Volume Three
The Third Edition of our Printed Journal
Adventure. Exploration. Discovery.
Words to inspire, writes Shane Winser, who runs the expeditions arm of the Royal Geographical Society, in her foreword to this issue. That’s what Sidetracked has always been about – inspiring others through sharing adventures that test physical and emotional limits; exploring places which are rarely visited and where we can learn something new about the world we live; and discovering what lies around us and within us.
SORRY, SOLD OUT! Please browse our shop for other editions.
If anything, this issue is about adversity. Recognising the serious challenges which lie ahead and overcoming them. As Leo Houlding says of his Last Great Climb, Ulvetanna in Antarctica’s Queen Maud Land, “This is why we are here, this is what we came for. To push ourselves harder and further than ever before. To abandon our comfort zone and find our limits.” Sometimes we fail to achieve our goals when we undertake such inspirational adventures – but just being there, testing ourselves, is as much a voyage of discovery as is reaching those goals. Paul McSorely and Matthew Van Biene learn what a brush with death really means amidst the frozen beauty of Patagonia, and Garret Grove has to adapt to the frigid, lethal conditions when skiing the frozen giants of Ruth Gorge, Alaska. Charlie Walker and Archie Leeming take a pirogue into the darkest depths of Congolese jungle connecting with the isolated communities that fringe the banks of the Lulua river along the way. Sarah Marquis is visited in the night by silent, prowling wolves in the Gobi Desert as Robbie Shone gazes in wonder on a huge, ancient sentinel, deep beneath the Earth in one of China’s biggest cave systems. Franz Walter returns to the beauty and warmth of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to climb with Ines Papert, finally comprehending the true meaning of the Marrakech saying: ‘Nothing is certain, but everything is possible.’
The first two volumes of the Sidetracked printed journal have continued to receive critical acclaim and grow steadily in popularity across physical and virtual media. We are proud that you love what we do. We hope you continue to be inspired by the wonderful stories we bring you and that Sidetracked continues to set the standard for adventure magazines worldwide.
January 2015.