Adventure Challenge
This is a series that knows no limits, a high-octane adrenalin show that pits people against the environment and pushes them to the limit of their capabilities. These are individuals who set their own standards of success.
Episode 1: Crashing in the Himalayas
Two friends experience the trip of a lifetime as they attempt the first crossing of the entire Nepalese Himalayan range by paraglider. John Silvester is one of the world's leading paragliders and a former member of the British paragliding team. By contrast, his companion, Alun Hughes has only been in a dual paraglider once before. Silvester aims to travel from the border with India, 500km East along the main Himalayan chain to Pokara. En route they drop from the sky into villages that have never experienced Western visitors before. When they suddenly get caught in sinking avalanches of air, Silvester is left with nothing but adrenaline to use as fuel. Hughes is petrified as they crash land, and their chute collapses.
Episode 2: Escape by Microlight
Brian Milton was the first pilot to microlight around the world. Now he is attempting what many believe is a tougher challenge (larger distances over water become far more hazardous in a microlight). He sets out to fly his little machine across the Atlantic, carrying just 35 hours of fuel. In so doing he is stretching himself to the edge of endurance; he is scared of heights, and knows that if the wind changes he will probably die. It is an echo of Alcock and Brown's first Atlantic flight in 1919. Unlike them, our 60-year old hero is dogged by bureaucracy. But he's not easily put down, and has no hesitation in boldly facing down the authorities. When the Canadians try to stop him, he takes off in secret. Will he make it?
Episode 3: Mutiny on the Mountain
Six men from Europe Russia and America set off for arguably the most hard-to-reach place on earth, with the intention of scaling one of the world's highest unclimbed mountains, Ulugh Muztag (translated from Tibetan, 'The Great Ice Mountain'). It's taken years of negotiations with the Chinese authorities to be allowed into the region. But as they set out across the Taklimakan Desert, and head up to the Tibetan plateau, the challenge is not simply to defeat the mountain: The adventure takes its toll on all of them, and becomes the ultimate test of human nature. Can their leader hold the team together, or will it all end in tears? This is quite definitely the modern-day version of 'Mutiny on the Bounty'
Episode 4: Hostages in the Desert
Few outsiders have ever gone in, and even fewer have returned. The last time Ethiopia's Danakil desert was crossed was over seventy years ago by British explorer Wilfred Thesiger. The dangers are extreme; anvil hot temperatures, acute water shortages, not to mention the tribes people of the area - the AK47 wielding Afar warriors. The Afar customs are enough to put anyone off a desert crossing. In order to marry an Afar has to have killed someone and cut off their testicles, which are then worn as ornaments around the neck. Yet despite this three British men have decided to follow in Thesiger's footsteps. After only a few days one of their team falls sick with heat exhaustion. Then they must somehow cross the crocodile infested Awash River with camels that have never swum before. And of course it's not long before they encounter the Afar. As might have been expected their passage is a precarious one, which sees them being taken hostage. Will they manage to escape, and do they make it to Djibouti's Red Sea coast?
Episode 5: Up Against an Avalanche
Conquering the Great Trango Tower in Pakistan has been a lifelong dream of rock climber Steve Long. With three other Welsh colleagues, Long attempts to climb a new route of the Tower - the dramatic North East Pillar. Getting to base camp involves a stomach churning ride along the narrow unstable road of the Braldu Gorge, and a trek up the mighty Baltoro glacier. Long hadn't reckoned on being homesick quite so much, nor on the increasingly bad weather, which forces him and his team to take cover in their 'portaledges' perched high on the rock face for an entire week. That is nothing though compared to a monstrous avalanche and rock fall that suddenly strikes like an earthquake, burying friend and team mate Twid under thousands of tonnes of snow. After almost a minute there is still no sign of Twid, and there is no way, Steve believes, that he could have survived.
Episode 6: Trapped In The Land Of Fire and Ice
In the secluded windswept land of Iceland lies Europe's biggest glacier: the Vatnajokull. In 1875, an Englishman by the name of James Watts and his Icelandic guide, Paul Paulisson were the first to cross this harsh and frozen land. One hundred and twenty five years later, Paulisson's great, great grandson, Ingvar Thorisson leads a multi national team of adventurers including a Tibetan on a 120km unsupported ski traverse from North to South of this glacier with the aim of exploring its unusual volcanic and geothermic activity en route. Braving temperatures of -25f and winds of over 100mph, the team follows in the footsteps of the original expedition. Raging blizzards force them into a hut for five days whilst temperatures plummet. Soon after they enter into a strange ice world, and are bedazzled by what they see. But that's nothing compared to their descent into an ice cave around active volcanoes - what they see there, is the stuff of fairy tales. The final push to Mount Thumall exposes them to severe wind and spindrift, as Ingvar battles his fear of heights
Episode 7: Dog Tired and Alone
The world's most northerly dogsled race is a challenge normally only undertaken by Scandinavians. It is a tough partnership of man and animals, requiring huge levels of stamina from both. For the first time a Briton enters. Immediately he becomes a laughing stock amongst the other entrants, and some old hands try to stop him from taking part. Faced with hundreds of miles of sledding through extreme conditions, day and night, Jason soon realises he's bitten off more than he can chew. The only way he can possibly hope to compensate for his relative inexperience is to run most of the way, thus taking some of the pressure off his dogs. How can he hope to complete the gruelling journey with his pride and his team intact?
