The tour will attempt to replicate the maiden voyage of the “unsinkable ship” by holding a service at the location where it sank, making a stopover where survivors were sent and ending up in New York City, where the Titanic was supposed to dock.

The cruise, which will take place in 2012, 100 years after the sinking of the original Titanic, is supposedly filling up quickly so you’d better reserve your spot now if this sounds like a good time to you…

The ship will sail across the Atlantic, arriving at the Titanic site on April 14th/15th exactly 100 years on from this tragic voyage, where a memorial service will be held to pay tribute to the brave passengers and crew who perished on that fateful night. The voyage will then continue to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the final resting place of many who were on board, before sailing on to New York, the Titanic’s ultimate planned destination.

Hmmm… I think I’ll pass. But if you’d like to go, visit the website and book your reservation for this “historic” cruise. Prices range from 2,690 to 5,990 Euros for any remaining cabins. The ship is associated with the same company that constructed the Titanic, which according to promoters, is a good thing. According to me, not such a good thing.

What do you think? Would you want to reenact the Titanic’s voyage?

Sponsored by HP, Summit on the Summit is taking donations and selling gear to help bring clean water to the areas that need it most. They’re also making some strange/funny “training” videos to get people excited. Check the first episode out below and visit the very cool Summit on the Summit website for more information and to support a life-and-death cause.

The caves, which reside in cliffs 700 feet above the ocean, were thought to be inaccessible due to the height and instability of the rock.

Leave it to National Geographic explorers to find a way to go where archaeologists can’t. Last summer, NG brought in a couple of serious mountaineers, seven-time Everest summiter Pete Athans and climber Renan Ozturk, to explore the caves and search for the ancient manuscripts.

“It was the first time in my career that I got to use climbing techniques for something other than mountaineering,” Athans says.

Athans and Ozturk eventually found the manuscripts in question – over 8,000 15th century folios tucked away in a large dome shaped cavern – but it wasn’t easy. A mere 328 feet took them 14 hours to complete at one point during the expedition. And they were constantly contending with unstable rock and crumbling walls.

“We took some serious risks,” says Ozturk, who at one point used his body as an anchor while hoisting others into the caves. “I don’t think anyone other than our team is going to be cruising into these caves again anytime soon.

Now that the manuscripts have been recovered, thanks to the efforts of these extraordinary climbers, the caves will be preserved.

Read the full story on the National Geographic Adventure Blog and shop Sierra Trading Post for all your climbing gear needs at 35-70% off!

You have two worthy choices: former professional kayaker Trip Jennings or adventurer Ben Horton. Jennings wants to go to the Republic of Congo to help stop illegal elephant poaching. Horton wants to help protect sharks off the coast of Costa Rica by designating a marine conservation area.

Not to play favorites, because these are both meaningful expeditions, but I have a soft spot in my heart for elephants and think what is happening to them in Africa is horrifying. So, while I also love the ocean and want nothing more than to see it protected, Trip Jennings has my vote. (He actually has the majority of the vote right now with 68%.)

If you want to see Horton get the funding for his marine project, you better visit National Geographic’s Expedition Granted website and cast your vote now! Are you on Team Elephant or Team Shark?

Via Adventure Blog

Galactic Suites Space Resort, the universe’s first orbiting space hotel (as far as we know), is set to open in 3 years after receiving a significant $3 billion investment from an anonymous source (who must really be into space travel). The hotel will initially consist of one pod only that will fit four visitors and two pilots within its velcro-lined walls.

If a stellar view of the best planet in the solar system (ours) isn’t enough to get you excited about Galactic Suites, imagine seeing 15 sunrises a day. Because the hotel will be traveling 30,000 kilometers an hour and orbiting the Earth every 80 minutes, the sun will keep coming up… and up… and up. It will rise and set every 45 minutes for your viewing pleasure.

So what will a vacation like this cost you? Oh, only $4.4 million, but that includes an 8-day “spa-like” space training package on an island in the South Pacific and “complimentary” transportation to and from the hotel. Not a bad deal (if you’re a multi-millionaire).

There are already 43 confirmed reservations in place and 200 additional seriously interested parties. So if you think being a space tourist would be out of this world, you better hurry and secure your spot. 2012 is fast approaching (especially in light years).

p.s. Because you’ll be spending so much money on the trip itself, save 35-70% at Sierra Trading Post on all your galactic travel and luggage needs.

We’re sending them Sierra Trading Post gear and they’re sending us great stories and photographs from their adventure. They just sent me their latest dispatch from Pakistan…

We spent six weeks riding through Pakistan, from its cultural and historical capital, Lahore, to the modern capital of Islamabad, and then further north into the Northwest Frontier Province and the Northern Areas. Some of the place names might evoke alarm because of their proximity to ongoing militant problems in Pakistan, but we were careful to stick to areas that are safe and actually far removed from the violence elsewhere.

