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Dec 4, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Andrew Marshall |Kris Annapurna |Sam Anderson |Angela Benavides
The James Webb Telescope — the super-sensitive, tennis-court-sized, space-based imager jointly managed by several international space agencies — continued to deliver gorgeous shots of the cosmos in 2024. From spiraling galaxies to never-before-seen phenomena to clearer glances at old Hubble favorites, the James Webb imagery is a treasure trove for anyone looking to inject a little awe into their lives. Let’s take a look at some James Webb highlights from this year.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Angela Benavides |Andrew Marshall |Kris Annapurna |Sam Anderson
Last summer, Liu Yang and Song Yuancheng of China made the first ascent of Karjan I, the fourth highest unclimbed peak on Earth. The feat prompted the climbing community to wonder when — if ever — Western alpinists will again be allowed into the region to bag first ascents and new routes. Not just the answer but even the question itself is tricky. Climbing in Tibet is not officially banned anymore, as it was during COVID. However, no procedure is simple in Tibet.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Rebecca McPhee |Andrew Marshall |Kris Annapurna |Sam Anderson
Archaeologists think they have identified the ship that took Vasco da Gama on his final journey into the Indian Ocean. Initially discovered in 2013, researchers believe the wreck off the coast of Kenya is da Gama’s 16th-century Sao Jorge. The Portuguese explorer took a pioneering route from Europe into the Indian Ocean. He was the first person to link Europe and Africa via the ocean and the first to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost tip of Africa.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Andrew Marshall |Lou Bodenhemier |Kris Annapurna |Sam Anderson
Every exploration buff knows that made-up geography often appeared on ancient maps. The most famous example is that of Atlantis, a myth that originated with Plato and persisted on maps well into the European Renaissance. But as explorers increasingly sought out the world just over the horizon, they brought back tales — often second or third-hand — of other wild lands.
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Dec 1, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Kris Annapurna |Lou Bodenhemier |Andrew Marshall |Sam Anderson
Our Forgotten 7,000’ers series moves today from Nepal to Pakistan, which has 76 peaks (including sub-peaks) between 7,000 and 7,999m. Some of these haven’t been climbed for years. Kunyang Chhish is one of the most complex giants of the Hispar Muztagh. Most of the few expeditions that attempted the 7,852m peak suffered fatalities. Successfully climbed only twice, Kunyang Chhish ranks as the 21st highest independent peak in the world. Below, its climbing history.
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Oct 2, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Sam Anderson |Angela Benavides
In 1981, today’s most-pervasive avalanche rescue technology only existed as an emerging solution to detect tumors. RECCO arrived in the avalanche safety world thanks to one man who’d lost a friend in the alpine. And it did so quietly — the earliest receivers only produced a peep on transponders from about a meter away. They were too cumbersome to be practical in the field and clearly too limited to make an impact on rescues.
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Sep 28, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Sam Anderson |Angela Benavides |Kristine De Abreu
Here’s the deal: If you want visual stimulation and alpine drama, look elsewhere in a climbing documentary. But if you want a dense mountain report from an ambivalent veteran, immune to travails that could force lesser souls to the brink, keep watching. Colin Haley’s 2023 solo bid on the Supercanaleta, a Fitz Roy masterpiece that loosens the bowels of even the staunchest climbers, is as simple as that.
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Sep 21, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Sam Anderson |Kristine De Abreu |Angela Benavides
Amity Warme is tough. It’s no surprise she’s willing to take a big, complicated, 25-pitch bite out of El Capitan the old-fashioned way. Watch Warme and Brent Barghahn do just that in Ground Up. Arc’teryx chronicles the two penitents on an old-fashioned “ground up” attempt on El Capitan’s El Niño (Pineapple Express variation, 5.13b/c).
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Sep 20, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Sam Anderson |Kristine De Abreu |Angela Benavides
In September 2023, a bizarre wave of concentrated seismic upheaval reverberated across the planet for nine days. The quake baffled seismologists. Most seismic signals are chaotic and brief. These were concerted and prolonged, like sonic energy from “a big musical instrument,” Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at University College London, told Science. Why? While there’s still no answer to every question about the nine-day event, researchers now think they’ve discovered its primary cause.
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Sep 7, 2024 | 
explorersweb.com | Sam Anderson |Angela Benavides
At the top of his reach, Mark Hudon can only just touch Jordan Cannon’s head. It’s an odd first impression about Free as Can Be, the Arc’teryx chronicle of the unlikely climbing duo, but it definitely hits. Does it owe to their matching outfits which, intentional or not, immediately paint Hudon as Cannon’s mini-me? Is it Cannon’s skinny, sneaky height or Hudon’s yawning wingspan? If the quirky Hudon is some kind of odd doppleganger for the polite Cannon, neither one seems to mind the arrangement.
