Latest Adventure News: September
Your latest adventure and outdoor news from around the world…
This month, find out about the UTMB and UCI MTB World Champs results, be inspired for winter with an epic trailer for an upcoming ski movie, read about a sensational adventure feat, and get ready for fun outdoor events we believe you'll love - read on to check them out!
A Movie To Ignite Your Senses
BLANK Collective Films released a trailer this week showcasing its upcoming ski movie, Feel Real. If this teaser doesn’t inspire you for the upcoming winter season, we’re not sure what will! In Blank Collective’s own words:
“From embracing vulnerability, to engaging in exploration, opening your eyes and ears, and never taking oneself too seriously, Feel Real represents the past and present moments, memories and friendships that have shaped The Blank Collective into the skiers they are today.”
Epic Results
These race results blew us away
UTMB:
FATMAP Ambassador and athlete, Killian Jornet broke the UTMB record by finishing the legendary 170-km trail run around the Mont Blanc in under the mythical bar of 20 hours. His official time was 19h 49m 30s. This is the Catalan’s fourth victory at the UTMB, with Frenchman Mathieu Blanchard coming in a close second with an equally impressive and unprecedented time of 19h 54m 50s.
“On this edition, the weather was really perfect, I had a great night, even if I didn’t have an easy minute on the whole event,” Kilian Jornet told Alpine Mag.
Jornet didn’t have an easy run, with Blanchard and American Jim Walmsley keeping him on his toes. The combination of the high level of competition and training from these three top athletes is what ultimately led to two sub-20-hour records in 2022.
On the women’s front, American Katie Schide won the title with her impressive 23h 15m run. Not an easy ride for Schide, she told Alpine Mag that she “got off to a fast start, with a quick lead over [her] opponents. [She] was more than 15 minutes ahead when [she] arrived in Courmayeur. It was not really the plan, but in other years, [she] had started too slowly”. Schide clearly turned things around and ran a fantastic race!
UCI Mountain Bike World Championships:
The world champions from the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships have been gloriously crowned in Les Gets.
Loïc Bruni became the men's downhill world champion for the fifth time in front of an ecstatic home crowd that took celebrating a French victory to a new level. The crowds were so ecstatic that Bruni needed a police escort to keep him safe: “The scenes at the end of the race were truly epic with the French fans descending on the finish area and Bruni having to be protected by the French police from fans eager to get close to their hero,” Red Bull reported. Bruni came in with a time of 3m 20.478s, followed by Amaury Pierron at 3m 23.049s, and Loris Vergier at 3m 23.864s.
In the women’s title, Austria’s Valentina Höll took home the gold medal, followed by Germany’s Nina Hoffmann with silver, and France’s Myriam Nicole took the bronze. Höll completed the race in 3m 53.857s, Hoffmann in 3m 54.763s, and Nicole in 3m 57.304s.
The Women’s Elite XCO and XCC saw Pauline Ferrand-Prévot come first. In the men’s division, Nino Schurter took gold in the XCO, while Sam Gaze snagged gold in the XCC.
The Junior Downhill saw New Zealand’s Jenna Hastings come first in the women’s division and the UK’s Jordan Williams in the men’s.
The Gran Fondo Whistler:
Whistler’s Gran Fondo cycling race took place on September 10 this year and saw thousands of participants pedal through the stunning Sea to Sky Highway. The overall winner of the 122-km Gran Fondo went to Torin Halvorson with a time of 3h 37m 45s. The 152-km Forte route title went to Colin Eriks at 4h 29m 30s. Liam Smit took home gold for the Classic Bikes 122-km race, while Alexander Fraser-Maraun won the St. Regis Cup at 3h 21m 01s. Finally, the Medio title went to Ethan Smith with a time of 1h 43m 36s.