In fact, traveling in Pakistan at this time was one of the most eye-opening experiences of our trip, because it gave us an opportunity to dig behind the headlines and talk to locals about their feelings on the militant Islamic movement that many called a “virus” infecting their country.

Aside from current events, the mountains of northern Pakistan caused our jaws to drop at practically every turn in the road, with soaring mountain peaks lining the horizon and beautiful valleys laid out below. We rode along the main artery of the area, the Karakorum Highway, which runs from Islamabad through the Himalaya into western China. It was a stretch of road we had looked forward to exploring for many years.

We entered Pakistan near Lahore, a vibrant city with booming bazaars and bustling nightlife. While in Lahore, we stayed with old family friends, a local Pakistani family that adopted us as their own and treated us to typical Pakistani hospitality – all of our needs and wants were taken care of in grand style, a real guest of honor experience.

We reluctantly left their home to head north on our bikes, passing through Islamabad on the way to pick up visas we would need for onward travel. That task accomplished, we were free to leave behind the sweltering Pakistani lowlands and rise into the mountains of the north.

We rode through the Kagan Valley, growing accustomed to mountain roads which experience frequent landslides and rivers that take over the road. We crossed numerous rivers and streams, none with bridges so we grew used to riding with wet feet. Fortunately, the weather was warm and we never got too cold.

The valley was densely populated, and the people so warm and friendly that we always felt well looked after. Even the truck drivers that shared our road with us made sure we had food and water, and always offered a friendly wave when we rode past.

We took a couple of side trips from the Karakorum Highway to explore the high mountain areas. One time we left our baggage behind at a hotel in order to do a multi-day mountain bike ride up to Nanga Parbat base camp. The road and hike up to base camp rose 8000 feet from the valley below, up to a height of about 12,000 feet. Incredibly, the mountain towered over us another 14,000 feet, at a height of 26,656 feet! It was awesome to experience such vast scales of mountain and valley while visiting Nanga Parbat base camp.

Back on the Karakorum Highway, we continued north into the Hunza region of northern Pakistan, culturally and historically distinct from the rest of the country. Having lived in isolation for centuries, the cultures of the Hunza valley have evolved sophisticated irrigation methods that deliver glacier runoff to their abundant orchards and fields.

Hunza is legendary for the peoples’ longevity, with an unusually high percentage of the population living to 100 and beyond. Much is made of their diet, which relies heavily on the apricot and apricot seed oil, and their lifestyle, which involves hiking up steep valley walls to work their fields. True to legend, we met many a spry elderly person and of course ate loads of fruit and nuts, picked fresh out of the orchards and given to us by locals we passed.

As we headed north toward the Chinese border, the peaks became more jagged and ever more staggering in height, and were covered more and more frequently with snow reaching down almost to our elevation. We managed to enjoy warm weather most of our way through Pakistan, only once experiencing rain while riding.

We eventually reached the northern border town of Sost and from there entered the far western province of Xinjiang in China. Our time in Pakistan was full of phenomenal natural beauty and stunning mountainscapes, complimented by the boundless generosity of Pakistanis and an opportunity to share and learn from them about events so critical to today’s world politics. We loved every minute of the riding and the opportunity to learn so much at the same time.

Watson set sail in a 33-foot yacht called Ella’s Pink Lady, from Sydney, Australia on October 18th with tentative plans to sail around the world in 10 months. From Sydney she will head toward New Zealand past Fiji and Samoa, and then south to Cape Horn. After that, she’ll round Africa’s Cape of Good Hope in the southern Atlantic Ocean and then back across the Southern Ocean towards home.

Watson has been updating her blog regularly and it’s a pretty interesting read. She details her daily activities; eating, deck work, sailing, finding dead squid all over the deck; and talks a bit about the weather and her route.

Watson’s solo sail around the world attempt comes on the heels of two 17-year-old boys – Zac Sunderland and Mike Perham – who made the same trip last year. If Watson is successful, she’ll steal the record for youngest person to solo sail the world from the Perham (who stole it from Sunderland).

Via The Adventure Blog

17-year-old George Steele, of Denver, just finished municycling 14 Colorado Fourteeners. He began before 4am each morning, carried his 20-pound municycle up each peak and then rode the trail down after getting in at least three wheel revolutions on the summit (which apparently is no easy task).

Mountain unicycling is exactly what it sounds like, unicycling in the mountains. Municycles have fatter tires but have one fixed gear and neither brakes or suspension, adding to the difficulty of the sport.

“It was probably the most athletically challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said after completing the mission Sunday on Pikes Peak. “The main goal was just to prove it can be done. So many people haven’t even heard of mountain unicycling, or if they have, they think it’s just on dirt paths around the city. It doesn’t make sense to a lot of people, so by doing it you’re sort of proving to the world that it can be done and it is being done.”