Episode 8: Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Three friends explore hidden passages that have never before been trodden by man - in fact no-one even knew they were there until now. Lou Maurice and her friends are only 150 metres beneath normal life on the surface, but they're in one of the last true wildernesses, searching for cave passages in a hollow Welsh hillside. To find this virgin land, Lou must contort her body through tiny gaps, hoping that the cave will open out again, so she'll be able to crawl back to safety. She'll have to find a way through walls of fallen boulders, hoping she doesn't dislodge a rock that supports the roof above her. Lou and her friends know that if anything goes wrong there is no helicopter rescue service. It would take them days to crawl back to the only cave entrance. Ultimately though, their hard work pays off and they find an amazing chamber far more beautiful than any of them dared to hope for. The huge stalactites and beautiful aragonite formations are of world-class importance.
Episode 9: Blinded on A Mountain
Joe Medina, a bed storeowner from New York State carries an urn of debris from the WTC up Mt Aconcagua in Argentina as a memorial to those who died. Snow blindness means he has to abort the trip, and be evacuated by helicopter. A fellow New Yorker carries the urn high up the mountain, but severe weather means she has to turn back. Before she does she buries the urn and takes a photo so that Joe can find it later. On his emotional return trip, Joe searches in vain to re-locate the urn, but bad weather defeats him and forces him to turn back once again from the summit.
Episode 10: In Search of Mountains and Molehills
When Rod Baber decides to try and enter the Guinness Book of Records by reaching the highest point of every one of Europe's 47 Sovereign States, he thought the main difficulty would be the climbing. But as he crosses the whole of Europe, much of it still in the grip of war and conflict, the main challenge becomes to blag his way through the continent. And as he tries to find high spots in unlikely places like the Vatican, Belgium and Luxembourg, the other main challenge is keeping his cool and preventing his small support team from fragmenting under its own internal conflict.
Episode 11: Saved by the Raptors
Falconry is an ancient art, with historical links to Royalty that has its origins in Nepal. But few people there in recent times have been aware of the practice. Now, a Falconry school is being set up, with some surprising offshoots. The multi-national team behind the school are also keen paragliders - another skill they are teaching the local people. Having rescued several raptors (mainly kites) during their work at the school, the birds now accompany them as they soar above the mountains on their paragliders; they call it 'parahawking'. The kites help the human flyers find the best thermals and gain unprecedented altitudes.
Episode 12: Inside A Ping Pong Ball
In a world Antarctica first, a team of Chileans explore and trek four hundred kilometres through the eastern side of The Ellsworth Mountains. The western side of the range was first explored by an NGS sponsored expedition in 1966 and since then there have been yearly visits to climb Mount Vinson. However a complete traverse of the almost unknown eastern side had never been achieved.
Episode 13: Is It a Boat? Is It a Plane?
Flying across Europe is difficult at the best of times but imagine how much more challenging this is when you can only land and take off from water. That is the challenge facing Swedish adventurer Johan Nilson as he embarks on a journey of around 5,500km from his homeland to Morocco in a state of the art flying inflatable boat. And it's not the first time Johan has done this same journey - the first time he did it by bicycle, and the second a few years later, by kayak! But undertaking it by Flying Boat is Johan's most ambitious and audacious attempt. Finding water is the least of Johan's worries, he also has to contend with aviation protocol and a flying boat that often refuses to take off. Can the Scandinavian adventurer overcome the odds and fulfil his dream?
