Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who wrote and read the words for the above short, is one adventurer bad ass. He’s a former British SAS officer who has completed a North-South circumnavigation of the planet, attempted  a solo trek of the North Pole and even cut off his own frostbitten fingers (rather than waiting for them to heal). In the above video, animated by the British Foreign Office, Fiennes recounts a polar expedition in which, as is common with adventures of that sort, disaster strikes. It’s cool to watch and brings the seriousness of trekking the poles into the animated form — something that’s rarely been done.

[Via: The Adventure Blog]

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Last Sunday, after precisely 70 days, five hours, and 22 minutes in the Atlantic, 22-year-old Katie Spotz finished her solo row across the ocean. Spotz, from Mentor, Ohio, who began in Dakar, Senegal on January 3, arrived in Georgetown, Guyana this Sunday, with the title of “Youngest Ever to Row the Ocean Solo,” and serious sense of accomplishment. “I like setting the bar pretty high and challenging myself as much as I can,” Spotz says.

She completed her solo row without much aid; she carried with her little more than a tracking unit, satellite phone and laptop. And fortunately, she didn’t come across any dire situations. Spotz says she had a few “near capsizes,” as well as a small fire caused by a tracking deice, but other than that, Spotz rowed safely along.

[Via: CBSnews]

The slightest mention of the Caribbean inevitably conjures images of island life, but the region has so much more to offer than rum and beaches. An adventurer’s paradise, the Caribbean island of Dominica is nicknamed “Nature Island” because of the abundance of exotic plants and animals that live in its numerous rain forests and national parks. If your ideal island adventure includes bird watching while jumping off pristine waterfalls and cooling off after playing on the beach by exploring rain forests in search of hidden lakes, then it’s time for a fundamental shift of thinking: Dominica is your new Caribbean.

But instead of taking our word for it, why not go there yourself? Wend, in partnership with Adventure to Dominica and Ahnu shoes, is currently giving away a paid trip for two to Dominica. The trip includes airfare from the US or Canada and 5 days/4 nights with Calibishi Lodges and Rainforest Shangri-La Resort, two of the island’s premier hotels. The grand prize winner will also receive two passes to the Rain Forest Aerial Tram. All you have to do is send us the photo that best showcases your adventurous spirit.

Entering is easy. Just dust off your picture albums and find the one that best showcases your adventurous spirit. Whether it’s the photo from your bike ride along the ridges of the Ala Too mountains in Central Asia, the shot of you standing at the trailhead of your favorite local hiking spot, or one that you shoot specifically for this contest, we want to see your adventurous spirit in action.

Each week we will pick our favorite photos and post them here and on the Wend Magazine blog. Weekly winners will get a pair of shoes from Ahnu. We will post the finalists on June 1st and for the next two weeks readers will vote (in the comment section) on their favorite photo. The contestant whose photo gets the most votes wins the trip to Dominica. Contest Winners will be announced June 15.

Go to adventuretodominica.com to enter!

For more information about Dominica go to www.discoverdominica.com

Despite a proposal to cut senior citizen discounts for National Forest campgrounds, the U.S. Forest Service opted yesterday to keep the senior discount in tact. The proposal, if it had gone through, would have eliminated the option for use of “Golden Age” and “Golden Access Passports,” as well as “Senior and Access Passes,” which allow for anywhere from 10 to 50 percent off campground fees. From the Forest Service news release:

“Each year more than 175 million people enjoy recreational opportunities on National Forests and Grasslands, and that includes more than 15 million visits to our campgrounds,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell.  ”Particularly in these difficult economic times, it is very important to maintain affordable access to our National Forests and Grasslands, giving people easy ways to recreate and find respite in the great outdoors.”

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, which means many of you are already drunk and at least some of you are under HR investigation for excessive pinching. One of you may even be wearing a blinking shamrock button. By midnight you will all be doing some sort of jig. But do you really know what it’s like to celebrate like the Irish? Have you felt their simple joys? Have you endured their humiliating pain? Well now, thanks to a special Irish edition of Wipeout Wednesday, you can come close.

Without further adieu, we bring you Wipeout Wednesday’s The Pain O’ the Irish

From Patty Murphy: (The icewalk cometh)

From Shamus: (Always pay attention to the ground, Billy)

From Patrick: (Don’t mind the sideways shot, just embrace the pain)

From Maeve: (Dublin mountain boarding)

Anyone who has traveled to Europe would agree, graffiti is everywhere. Tagging the sides of trains, buildings, trash cans, you name it. However, there is a group of young men out there whose aim is to reverse the stereotypical “mask” of the art form. These reverse graffiti artists from Durban, South Africa refer to themselves as “scrubbers,” creating their art on the side of walls by scrubbing away the debris to create a design (rather than spray painting on top of it).

These young men are students who took inspiration from the work of British street artist Paul Curtis, who first started reverse graffiti. Their objective is to act in the same manner as a graffiti spray painter would, with the wall as their backdrop. However, the difference between these young men and the other “graffiti artists”, or “urban anarchists” (as they would say), is that the scrubbers are bringing back the pureness of a clean wall, or restoring their cities landscapes.

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[via: Inhabitat]

It isn’t new news that real-time media is vastly in demand around the world. We have come to an age where news breaking in Europe will reach Americans in real time, making new media and new media developers precious to our businesses. However, what hasn’t been readily available to us throughout this growth is the margins between the countries that are ahead of others and those who are still  internet-less, or in other terms “disconnected.”

This interactive graph on BBC displays the growth that internet has made throughout the globe from 1998 to present.

I was fascinated when I admired these stats and compared the different countries, as you surely will be too.

[Via: GOOD]

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This weekend, the World Cup Nordic was held in Oslo Norway, and the (giant) Holmenkollen ski jump was unveiled and tried out. The project, by Julien de Smedt Architects, is not yet finished, but the jump itself was deemed safe for use this weekend.

Later this year, a bar and a viewing area will be added to the jump, allowing viewers to watch from above, looking down the in-run like a ski-jumper. That is sure to make viewing the Nordic World Ski Championships next February a bit more exciting, if not even more popular.

[Via: Dezeen]

This week we are exploring the musical influences of  Choc Quib Town from Columbia. The band is influenced by their culture, creating a mixture of hip hop, reggae and funk to produce their electric sounds. They describe their music best by stating:

“As a group, our main objective is for our culture and music to no longer be alien in our own country, and even in the world. We want to be part of those spaces where they have marginalized us, as an ethnic group and art form.”

Follow me on twitter @kfiebich