George’s father, Andy Steele, rode almost every Fourteener with him. Last week’s final push – Mt. Elbert, Pikes Peak and Mt. Antero – didn’t come easy for either of them. “I am beat up and beat down,” Andy said after his five-hour ride on Pikes Peak. “The mountain beat me. I had to walk the last half mile.”

George plans to pursue his love of municycling above and beyond Colorado. “I’d like to do Mount Whitney in California (the tallest peak in the Lower 48), for sure. Later on I’m hoping to top 14,000 feet and start getting into maybe the Andes or the Himalayas, somewhere I can push it even higher and do more technical stuff.”

Municyclists claim their sport is actually safer than mountain biking and provides a more intense workout. What do you think? Is one wheel safer (and more fun) than two?

For the past 30 years, West Virginia has been home to the nation’s largest BASE (Bridge, Antenna, Span and Earth) jumping extravaganza, the New River Gorge Bridge Day. Bridge Day attracts BASE jumpers from all over the country who gather on the New River Gorge Bridge every year in the fall to jump off of it.

One of the oldest river gorges on the planet, New River Gorge is around 345 million years old and 700 – 1300 feet deep, lined with steep cliffs, rocky outcrops and boulders. The river itself is excellent for rafting and kayaking and boasts plenty of whitewater rapids. The bridge is 876 feet tall – perfect for BASE jumping.

All BASE jumpers are registered with the official Bridge Day team and can make as many jumps as they’re able to from 9am – 3pm that day. Last year, 800 BASE jumpers jumped off the bridge on Bridge Day and more than 80,000 spectators stood witness.

Check out this iReport video of the 2009 New River Gorge Bridge Day…

Have you ever been to this event? Are you a BASE jumper? We’d love to hear your story!

We’re sending them Sierra Trading Post gear and they’re sending us great stories and photographs from their adventure. They just sent me their latest dispatch from northern India…

Bicycling Through Northern India

Bicycling through northern India took us through a Himalayan maze of valleys, linked only to each other and the outside world by some of the globe’s most challenging mountain passes.

It is an area rich in culture. We passed through Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim valleys each one incredibly different from the one before. The local populations are traditionally traders, fit to climb the outrageously high mountains to trade goods from the Tibetan plateau to the Indian subcontinent. With constant cultural and mountain scenes to keep us gawking, it was a fantastic area to bicycle through.

We rode the Hindustan-Tibetan highway from lowland India into the Himalaya. The road is a triumph of engineering, built in the 1960s and literally blasted into cliff walls. Riding along this road was an adventure in itself.

After crossing our first pass, we entered a Tibetan Buddhist region known as the Spiti valley. The people in this isolated valley have long traded with the Tibetan kingdoms to the north, and while Tibetans north of the Chinese-Indian border have suffered political turmoil over the last century, the culture of the Spiti valley is vibrant and thriving.

We visited many Buddhist monasteries in the Spiti valley, the oldest from the 900’s. We spent a week riding the highway through the Spiti valley, staying in a variety of villages and marveling at the dry, stark mountains that wall in the valley.

Then we crossed a pass that plunged us into completely different surroundings. The terrain on the other side of the pass was green and lush, since the monsoon rains could cross the mountains to the south, which actually formed a block to the rains reaching the Spiti valley. We rode through this green terrain on the road that would take us over four passes, all over 16,000 feet, and that formed the gateway to the legendary kingdom of Ladakh.

Ladakh, like Spiti, is predominantly Buddhist, but has historically been a more prosperous area of northern India. The Ladakhi kings often fought wars with their Tibetan neighbors for control of trade routes. Ladakh is an extremely difficult place to reach even in the summer, but the high mountain passes give way to relatively low elevation in the valley floor that makes for temperate livelihoods.

Ladakhi culture developed in isolation from much of the world, but with fertile land, warm weather and plenty of resources to allow a rich and diverse culture to evolve. The architecture is distinct, and the people warm and friendly. It was a treat to ride through such a remarkable place.

From Ladakh, we headed west towards Kashmir, and after crossing our first pass, were surrounded by Muslim villages. The terrain is even more fertile than in Ladakh and Kashmir produces great quantities of food. It is also a popular vacation spot for Indians and foreigners alike, and the capital, Srinagar, boasts one of the most luxurious treats of our trip north – numerous lakes, all ringed round by houseboats.

The houseboat culture of Srinagar began with the British. Kashmiri law forbade foreigners from owning land in Kashmir, so the Brits vacationing from their colonial strongholds further south in India simply bought houseboats. Lounging on a houseboat in Srinagar has evolved into a popular pastime for tourists. After six weeks of riding through the challenging, Himalayan terrain of northern India, we were ready to relax in the peaceful surroundings of the placid lake on a houseboat before riding into Pakistan.