If anyone knows how to be an explorer in the 21st century it is Mikael Strandberg. His various adventures have taken him on bicycle rides from Chile to Alaska and Norway to South Africa, amongst other places. He's traveled through Patagonia on horseback and trekked through East Africa. He has wandered the most remote regions of Siberia and crossed Yemen by camel. He is a Fellow in the Explorers Club, Royal Geographical Society and the Long Riders Guild. So when Mikael offers advice to aspiring explorers, you know that he is doing so from a place of experience.

In a blog post that was published today, Strandberg shares his 9 tips on how to become a modern day explorer. These simple pearls of wisdom form a solid foundation for anyone who is considering pursing a life of exploration, something that comes with sacrifices and challenges, but also great rewards and satisfaction.

I won't spoil the list because I think the entire thing is well worth a read. I will say that his final tip is perhaps the most important one of all. It simply reads: "9. Finally: Get out there and just do it!" For many of us, the biggest stumbling block towards pursuing our dreams and goals is ourself. Sometimes we need to take that leap of faith and just go for it. The people that I have known who have been the most successful at whatever it is they do have always been the ones who are willing to believe in themselves and make the leap.

Mikael's tips are excellent ones for just about anything you'd like to do in life. While he puts them into context of pursuing the life of an explorer, they could also be just as easily applied to someone who wants to start their own business, quit their day job to pursue other opportunities or just about anything else. He advocates for having a clear vision, staying focused and believing in yourself - qualities that are important no matter what goals you set for yourself.

To read the entire article and discover all of Mikael's tips, click here.

A few years back there was a real race in the sailing world to see who would become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. For a time it seemed that there was always someone who was trying to lower the bar further, even if it was only by a few months. I followed most of those sailing journeys closely, posting regular updates on their progress while occasionally wondering just how young is too young for that kind of adventure. The race seems to have come to a halt, at least for now, culminating with Laura Dekker's successful circumnavigation last year at the age of 16. She bested the previous record older, Australia's Jessica Watson.

If you've ever wondered what has become of these young sailors than I have just the blog post for you. A sight called Nourishing Obscurity has written a short update on each of them including the likes of Americans Zac and Abby Sunderland who each had their own solo circumnavigation attempt – Abbey's ending in near-disaster off the coast of Australia – as well as Brit Mike Perham. Each of them has gone on to pursue other adventures and activities of course, some are more out of the limelight than others. As you can imagine, it is difficult to follow-up with a solo sailing adventure around the world when you accomplish that kind of feat while still in your teens.

This blog post actually comes at an unusual time for me. It was just a few days ago that I was actually thinking that it is odd that we haven't seen someone try to break Laura's record just yet. There was such an ongoing race between these young sailors for several years that it now seems unusual to not have someone attempting to lower the age record yet further. In the midst of all of the media attention surrounding these attempts I was rather critical of Laura's initial attempt in particular. When she set out she was just 15 years old and I felt that was a bit too young for someone to attempt something so bold. Fortunately, she made it round in one piece and by all accounts she might be the best sailor of the entire lot. But at the time, it seemed really daunting for her to take on the seas the way she did. Now, a year and a half after she's finished, I have nothing by respect for what she has accomplished.

So, it seems that the golden age of teen solo-sailors has come to an end, at least for now. But something tells me we'll be hearing from at least one or two of these young men and women again. After all, several of them are still in their teens and have a lot of adventures ahead of them yet.

While the climbing season in Pakistan is winding down it won't be too long before the fall season in the Himalaya begins to pick up. Soon the seasonal monsoon will begin to dissipate and mountains that have been off limits for the past few months will suddenly become quite popular once again. This fall we'll get the opportunity to follow one expedition in particular very closely as our friend Alan Arnette has announced that he will climb Manaslu this fall. 

Standing 8163 meters (26,781 ft) in height, Manaslu is the fifth tallest mountain in the world. It is located inside Nepal,  approximately 65 km (40 miles) east of Annapurna and is one of the lesser climbed 8000 meter peaks. First climbed by a Japanese team back in 1956, Manaslu's most popular route to the summit follows its Northeast Ridge and requires the establishment of four camps on the way to the top. Alan notes that the biggest obstacles to success include heavy snow and avalanches that occur on the upper slopes.

This will be Alan's eighth expedition to an 8000 meter peak. He has attempted Everest four times, successfully topping out once, and also has experience on Broad Peak, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma. As usual, he'll be climbing with the Altitude Junkies and if all goes according to plan, they'll be eyeing a summit bid sometime in early-October. The expedition will also be used to raise funds for the Cure Alzheimer's Fund, which holds a particular significance to Alan who lost his mother to that horrible disease and prompted him to launch his Memories Are Everything campaign.

