Slackliners Lukas Irmler and Antonia Ruede-Passul have pulled off the first highline crossing on Trango Tower, one of the most iconic rock spires in Pakistan's Karakoram. On August 17, after acclimatising on Great Trango, the German pair rigged a 21-metre line on Nameless Tower — a job that demanded fixed ropes and two summit pushes. Ruede-Passul's crossing set a new women's altitude record for highlining, beating her own 5,860m mark from Ojos de Salado in Chile, while Irmler walked above 6,000m for the first time in his career.
A harsher story comes from northern Canada. Norwegian Steffen Skjottelvik was attempting to cross the country by foot, dog sled and canoe when a sick dog forced him to stop in the remote Cree community of Peawanuck in 2023. He stayed, fell in love, and became part of the community. After wolves killed a lead dog he scrapped his Hudson Bay sled plan and paddled the coast instead, setting off in 2025 with a malamute and a husky. On August 15 he reached the Hayes River opposite York Factory, his endpoint. His dog made it to shore; Skjottelvik's body was found ten days later downstream.
On screen, Apple TV's Tenzing retells the 1953 first ascent of Everest with Tenzing Norgay at the centre, and it was shot in real mountains rather than studios. Nepal stood in for Norgay's early life in Lower Mustang plus the Darjeeling, Kathmandu and Base Camp scenes, while New Zealand's Southern Alps around Aoraki doubled for Everest's glaciers — the Darwin Icefall playing the notorious Khumbu.
Elsewhere: wildlife photographer Brian Johnston got rare images of a white stag, likely an albino red deer, after a failed first encounter during the rutting season — the exhausted animal was asleep in a field when they returned the next day. Australian firefighter Mel Ismail lost a leg below the knee in a shark attack at Glenfield Beach on September 14, escaping after poking the shark's eye, and says he intends to get back in the water. Filmmaker Sam Dunning is making Canoe Dig It?, a Spinal Tap-style mockumentary about freestyle canoeing, with master paddler Marc Ornstein as his stunt double. Rescuers have given up hope for Kalie McCrystal, the 38-year-old skyrunner last seen near the Matterhorn's 4,478m summit on September 1; she is believed to have fallen on the Italian side with no trace found. And 24-year-old climber Matthew Clark earned the Carnegie Medal for free-soloing a cliff chimney on Vancouver Island to rescue a hang glider pilot dangling 15m above the ground.
Why care? These are the stories that feed a trip list — a Karakoram expedition scene most travellers never see, a film that might inspire a Nepal or New Zealand itinerary, and sobering reminders of how wild the far north and popular surf coastlines can be. For armchair adventurers and route-planners alike, it's a solid weekly briefing.
Via ExplorersWeb
