Posts Tagged ‘extreme challenge’

Having written about the Seven Summits we had to do some digging and came across a group who call themselves Extreme World Challenges – www.extremeworldchallenges.com  and they are quite a cool bunch of guys.

Wanting to rush this off the press because we find their next extreme challenge to be just around the corner – indeed entries for this challenge close at the end of the month.

The challenge is known as the Yak Attack – sounds bizarre – but what is it? Well not surprisingly it is considered one of the toughest challenges you are ever likely to come across.

It takes place in Nepal which is where most people go if they are going to climb Mount Everest or walk in the breathtaking and and very thin atmosphere of the Himalayas. It is the hardest terrain on earth and in this event you will be challenged beyond anything you have ever done before.

It is not the distance – at only 420kms in distance most veteran mountain bikers would complete such a trail in a couple of days. No it is the altitude. Over the course of the 10 day challenge the trail rises in excess of 8,000 metres – yes you read that correctly – metres – in terms of feet that is more than 24,000 feet.

The actual highest point on the trail is a place called Thorong La which gains an altitude of 5,416 meters and as you can see in the photo below it can get a wee bitty chilly up there.

photos courtesy of www.yak-attack.co.uk

The race starts at the beginning of March and should you wish to enter this extreme challenge you must visit the website http://yak-attack.co.uk/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/ because the entries close at the end of December.

This race is not about winning – it is about the challenge and the camaraderie – it will cost you about $1,500 to enter. The Yak Attack as a non profit making event which aims to benefit Nepali athletes and the Annapurna region communities as a whole on a number of levels.

Since its conception in 2005, the guys at Extreme World Challenges have been working hard to devise a series of events that would appeal to a worldwide audience looking for a challenge that could test their physical condition in some of the world’s harshest and most exciting terrains.

For 2011 Extreme Challengs is planning an unsupported 6000km mountain bike crossing of Australia at its widest point, using as many desert trails as possible.

Starting from Byron Bay in Queensland and heading due west, the route will go through some of the most inhospitable deserts on earth, including the Simpson , Gibson and Victoria. It will also encompass a number of Austrlia’s most renown off road tracks including the infamous Gunbarrel Highway .  The approx 6000km traverse will eventually finish at Australia’s most westerly location, Steep Point, close to the tourist attraction of Monkey Mia.

Not doing things by half the challenge also aims to complete the trip without support, which will entail having to carry enough water and food for upto 4 days at a time and will mean having to extract water from wells and bore holes along the route. It is thought the entire journey could take up to 60 days.

Phew – exhausting just writing about it but for you mountain bikers there are plenty of challenges to meet – go get em.

MIf he’s successful, the 31-year-old trial lawyer from Des Moines will be the first American to achieve both feats. Only three others have done it, an accomplishment known as the peak and the pond.

“It’s a challenge that’s been floating around in adventure circles for a while now,” Wittmack said in a telephone interview from England while waiting for seas to calm enough for his attempt.

If the weather cooperates, Wittmack plans to dive into the waters of the English Channel about 10 a.m. Friday at Shakespeare Beach in Dover. He hopes to climb out of the channel on the French coast about 12 hours later. For Wittmack, it’s his latest venture into the world of extreme sports.

On May 22, 2003, he reached the summit of Mt. Everest. He trained seven years for the climb and once there, he found himself in what he said were the worst conditions ever recorded on the mountain.

“I spent three days without food or water and a day without oxygen above 20,000 feet,” Wittmack said.

The conditions in the English Channel should be considerably better, but not without risk.

“We expect the water to be up to 67 degrees this week — at that level hypothermia is still a major concern,” said Wittmack.

Wittmack, who swam for Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, began training for the channel swim about three years ago. For the past six months, he’s been training four hours a day, most of it swimming. He has been swimming every other weekend in either Lake Michigan or Lake Superior, and he’s competed in a 12{-mile race in Key West, Fla.

He said his experience on Everest inspired him to attempt the channel crossing.

“I realized after that that my body was predisposed for climbing at higher elevations,” he said. “After Everest I wanted to try something that would be as great a challenge and I decided on the English Channel.”

Michael Reed, president of the Channel Swimming Association, confirmed Wittmack would be the first American to accomplish both feats. The other swimmers were from Britain, Greece and Mexico.

Wittmack said plenty of people in adventure circles consider the dual challenge, but few have attempted both.

“The reason it’s difficult is because of the body’s physiology,” he said.

Wittmack said climbers, such as himself, tend to be shorter with less body fat and a high weight-to-strength ratio. By comparison, long distance swimmers tend to have higher body fat, which makes them more buoyant, and taller with longer limbs to help propel themselves through the water faster.

Randy Clark, the manager of the exercise science laboratory at the University of Wisconsin Hospital Sports Medicine Center in Madison, Wis., said that while mountain climbers and distance swimmers tend to have different physical characteristics, there is an underlying similarity.

“There is some cross over in physiological and psychological makeup,” he said. “Anybody that is able to climb Mt. Everest or do anything that is highly physically demanding over a long period of time, it takes incredible cardiovascular fitness, and I would say the same about swimming the English Channel.

“You can’t underestimate the need for incredible cardiovascular fitness to pull off either of those events, let alone both,” Clark said.”

Wittmack arrived in England nearly two weeks ago and in his first practice swim in the colder water his legs “seized up.”

Oh, Oh, that doesn’t sound too good……….but less us hope he is better acclimatised when he sets out and to give you an idea of the challenge that Charlie has set himself I have included this YouTube video of Edward Williams’ Channel crossing in August 2006 – great commentary and love the opening line to the video – PAIN IS TEMPORARY – GLORY IS FOREVER.

Good luck Charlie.

Thanks to Michael J. Crumb of the Chicago Tribune.com for the article and to edward5930 for the video.