You've heard me mention the FEAT events on more than one occasion on this blog. Originating in South Africa, FEAT stands for Fascinating Expedition & Adventure Talks during which guest speakers are given seven minutes to share an important aspect of their adventures in a style that is similar to TED Talks. Speakers generally include mountaineers, outdoor endurance athletes, rock climbers, kayakers, explorers and more.

Previous versions of the event have been held in Cape Town and Johannesburg over the past couple of years but now the FEAT format is coming to North America. On March 8, FEAT Canada will take place at the Rio Theater in Vancouver where a number of interesting guests will take to the stage to tell their story. And since that day also happens to be International Woman's Day, there will be a particular emphasis on female adventurers.

Some of the speakers that will be sharing their stories at FEAT Canada include ultramarathoner Ellie Greenwood, adventure racer Jen Segger, mountain biker Aimee Dunn and adventure photographer Robin O'Neill. In all, there will be a total of nine speakers, with each strictly timed to just seven minutes each. That adds up to one full night of adventure that will be hard to beat.

If you're in Vancouver, or will be there next weekend, you'll definitely want to drop by the event. Tickets are available online or at the door the night of the show.

Ever wondered just how mountain rescue operations are conducted? At a recent edition of FEAT (Fascinating Expedition and Adventure Talks) held in Johannesburg, mountain rescue guide and instructor Rob Thomas shared some very insightful and interesting behind the scenes information on how he recruits new volunteers to his team, trains them for work in the field and much more. His profiles of his most frequent "customers" and his answer to who pays for the operations are particularly interesting.

Last Monday I kicked off the week with a video of Davey du Plessis sharing his story of survival in the Amazon at a recent FEAT (Fascinating Expedition and Adventure Talks) event in Johannesburg, South Africa. That same evening, climber Ed February also gave a presentation on the state of modern mountaineering. Ed, who has been climbing for more than 30 years, took a look at the correlation between the rise in the number of climbers on Everest since 1990 with the increase in the number of billionaires on the planet over the same period of time. Surprisingly enough, the growth rate of both are eerily similar, which has led February to believe that there are a growing number of mountaineers who have the money to climb big peaks, but not necessarily the time to do so. Instead of earning experience and skills the old fashioned way, namely through years of hard work, they simply pay someone to guide to them to the top, even on peaks they really have no business being on. This is a complete reversal of how things were done in the past, in which the climbers actually led the Sherpas up the mountain.

It really is a fascinating discussion and one that could spark some good conversation. Ed wraps up the talk with a good message for everyone to consider however, telling us not to worry whether what someone else is doing is "true mountaineering" and just focus on our own approach to climbing.