Autumn Outdoor Events Not To Miss
What’s on in October and November
Photo: Ben Tibbetts
Red Bull Rampage:
Red Bull Rampage is headed back to the steep and unforgiving terrain of south-west Utah in 2022! On Friday, October 21, the premier big-mountain freeride event will showcase the world’s top riders as they take on some of the biggest and baddest tricks and lines, and bring the most energy that freeride has ever seen.
This year, Red Bull Rampage wants to spotlight the future of freeriding - from the new crop of athletes grabbing the baton and continuing to innovate the sport, to the changemakers that drive the scene, to the mind-blowing action itself.
When & where: Utah, 21 October
How: Click here for more information and tickets.
Crankworx:
Mountain bikers in the Southern Hemisphere will rejoice at the news that Crankworx is heading not only to one destination but two! Riders in Rotorua in New Zealand and in Cairns, Australia, it’s time to sign up for some epic outdoor festivals.
Rotorua will once again be the final stop of the festival’s World Tour, celebrating the seasons’ champions, including the crowning of the King and Queen of Crankworx.
When & where: Smithfield in Cairns, 5 - 9 October | Rotorua, 5 - 13 November
How: Click here for Cairns or here for Rotorua for more information and tickets
The Grand Raid:
Another Southern Hemisphere legendary event is coming up: the Grand Raid of Reunion Island. Join the iconic Ultra Trail race, considered to be one of the most epic ultras due to the difficulty encountered and the rugged mountain tracks of the island.
Join one of the four races in this competition, including the “Diagonale des Fous” (Madmen’s Diagonal), which is part of the Ultra Trail World Tour (UTWT), and which groups together the most iconic races in the discipline.
When & where: Reunion Island, 20 - 23 October
How: Click here for more information and tickets
High Five Festival
Celebrate the upcoming winter season at the High Five Festival in Annecy, France. A real festival in every sense of the term the festival has live music, stand up comedy shows, workshops, conferences, outdoor movie screenings, food, and all your favourite winter sports outdoor brands. It’s a skiier and snowboarder’s mecca.
When & where: Annecy, 30 September - 2 October
How: Click here for more information and tickets
A Sensational Adventure Story
Photo: Ben Tibbetts
Climbing household names, Alex Honnold and Hazel Findlay, battled treacherous conditions to help a scientist traverse a remote Greenland ice cap, gathering crucial climate data along the way.
In doing so, the pair carried out the first ascent of one of Earth's tallest Arctic sea cliffs.
On Tuesday 16 August, Honnold and Findlay reached the summit of one of the world’s tallest giants, a remote 3,750-foot rock wall in eastern Greenland, called Ingmikortilaq. The celebrated rock climbers completed this incredible feat battling loose rock, sub-freezing temperatures, and sudden storms. Up until August, this towering granite monolith that juts out of the freezing cold sea stood unconquered.
“We literally went off the edge of the map to reach this wall,” Honnold told National Geographic via satellite phone from the team’s base camp, referring to the nautical maps the team had been following, which offered no details about the fjord where Ingmikortilaq is located. “It is definitely one of the biggest first ascents I’ve ever done–and one of the most stressful due to how dangerous the climbing was.”
The expedition wasn’t just about climbing, though. The expert team of climbers assisted Heidi Sevestre, a French glaciologist working with the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, reach remote glaciers, fjords, and the Renland Ice Cap. Scientists believe it may be less sensitive to climate change because of its altitude but were missing current ground-level data to support this theory.
As Sevestre saidin National Geographic, “We desperately need scientific data from this region. Studying the fjords, the glaciers, the ice sheets, will bring so much data to the scientific community that the contribution will be extremely positive.”
“A horrendous, death-defying wall.”
No easy feat, Honnold referred to the first ascent as “a horrendous, death-defying wall.” And that’s coming from one of the world’s most renowned climbers.
Even though Ingmikortilaq proved to be a lot more challenging and dangerous than the team had anticipated, Honnold and Findlay adeptly navigated under, over, and around multi-ton flakes of rock to reach the summit. Ultimately, the team said they “will look back on this experience fondly.” And we don’t doubt they will.
