BASE NOTES

Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja breaks speed record on the world’s fourteen 8000+ metre mountains In 2013, in a feat which spanned seven years and ten months, Kim Chang-ho from South Korea set the record for climbing all of the world’s 8000+ metre mountains in the shortest time. On October 29th 2019, as Purja reached the summit of Shishapangma (8027m) in Nepal, the clock stopped on his own attempt. He’d beaten the existing record by more than seven years, reaching all 14 summits in just 189 days. In a series of expeditions dubbed ‘Project Possible’, during the same season Purja claimed six more mountaineering records, including the most 8000m peaks in spring, the most in summer, the speed record of the world’s three highest mountains, and the record for the highest five. During his feat, Purja also took part in several dramatic rescues. On 23rd April as he descended Annapurna (8091m), Purja led a successful rescue to find fellow climber Dr Chin Wui Kin, who had been separated from an accompanying expedition and left without food, water or oxygen. On 15th May, having made it to the summit of Kanchenjunga (8586m), Purja and his team rescued another two climbers from 8400m, sacrificing their own supplementary oxygen to the climbers in need.

Russ Mantle rides a million miles In November 2019, 82 year-old Mantle became the first British cyclist to ride 1 million miles: equivalent to travelling to the moon and back twice. But what does a million miles look like in reality? Mantle started cycling seriously back in 1951, recording each mile he rode with a cyclometer and pen and paper before updating to a GPS unit in the mid 90s. He clocked up an average of 14,700 miles a year. ‘The miles have just naturally piled up, because I enjoy cycling so much’ says Mantle. ‘I was doing my biggest mileages a long way past when I was at my peak. So even when I was in my 60s and 70s, I was doing my highest mileages per year.’ Now in his 80s, Mantle has slowed down a little, but he’s still committed to cycling 25 miles every other day.

Jake Burton Carpenter (1954 - 2019) - the Godfather of Snowboarding The development of snowboarding has been fast and electric, from the modest evolution of the 1960s ‘snurfer’ – more a novelty snow toy rather than a functional vehicle – to an anti-establishment antidote for winter sports dominated by

Russ Mantle (82) started cycling in 1951, clocking up an average of 14,700 miles a year to reach the million-mile mark in 2019

elite skiers, and to Olympic status in 1998 and beyond. And we’ve got Jake Burton Carpenter to thank for much of that. Today, Burton is one of the most iconic snowboard brands, but getting there hasn’t been easy. For many years, resorts rejected the snowboard, claiming they were too dangerous. Described by Shaun White, snowboarding’s most decorated athlete, as ‘the cool dad of the sport’, Carpenter lost his battle with testicular cancer aged 65.

Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell climb new free route on El Capitan, Yosemite Two decades ago Leo Houlding was pioneering a new route on El Capitan which he named the Passage to Freedom. G etting stuck halfway, he bolted an Alfa Romeo badge to the wall as a hold to pass a section he believed was otherwise impossible to climb. Now, over 18 years later, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell found their way around the badge and completed the climb.

Mike Horn and Børge Ousland traverse the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole Arguably no other polar explorers have achieved more than Børge Ousland and Mike Horn. Amongst their achievements, they have both completed solo expeditions to both poles, and in 2006 they completed the first journey to the North Pole together in winter, without dogs or motorised transport. In 2019, as part of Mike Horn’s Pole2Pole expedition, the two teamed up once again for a self-supported traverse of the Arctic Ocean. Setting off on 23rd September from Nome, Alaska, they spent 87 days alone on the ice, most of which were in total darkness. Temperatures fluctuated during their journey from -40 º C to +2 º C, meaning conditions on the ice were constantly changing, making the journey particularly challenging. With negative snow drift taking them back where they came from, they were forced to ski three times back into 85 º N, and twice into 86 º N. On 7th December, having consumed all their food rations, they arrived at their pickup before returning to Svalbard.