Western Sahara

sahara-harresia

Originally uploaded by Saharauiak.

Sometimes tourist type shots are not enough…

Egypt

lights reflections…

Originally uploaded by kasmil.

New theme. An image that attracted my attention from Flickr. Will move around the world from country to country. Starting with Egypt.

Seven summits, two poles and two X chromosomes

Cecilie Skog of Norway has become the first woman to conquer the “seven
summits” of the seven continents and the two poles, her team has said,
after she successfully skied to the North Pole.

Defying temperatures that fell as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius, Ms
Skog, 31, and two partners reached the North Pole after a journey of 48
days and 22 hours, expedition spokesman Bjoern Sekkesaeter told AFP.

Ms Skog so became, in just seven years, the only woman in the world to
reach both the North and South poles and the highest peaks of the seven
continents: Mount Everest (Asia), Aconcagua (South America), Mount
McKinley (North America), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Elbrus (Europe), Vinson
(Antarctica) and Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania).

“Her life will not become boring… She still has all kinds of projects
up her sleeve even though they may not all involve breaking records,”
Mr Sekkesaeter said.

Ms Skog and her partners left Canada on March 6 and reached the North
Pole unassisted, each pulling a sled weighing 120 kilograms, more than
twice Ms Skog’s own weight.

The expedition began inauspiciously with a tent fire on the first day,
though it was rapidly extinguished, and several falls into icy water,
Mr Sekkesaeter said.

Norwegian woman conquers seven summits, two poles. 26/04/2006. ABC News Online

Arse about the Southern Ocean

Aviva Challenge – Follow Dee – Dee’s diary

Dawn arrived with no impact of colour apart from the standard Southern Ocean grey, but the wind had eased and we were able to shake the reefs out of the mainsail for the first time in a number of days. I also started my jobs list. The first job was to make a 2-inch hole in the bottom of the boat, no mean feat I can tell you and yes I was very nervous. I had checked with the shore support team to make sure I could reduce my chances of sinking. The speed transducer had stopped working; it had been intermittent for a while but had now given up completely. I needed to pull it from the bottom of the boat to inspect it. After I had checked the method and confirmed which transducer I needed to pull, as it sits next to the depth transducer in the hull, I set to work. There is something quite surreal about pulling something from the hull that when absent leaves a hole. I had been assured that a valve would close the hole and water would enter the hull slowly at a trickle, if I got it wrong I would have a two-inch hole and the water would enter pretty fast and fill the watertight compartment in about four hours. A relaxing thought to keep me company. I was confident and didn’t wear my mask and snorkel however I did have some butterflies in my stomach. All was well and I found the transducer had a friend attached to it. I wasn’t sure if it was animal, vegetable or mineral and not being one for little nasties, I extracted whatever it was from the paddle wheel using a screwdriver, once clear I replaced the transducer back through the hull and heh presto the speed suddenly started working again. Another job successfully completed and I wasn’t sinking!

I would have been shitting myself.

A journey well worth watching…

Wishlist: Kilimanjaro

on Kibo

Originally uploaded by eir@si.

Climbing this mountain is on my “things to do that I probably won’t do but I would love to if the opportunity arose before I die” wishlist. It’s the combination of “Visit Africa”, “Climb a mountain”,”Do something physical that pushes your limits”.
If I could do it before climate changes got rid of the snow it would be even better.

Places I’d like to visit #2

Originally uploaded by pijus.

Sagrada Familia de Barcelona

Stuff the food, the wonderful language and the marvellous people.
I want to experience the magnificent whimsy of Gaudi.

2026 is the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death. I think that would be a very good year to visit Spain.