If you are familiar with Alan's blog you know that he covers the mountaineering scene very well and writes from a place of experience. His posts are always interesting and extremely well done and that includes when he sends dispatches back from his own climbs. That means that later this year we should get a very good narrative about what it is like to climb on Manaslu. I have no doubt that he'll keep us well informed about every step of the journey and make us feel like we're on the mountain with him. I know that I am already looking forward to following the climb in the weeks ahead.

Good luck Alan! Climb safely!

If you read my blog or social media outlets with any regularity, you probably know that I'm a fairly active person. I like to run, love to ride my bike and just about any excuse to go outside is fine by me. Personally, I enjoy the benefits of healthy living for its own sake, but I also know that staying fit pays off when I travel to some far flung location to go hiking, climbing or some other great activity. I consider my almost daily workouts to be paying it forward on rewards that are yet to come.

We all know that staying in shape is actually easier than getting back into shape, particularly if you've let your workouts lapse for any length of time. That is exactly the subject of a new series of blog posts that my friend Angela Chenus is writing on her website. She recently returned from a vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park, which was active but also got her off a routine of healthy eating and regular exercise. Now that she's back home however, she is ready to get focused on getting back into shape and with that goal in mind, she has laid out a plan to get there. She calls that plan Mama Fitness.

As the name implies, these blog posts are mostly written from the perspective of a mom who wants to improve her physical condition after having a baby, but there are good tips for anyone who has been thinking about starting to get back into shape. I love the no nonsense approach Angela takes to starting her routine, which is basically don't make excuses and find some time to exercise where ever you can. One of the most common excuses I hear is "I don't have the time to workout," although in my mind it is a matter of making it a priority and finding the time.

The other key to success is staying focused and dedicated to your workout schedule, even when you're not really feeling like it. Newsflash! None of us ever feel like it, there are always other things to do that are more fun and enjoyable. But to see significant gains and improvements, you have to stay dedicated. There are days when the hardest part of my run is just getting out the door. But once I get underway, I feel better and when it is over, I feel great.

Anyway, if you're looking for helpful tips to get yourself motivated and back on track, be sure to read Angie's blog and the plan that she is putting into place. She has even shared some nutritional tips and recipes that might prove helpful as well.

Explorer Mikael Strandberg has ridden his bike from Chile to Alaska and from Norway to South Africa. He has explored Patagonia on horseback and trekked across East Africa. His journeys have taken him to remote places in Siberia, across the Arabian and Sahara Deserts and deep into the Empty Quarter in Yemen. To say that he knows a thing or two about selecting the right gear for an expedition would be an understatement, as he certainly puts his equipment to the test in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth.

In a blog post published yesterday, Mikael offers some advice to would-be explorers on the gear they'll need for their own adventures. The post is entitled "25 essential items for the beginning adventurer" and  it serves as a great list of basic equipment that we should all have in our gear closets. And while he doesn't share the specific model of this gear, he does tells us which brand makes the items that he uses. For instance, the number one item on his list is a sleeping bag and the one that Makael takes into the field with him is made by Mountain Hardwear.

Other items include the obvious such as tents, backpacks and boots. But there are a few other items that you might not have thought about when planning your own escape. For example, Mikael reminds us all to bring duct tape because "It can pretty much fix anything!" He also has tools like an axe and saw amongst his essentials and favors a compass over a GPS for a variety of reasons.

I found the post interesting not just because of the gear that Mikael recommends, but also his explanation of why he feels it is important. Some of the stuff may seem extraneous for what you have in mind for your own expeditions, but coming from a guy who has spent a lot of time exploring the world, it is hard to dismiss the suggestions out right. For instance, taking a laptop might sound like a luxury, particularly in terms of extra weight, but it may be your best form of communication back to the world and sending dispatches back from the field is a good way to please any sponsors.

All in all, a good list and definitely a good place to start assembling your own essential gear.

For years Alan Arnette has been our go-to source for information related to Everest. Each spring he provides the most comprehensive updates and reports from the mountain, diligently tracking all of the teams as they make their way up and down (and back up and down) the slopes. Alan also does a great job of providing plenty of preseason coverage as well, providing insights into what it is like to climb the world's tallest mountain and interviewing the personalities that are in the Himalayan community.

Because of all this excellent Everest coverage, not to mention his own extensive personal climbing resume, Outside magazine decided it was time that someone interviewed Alan instead. That interview went online yesterday and it is an excellent read for anyone who has wanted to know more about the man behind AlanArnette.com.