Episode 14: Swimming the Amazon
South African Mike Horn is a man with a passion for rivers and for adventure. And there is no river mightier than the Amazon and possibly no adventure greater than swimming it's 6400km length with only a hydrospeed, the crashing waves and broiling rapids for company. But this is precisely what Mike Horn sets out to do. The Amazon is not a place for the fainthearted - all manner of dangerous creatures reside there including piranha fish and the much-feared anaconda. Just the river itself can be extremely punishing with class 6 rapids in the early Peruvian stages. But Mike Horn intends to spend six months in the water as he undertakes to make history and be the first man to travel over the entire South American continent, solo and unassisted, from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
Episode 15: Secrets of the Snow God
Sepu Kangri in Tibet is a relative blank on the map to Westerners - having only been opened for climbing at the tail end of the twentieth century. The legendary British climber Sir Chris Bonington made two unsuccessful attempts to summit this 6956-metre peak in the late 1990s. Now, at the start of a new millennium can six American climbers and one Swede do what Bonington couldn't and be the first to reach the top of the Great White Snow God? Braving atrocious weather, illness and their own personal limits, expedition leader Mark Newcomb leads the team, which includes his wife Carina, on a trip that hopes to make mountaineering history.
Episode 16: Adrift in the Indian Ocean
Two Brits attempt to row into the Guinness Book Of Records by becoming the oldest and the youngest to row across the world's third largest stretch of water - the Indian Ocean. On the way the have battle through monsoon storms, avoid deadly sharks, and the odd ocean liner or two.Then 1,500 miles from land disaster strikes: a freak wave thunders down on Mike, knocking him out. His partner Rob radios for help, but it'll be several days before the Australian navy can come to their aid.
Episode 17: One Risk Too Many
Two women, one Israeli, one Brit, are joined by a Russian who has never sea kayaked before in an attempt on one of the most hazardous sea kayak crossings in the world. Their route takes them on a 300-mile stretch around Kamchatca, where the hazards they face include attack from animals, humans and of course hazardous seas. It's a steep learning curve for the Russian Alexey who spends more time in the water than out of it. Disaster is narrowly averted when a whale slumbers past the intrepid three, but when Russian tanks arrive from a nearby military base ferrying soldiers brandishing guns it's all they can do to keep their nerves under control.
Episode 18: The Hardest Way to the Pole
Pen Hadow attempts the world's first solo walk to the Geographic North Pole, with no support or re-supply of any kind, via the most dangerous route (starting in Canada). No one has ever achieved this before, and the feat is acknowledged to be more difficult than climbing Everest or going to the South Pole. On the epic trek Penn talks about his physical, emotional and psychological changes, and how he manages to stop himself going mad or plunging into despair. To keep himself company he invents a team including Molly the snow brush, Swerves and Curves the ski poles and Baskers the sledge. The morning briefing with the team is de rigeur and all members are duly consulted about the days' journey ahead. Disaster strikes when Pen falls into an ice hole and loses one of his skis - meaning he must now walk the rest of the way to the Pole.
Episode 19: Escape From Civilisation
Gilles Elkaim is attempting to make polar history by traversing the whole of the Continental Arctic via the Eurasian coastline, linking the North Cape to the Bering Strait. Unlike others before him such as the legendary Amundsen and Bering, Gilles will not be attempting this audacious journey by sea. Instead, he wants to make the journey using only non motorised methods of transport which means that the Frenchman will be travelling 12,000km on foot, by kayak, by dog and reindeer sled and on skis. This is a journey not for the fainthearted. The four year long odyssey will take Gilles far away from the comforts of his Parisian life to the very ends of the earth. Battling loneliness and the vagaries of the weather, can he overcome his own limits and earn himself a place in the history books?
Episode 20: The Last Arctic Mystery
Shifting pack ice, braving harsh winds and heavy seas are all part of a day's work for American Lonnie Dupre and Australian John Hoelscher as they attempt the first circumnavigation of Greenland - all 6,517 torturous miles of it. Using only traditional methods -a dog sled in winter and a kayak in summer - these two polar pioneers are on an adventure which will consume their lives for five long years and which will test the limits of their endurance and their friendship.
Episode 21: Searching for a Miracle
Two young men are brought together in a dangerous journey from Calcutta to London on antique motorbikes. The two consist of a Briton and an Indian who has not left Calcutta since he was a child. Riding fifty year old Enfield motorcycles, their plan is to cross northern India, Nepal, China / Tibet, and then through various former Soviet states before reaching Russia and Europe. When the SARS virus breaks out in China they have to take alternative measures and decide to fly to Kazakhstan instead. That's when things start to get tricky.
