Sad news… The family of Australian climber Sue Fear have given up hope that she survived a fall into a mountain crevasse on Nepal’s Mount Manaslu and mountain experts have decided not to send out a search party to recover her body.
Its been a terrible week for Australian extreme sports people with news coming in from NineMSN that an Australian BASE jumper has been killed jumping from a 1,100-metre cliff in Norway.
Tragedy has again struck the Australian climbing fraternity with top female climber Sue Fear plummeting to her death in the Himalayas.
The 43-year-old was climbing down Nepal’s 8156 metre Mount Manaslu – the world’s eighth highest peak – when she, along with Nepali Bishnu Gurung, fell into a crevasse.
Australian mountaineer Lincoln Hall, from the NSW Blue Mountains, is exhausted and suffering pneumonia, but has safely reached Mt Everest base camp, a friend says.
The 50-year-old Hall was also suffering from frostbite but was in good spirits.
Susan Bartell (44), Margot Burns (43), Carolyn McLean (42) and Debbie Shiell (36) have completed a 430 km, 1,100 sand-dune walk across the Simpson Desert. Their purpose was to raise funds for breast cancer research. Their 18 day trek finished with their final steps into a Bridsville Hotel to order a cold beer. The women said they were both elated and exhausted!
News Flash: Australian teenager Christopher Harris and his team has had to turn back from their goal of reaching the summit of Mt Everest due to a respiratory problem that Christopher has suffered. The team is now on their way back down to base camp. On medical advice, they will not be trying for another summit attempt.
An article from the Otago Daily Times has Sir Edmund Hillary questioning the actions of climbers who left Englishman David Sharp to die as he lay in Everest’s “death zone” above 8000m a week ago. Sharp, a 34-year-old engineer, later died on the mountain.
Mountain biking in cold weather has always been a challenge. The problem is that you’ll start out cold then warm up and break a sweat, making yourself wet. Then, when you travel downhill, the combination of wet skin and windchill will be quite chilling.
The gears in mountain bikes just keep getting more and more intricate. The bikes of today have as many as 27 gear ratios. A mountain bike will use a combination of three different sized sprockets in front and nine in the back to produce gear ratios.
It can be a bit frustrating as well as time consuming when you buy a mountain bike. Below, you’ll find some tips and things to be aware of before you lay down the cash and buy a mountain bike.
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