In the article, Alan talks about what got him interested in climbing in the first place, how his site evolved from a page about his personal adventures into something more and why he works hard to raise funds and awareness about Alzheimer's. That is a cause that is particularly near and dear to his heart and has played a big role in his motivations for climbing today.

If you're a regular reader of this blog you know that I link out to Alan's content on a regular basis, in part because I think he does outstanding work and in part because I love his approach to adventure and climbing in general. I've been fortunate enough to connect with Alan on occasion through the Internet and he has always provided great insight, advice and knowledge. Reading this article you'll get a sense of who he is as person and it'll make your visits to his website have a little more meaning as well.

Thanks to Outside for spotlighting Alan. I can't think of anyone who deserves it more.

Adventurer Dave Cornthwaite has faced his share of challenges while pursuing his Expedition 1000 project, in which he is attempting to complete 25 non-motorized journeys of a thousand miles or more. For instance, he once spent 156 days skateboarding across Australia and another 82 days stand-up paddle boarding the length of the Mississippi River. But last summer he undertook his most challenging expedition to date, 1001-mile swim along the Missouri River. During that time, we followed Dave's progress closely, getting regular updates from his support team and cheering him along. But over the course of that 58-day excursion we rarely heard from the man himself, so we never really got a sense of just how difficult the swim was. That is, until now.

Dave has posted a debrief of his Missouri swim and it puts the reality of his undertaking into grim perspective. In the article, he talks about the physical toll that this journey took on his body, getting to the point in the final days where he couldn't keep food down, despite the fact that he was burning 6000 calories per day. Swimming from sunrise to sunset, day in and day out, sapped his strength and spirit, pushing him to the very edge of his limits. It is a very personal account of a person who is completely at the end of their rope, but refuses to give up on his dream.

Reading Dave's account of those final few miles to the finish line are not easy. He clearly had pushed himself further than even he thought possible and yet as he neared the end at last, it still wasn't nearly enough. Of course, we know that he did manage to complete the swim, but Dave describes the days that followed as "darker than any other post-expedition experience I care to remember." No doubt, that was the result of complete physical and mental exhaustion he felt at its completion.

Now that some time has passed, Dave's attention has turned to the next phase of Expedition 1000 – a 3000-mile (4828 km) journey around Europe on ElliptiGO bicycles. While this is a completely different kind of mode of travel, I'm sure he'll take with him some lessons from the Missouri River.

If you want to know just what an ordeal that swim was for him, then his blog post is a must read. It will definitely give you even more respect for what Dave, and other adventurers like him, have accomplished.

Over the past few months we've diligently followed a number of skiers who have traveled hundreds of miles to reach the South Pole. Along the way, we've shared in their triumphs and agonized with their struggles, cheering them on from the comfort of our warm homes. But have you ever wondered what it is like for them when they arrive at their final destination? Ever wondered who it that greets them when they actually reach 90ºS?

If so, then let me introduce you to Jeffrey Donenfeld, a freelance photographer, blogger and adventurer who is currently living at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Jeffrey has been witnessing the arrival of all of the ski expeditions this year and taking some photos of them when they get to the Pole. Last week he posted news of the arrival of Vilborg Arna Gissurardóttir and shared some photos of her wrapping up her expedition, and yesterday he did the same for Aaron Linsdau. The photo accompanying this post was taken of Aaron by Jeffrey when he stood at 90ºS.

Our intrepid South Pole blogger repors that Aaron was indeed picked up by a Twin Otter aircraft today and is en route back to the Union Glacier camp. He'll likely be there for a day or two before hopping an ALE flight back to Punta Arenas and then home to the States. According to Jeffrey, Aaron was in good spirits, physically in good shape and happy to be wrapping things up at last. The next flight back to Punta is scheduled for Sunday, January 27.

Similarly, Vilborg has caught her flight off the frozen continent and is now back in Chile. She is enjoying being back in civilization and all the luxuries that provides, including warm showers, clean sheets and plenty of good food. It sounds like she is enjoying some time in Punta Arenas before she heads home, but her spirits are good even though there is a sadness about the end of the expedition.
Finally, Richard Parks remains the one lone skier still out on the ice. He received his food drop today directly from the ALE staff, which removes his solo and unsupported tags from the expedition. But at this point, Richard doesn't seem to mind at all as he enjoys fresh potato ships and a can of coke in his tent.

The arrival of these supplies has reinvigorated the Brit who is now focused on covering the final 220 km (136 miles) in just six days. That means he's going to have to cover more than 36 km (22 miles) per day in order to make it on time. Thats a pretty tall order, but if the weather and ground conditions cooperate, he is capable of those kinds of distances. It won't be easy however, as there is still a long way to go.

I'll keep you posted on his progress and good luck to Richard in getting to the Pole on time!