Episode 22: Surfing the Northern Frontier
Two men from Pakistan attempt to windsurf high altitude lakes in The Karokarams, The Hindukush, and the Himalayas. The lakes range from approx 12,000 to 15,000 feet. The altitude itself should be challenging enough but then they also have to tackle rough terrain, and remote access in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and Tajikstan. They will travel from Islamabad to Gilgit on the Karakoram Highway by jeep, and then northwest until the road runs out. Then they will trek with porters and donkeys for five to six days along valleys, past ice faces, and above the tree line to Lake Karumber. Their high altitude windsurfing odyssey will start at this remote lake, high in the Karokarams and will continue for approx 36 days travelling on foot, in jeep, and with donkeys, over high mountain passes and plains. Many factors can affect their expedition, the high altitude, lack of wind, landslides and earthquakes! If they succeed in their quest, they will be the first people to have windsurfed at high altitude, in these three mountain ranges.
Episode 23: Boiling Water and Bullets
Three men set out to white water raft down the world's largest river. The raft frequently capsizes almost costing one member of the team his life. Things don't improve when the team comes under gunfire from The Sendero Luminoso. As the terrifying moments are captured on camera, the team just hope they can escape unscathed.
Episode 24: Breakdown in Siberia
A young German woman's epic solo bicycle journey from Beijing to London; a total of 8,000 miles through eight countries - China, Mongolia, The Russian federation, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Holland and the UK. Terrain ranges from deserts to vast mountain ranges, from steppes to marshes and from inner cities to completely isolated stretches. En route she can expect to meet with inclement weather, dangerous wildlife and possibly political instability.
Episode 25: Lost in an Ocean of Sand
Sam McConnell, a safari guide living between Clapham, London, and Namibia, decides to try and walk solo from the Skeleton Coast of the Namib Desert to the nearest source of fresh water at Sesriem canyon, some 100 km away. After being dropped by helicopter, he plans to carry everything he needs to survive in this inhospitable environment, for the unsupported anticipated five-day journey, including fifteen litres of water. But unbelievably he starts to suffer from the cold in the middle of the desert, as a thick sea mist rolls in and soaks all of his clothes, and instead of worrying about the effects of heatstroke he soon becomes more concerned about getting hypothermia. He finds the steep sand dunes almost impossible to climb with such a heavy pack, and irrationally contemplates throwing some of his water away. He then starts walking around in circles, as the iron is affecting his compass, and magnetite contained in the sand dunes. He finally runs out of water and rations after five days, but has only made it as far as Dead Vlei, some 50km. With no water he can't continue, and has to be rescued the next day by helicopter, after writing a message in the sand.
Episode 26: Baffin Island Base-Jumping
The arctic wilderness of Baffin Island is the setting for this Adventure Challenge. It's a harsh landscape of snow, rock and ice where imposing monoliths litter the landscape - a challenging prospect for any committed climber. But for one group of Britons, the granite giants and frozen wastes present an unusual and daring challenge. Not content with climbing up these arduous rock faces, they plan to stare death in the face by freefalling over their precipitous edges.
Ian Mullins, from Oxford has been BASE-jumping for three years and in this time has made over 150 successful jumps. He's also a keen skydiver, paraglider, kayaker, climber, mountain biker and snowboarder. But some would argue that none of these pursuits could match BASE-jumping in terms of sheer audacity and danger.
Ian will be joined by three friends on this expedition; Duane Thomas, Sean Richards and Shaun Ellison. Before they get to Baffin Island, Ian and his friends fly to Ottawa to buy provisions and make final preparations. Nothing can be left to chance in the Arctic.
The friends board the plane that will take them to Clyde River, the last outpost before the wilderness. From there they will travel by skidoo to Sam Ford Fjord where they will set up Base Camp. En route they catch sight of a Polar Bear with her two cubs - a beautiful sight that serves to underline that they really are out in the frozen wastes now. Tomorrow they will attempt their first jump on a cliff known as 'The Beak'.
After a freezing night's sleep, the group begin their ascent of 'The Beak'. Climbing in this hostile environment is very treacherous. They have not yet acclimatised to the severe cold and the route up is harder than they first anticipated. Sean Richards decides to seek an easier route and splits off from the other members of the group.
And then they realise that in their haste and excitement to get started on the climb to their first jump, no one remembered to bring the walkie-talkies with them. This oversight could have drastic consequences but they decide to continue up the rock face regardless. All seems to be going well but just as they are approaching the top of the cliff, Shaun Ellison falls and reawakens an old knee injury.
Faced with a hazardous climb back down or continuing to the top, they decide to soldier on but Shaun finds the going extremely hard. And it looks as if it's just not going to be their day: when they finally reach the top, the wind conditions are too strong to jump and they have no choice but to climb back down to base camp. It's disappointing for them all and to make matters worse Shaun's knee is incredibly painful and he can barely walk.
But the most worrying thing is that they
haven't seen Sean Richards since he walked off into the snow.
He's totally alone with only the most basic of equipment and
the harsh Arctic night is rapidly closing in.