ISSUE 17 HighlightsThis edition we’ve taken a squiz at those particular plots of adventure that involve lands girt by sea: welcome to an island of adventure masquerading as a magazine.
Get a taste by flipping through a few spreads (click on the cover right), read about the highlights here or the Editor's Letter below right.
Four things you will learn in this edition of Outer Edge1) A party once climbed Scotland's highest peak carrying a grand piano and left it up there buried under a cairn.
2) Paddling for fun was pioneered by a Pommy bloke called John McGregor in the 1860s, when he built himself a kayak-like craft called the Rob Roy..
3) Dick Smith used to fly dangerous sorties around Tassie, supplying provisions to protesters in the Franklin River area..
4) Downhill MTB Champ Steve Peat began working life as a plumber. "I think my boss suggested I take up mountain biking professionally as a nice way of sacking me," he told Outer Edge.
COVER STORY
Outer Edge visits the land down under down under - Tasmania - and finds an adventurers paradise, listing the best dirty dozen. PLUS:
TRIPLE PEAK TREAT
Our managing editor races the clock to top out on Britain's three highest peaks in under 24hrs - will he make it? LAP OF PARADISE
Our editor undertakes the first ever circumnavigation of Norfolk Island by kayak. Cook would be proud.
TIMOR BY TWO
A couple of WA lads round the once trouble East Timor by bike before the inaugural Tour de Timor racesalong its pot holed roads. | HINCHINBROOK - WALK OR PADDLE?
Andrew Bain looks at the pros and very few cons, if any, or rounding the Queensland island on land and sea. SAVING FRENCHMANS
Dick Smith puts his money where others' bootprints are in an effort to help save the track to Frenchmans, Tasmania.
CAVE OF THE MILLENNIUM
Outer Edge delves into the jungles of Vanuatu to find a recently discovered cave and a canyon that is proof heaven exists on earth. GEAR: hydro packs PLUS
heart rate monitors
Plus all your regular sections including: School of Adventure, Image from the Edge, Letters and Reader photos, news, adventure and event listings, Adventure School, new products, Email from The Edge, book and DVD reviews
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EDITOR'S LETTER There are few dull moments in the world of adventure publishing, and the production period of this edition of Outer Edge has been a particularly action-packed time.
As a result, I’m extremely excited to kick this issue off with some big news from our publishers: namely that Outer Edge now has two highly illustrious magazines as stable mates: Wild and Rock.
As Australia’s first ever publication devoted to people with a passion for wilderness adventures, Wild has a heritage that stretches back over three decades. The magazine remains an authority on rucksack-based pursuits and is an essential read for serious bushwalkers, cross-country skiers, wilderness paddlers and lovers of the outdoor environment in Australia.
Rock, first published in 1978, has an even longer history. Today it is the only climbing magazine published in Australia, a country blessed with some of the best and most diverse crags in the world.
Both magazines are an integral part of Australia’s outdoor heritage, having influenced generations of walkers, climbers, skiers, paddlers and campers to get out and get the most of the natural world around them.
Over the years, both publications have featured the words, thoughts, deeds and images of Australia’s foremost wilderness pioneers, bravest explorers and best adventure writers.
A few months ago, I joined Australia’s most accomplished high altitude mountain climber, Andrew Lock, to climb the 14 highest peaks in the country. (As you can learn about in more detail on the ‘Out and About’ pages, Andrew recently became the first Australian to climb all 14 of the world’s peaks over 8000 metres high.) Back then I asked Andrew what had inspired him to get into mountaineering and his answer was immediate: “I read an article about Tim MacCartney-Snape’s first Australian ascent of Everest in Wild magazine.”
By comparison, Outer Edge is a young upstart, which burst onto the scene three years ago full of fast-paced features and adrenaline-laced sports and pursuits such as mountain biking, whitewater paddling, adventure racing, diving, four-wheel driving, ocean swimming, backcountry snowboarding and mission-based exploration in many forms.
As distinct as they are on every level – subject, style, look, approach to subject matter – the three publications share a focus on and commitment to the pursuit of outdoor pursuits, and they compliment each other perfectly. With the most inspirational adventure titles in the country now being produced by an innovative and specialist Australian publisher, the future looks exciting.
On a more personal note, I undertook an adventure of a different sort during the making of this edition, involving most nerve-wracking hike I’ve ever done…down an aisle to get married. Fittingly enough, I met Steph on a camping and climbing trip to Mt Arapiles nearly a decade ago, and we’ve spent the best part of the intervening 10 years sharing adventures around this great big island.
This edition celebrates island adventures in their myriad forms – from a first-ever kayak-based navigation of Norfolk Island to an exploration of Timor in the saddle of a mountain bike. We explore that action-packed isle known as Tasmania and test out the relative merits of exploring Queensland’s surf-circled Hinchinbrook Island by foot or by kayak. We also catch up with downhill mountain biking legend Steve Peat and explore the contribution Australia’s eco-conscious entrepreneur and high-flying adventurer Dick Smith has made to saving the bushwalking route to Frenchman’s Cap from drowning. If you have an island adventure you want to share with us, or want to have a say on anything raised in this edition of Outer Edge, please drop us a line and tell us all about it. Cheers, Pat Kinsella, Managing Editor |
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