development, and environmental protection. You can read more about that here ; I'd love you if donated. Another good cause only slightly less close to my heart is the CDT. The previous non-profit that partnered with the Forest Service to manage it went belly-up a year or two ago, but there's a new group, the Continental Divide Trail Coalition that is trying to take over; their campaign is here .