Gareth Brauteseth

Every year the Banff Film festival hits Ster Kinekor and the collection of ripstop-nylon, Down Jackets, apple-green and fire-orange spill into the foyer of your local Ster Kinekor. For one week denim takes a back seat and outdoor kit that smells of the last  adventure is thick in the air.

That week is fast approaching and there are some amazing videos that will be featured.

One of my favourites is this video about some mates that head of to the Russian Island of Kanchaka to fish where very few have fished before.

Steph Husson climbing in Antarctica

So, I am finally back from a long stint on the ice.

Wow, an amazing experience of sheer vastness. If anyone asks me to describe Antarctica that would be it- VAST!!!

Everything is just impressive down there.

The Nunatak across the glacier from our camp was VAST, the high Polar Plateau was Vast, the view from the South Pole was VAST, the emperor penguins were VAST and the drinking ability of our neighbours in Queen Maud land was also vast.

It was an experience that will never be forgotten and over the next few weeks I will be bringing a few of the characters to life here on my blog.

The picture I have included above is just a quick sneak peak of our surroundings. Steph Husson climbing a pitch over a frozen lake with a 300m icefall in the background.

This was our playground!!!

In the eternal search for adventure, somewhere cool to explore and something new to experience I came across this.

Cenotes, found in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

What make these things awesome are first of all their beautiful and then, the legend that the local Maya have about the Cenotes. Because these are the only natural resource of safe drinking water in the area Major Maya settlements would sprout around the walls of the wells.

The Maya believed that these were gateways to the afterlife and they would throw valuable items into them as offerings to the gods. Golden sacrificial artifacts have been found in some Cenotes which led to some pretty crazy exploration.

You can head there today and dive to all corners of these wells to have a peak at what’s available, pretty nuts…

Who’s keen for a trip to Mexico?

The more people I speak to the more excited I get about what there is to do out there in the world.

Coolest thing I have seen this week-The Mongol Derby- over 1000km across Mongolia- ON A HORSE!!!

SA has it’s own entrants, in the sisters Alexandra and Saskia van Heerden as well as Gina Abbott. Follow them later this year here:

http://mongolderby.theadventurists.com/

The Dream Expedition

Mike Horn is in the middle of the most amazing expedition the world is currently faced with. It is a combination of global traverse, extreme challenge, all environments and one key issue. That of climate change and what is happening.
How is this for a line up:

It was only fitting that in October 2008, the Pangaea Expedition launched from Ushuaia, the capital of Argentina’s province of Tierra del Fuego (‘Land of Fire’). That’s because it’s the southernmost city in the world, the city closest to Antarctica and is often just referred to as Fin del Mundo, which means ‘End of the Earth’.
Since then, the Pangaea Expedition has had numerous and diverse destinations on its itinerary; Brazil, Cape Town, New Zealand, Sydney, The Great Barrier Reef, Yokohama in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. From there, Pangaea sets sail for India in January 2010 for the Indian leg of our exciting Young Explorers Programme.
Once in India, Mike will set foot through the Himalayas, to China and Shanghai. And in mid 2010, head back to Japan and then to the Pacific Garbage patch. Then it’s off to Kamchatka and onwards up the North East passage to the North Pole.

The fun part is this, if you are between 15 and 20 make sure you apply to get on to this program, they call them YEPs Young Explorer Pangaea. If I was 16 again and knew about this I would do everything I could to get onto the expedition.

So team, if you have some youngster mates, point them in this direction and get them to have a look at the page. (http://pangaea-yep.com/)

The Perfect Expedition Vehicle

So, the challenge is on and the tropical island awaits the onslaught of seasoned adventurers on their expedition vehicles par excel lance.

Tuk Tuk, Sri Lanka, Race, Tea, Colonialists and Tamil Rebels… This my friends is the making of one of the finest adventure franchises the world has seen and just before you think it is unattainable look a little closer.

The reigning champions are in fact South African and this year’s field has a full on green and gold line up that has the international contenders shivering in their fip flops. Yes, the Tuk Tuk champions lie in waiting to be crowned the kings of Colombo.

The Lanka Challenge (www.lankachallenge.com) kicks of this spring in Sri Lanka and I urge you all to watch it with eager eyes as many of these competitors are training in brick lane and down town Durban where the Tuk Tuk training is second to none.

Good Luck SA- Bring it home one more time.

Out

G

V&A Amphitheatre- EPIC expo

As my PR drive skids into the finish line this week I decided to take some time and appreciate the city which is Cape Town, and while I was at it, see what was going on down at the Waterfront for the Absa Cape Epic.(www.cape-epic.com)

There is a very cool carnival atmosphere down at the waterfront as sponsors, riders, teams, crew and presenters all get ready for one of the worlds toughest races-8 days, 1200 cyclists and 722km.

Port Shepstones very own Burry Stander will be flying the flag as one of SA’s strongest contenders and many other mates will be giving the course a good crack.

Looking at the website though it looks like the course will be doing the cracking with some insane terrain and some unforgiving sections of trail.

Burry, Raoul, Guy, Nick and all the other lads that are taking on the path, best of luck.

Out

G

Hi Team,

So, the Bar One Manhunt is winding down and now it is time to concentrate on the task at hand of swimming from Robben Island to Big Bay, The Cadiz Feeedom Swim.

So I have kicked my training into serious mode, I am eating more food, I am trying to sleep more and naturally, I am swimming.

Clifton 4th has become home and this morning while I was taking my 523rd stroke I looked up at Lions head and realised yet again what an incredible country we live in. I then thought about other swims.

Sure Robben Island is one swim, but hey, SA is truly a capital of Open Water swimming.

With Cape Point, False Bay, Robben Island… we are spoilt for choices.

So if you are keen to jump into a speedo, put on some goggles and a swimming cap and swim around some land this is the link:

http://www.capeswim.co.za/

If you tap into that site you will find everything you need to know about where when, how cold and how long.

May it be a motivation team.
Out

G

The Pros make it look Easy

How do you actually drive a friggin Camel?

On Saturday, in Dubai, they made me jump on one and give it a rev.

After watching my fellow Bar One Manhunt contestants give it a swirl I thought it was not too bad, I mean surely, a camel people, it must be like a horse, just go forward. SURELY!!!

Well, no, it does not drive, look, handle or even sound like a horse. Camels, I have decided, are the most ridiculous animals in the racing world and must stay in the desert.

It is only the poor under-aged Camel Jockeys that can make that thing move, I am too big, too blonde, too impatient and lacking a turban, am not cut out for a career in the races of the dunes.

Thank you to Bar One and the production crew for the experience, but unfortunately my mind is made up, I’ll stick to a bakkie for transport.

Out

G

Couldn't have been a shark???

I haven’t swum this week in the open Atlantic Ocean so I decided to head down for a 2km stint to add to the training for the Cadiz Freedom Swim.

I pushed beyond the comfortable safety of Clifton 4th and into the realms of Cifton 3rd while concentrating on my stroke and trying very hard to shut all thos freaky thoughts of JAWS out of my mind.

Eish, then I looked down and absolutely Kakked myself… A big shadow that moved!!! That is when your Ocean Swimming becomes Ocean walking and you find a very quick way of getting out.

My mind did flickflacks, too big for a seal, too small for a whale, too lively for a rock, to dark for a very large Human and I am still alive, so not a shark.

Water temp was 12degrees which is on the cold side, so sharks were unlikely, but sheez louise, I turned around and in seconds was back on the beach and the shivering started.

If you swimming at Clifton today, you are in for a big surprize, I know it is overcast, but there is something cruising around that bay that has mystic written all over it.

Watch out!!!

Out

G