Archive for May 25th, 2008

Well what a weekend for us here in the south of France – Lewis Hamilton won the Monaco Grand Prix and a little further down the coast in the St. Tropez region we have been invaded by an army of Harley Davidson’s – about 15,000 apparently!

This is the annual knees-up in this region. Every May they come here from the four corners of the world and hang out. You can’t move on the road without being surrounded by 20 or 30 of them. And they come in all shapes and sizes – the bikes and the riders!

They don’t have any videos out yet so this is an old one, but it gives you an idea of what our roads are like right now – no exaggeration!

These bikes and bikers come in from around the world.

Back to Lewis. Well, what a lad hmmm? He comes from nowhere last year and just dazzles everyone.

MONTE CARLO, Monaco – and his McLaren won the Monaco Grand Prix.

The British driver also took the overall lead in the F1 title race after his victory at the famous street circuit Sunday.

Hamilton finished 3 seconds ahead of BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica in difficult wet conditions. Felipe Massa of Ferrari was third, followed by Mark Webber of Red Bull.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari finished ninth.

An extreme adventure for two extremely intrepid Australian adventurers.

Cheryl and Nikki Bart reached the summit of Mount Everest on Saturday after encountering several obstacles along the way including having their communications gear temporarily confiscated amid the tight security of the ascent of the Beijing Olympic torch.

They are the first mother-daughter team to climb the world’s tallest mountain thereby creating their own little slice of history. Cheryl and her 23-year-old daughter Nikki reached the peak at 9.05am (AEST) yesterday (24th May) after setting out on April 1.

The pair – dubbed Oz Chicks with Altitude on their official website – have endured bitter cold and several delays on their 8,850 metre Himalayan ascent. Their website is well worth a visit.

They are the first mother/daughter team to complete the Seven Summits! While this is an historic event, the adventure is not over, as the descent is very dangerous. It would take them several hours to reach the safety and warmth of Camp 4, where they would rest, before continuing.

As Nikki said: “Climbing the seven summits has taken me to all of the continents, and has allowed me to see cultures and countries that I would never have had the oppurtunity to experience”.

And Cheryl added, “The best part is sharing such intense and magnificent experiences with someone I love , my daughter Nikki”.

The seven summits, incase you don’t already know, are:

Vinson Massif

Vinson Massif is the highest mountain of Antarctica, located about 1,200 km (750 mi) from the South Pole.

Elbrus

Located in the Western Caucasus mountains in Russia near the border of Georgia Elbrus has two summits.

Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Africa was first summited in 1889 by Hans Meyer, Ludwig Purtscheller, Yohanas Kinyala Lauwo.

Kosciuszko

Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain in Australia is located in the Snowy Mountains, in New South Wales. It is 390km southwest of Sydney and close the the Victorian border.

McKinley (Denali)

The first ascent of McKinley (Denali) was on 7 June 1913 by a team of four from the USA; Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper and Robert Tatum. Denali is Indian for “The Great One”

Aconcagua

Aconcagua is located in the Andes of western Argentina near the Chilean border. It is the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere.

and of course…

EVEREST

Everest is the highest mountain on Earth. The first ascent to the summit of Everest was on 29 May 1953 by Sir Edmund Hilary and his sherpa Tenzig Norgay. They were part of the ninth British attempt to reach the summit and were the second pair to attempt the summit in their party of four. The first pair tried to reach the summit two days before but were forced to turn back due to exhaustion.