At the End of the World, ColdAvenger Participates in one of the world’s most exciting adventure races
The 2010 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race is not for prissies. This southern most race in the history of adventure
racing tests the moxy of teams through climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, and backcountry navigation. It’s a huge effort to raise a conservation awareness to this area of the globe. And it’s a setting that provides for an immense challenge with unpredictable weather, harsh terrain, and total isolation from human society.
Team Gear Junkie battled through 600 kilometers within the Tierra del Fuego, snow saturated Darwin Range, and icy waters of the Beagle Channel to complete this race. Prior to the plunge in the frigid channel, Chelsey Gribbon, one of four members of Team Gear Junkie, donned the ColdAvenger.
Photographer: Gray Will www.patagonianexpeditionrace.com
It’s pretty clear from the refection in her glasses that she’s in a kayak. It’s great that she was able to put the water resistant and windproof Polartec softshell of the ColdAvenger to the test on the chilly waters, and we can’t wait to hear more from her about the trip. As a native of Alaska, she knows a little something about cold weather. And as an accomplished yogi, she knows a little something about how important it is to breathe fully and effectively. That, of course, means protecting the lungs and airway. So it’s no wonder that Chelsey is among our greatest influencers. She gets it, and we are grateful. Congrats to Team Gear Junkie on an amazing showing at the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. If you’d like to read more about it, visit The Gear Junkie’s site here. And if you’d like to see what The Gear Junkie himself, Stephen Regenold says about ColdAvenger, see his review of the ColdAvenger Expedition in his “Winter Gear Roundup, in which he says it’s, “in the running as one of the warmest head coverings ever made.”
Oh, here’s another example of how Chelsey uses the ColdAvenger. Check out this picture of her kite boarding on a frigid night in North Dakota earlier this winter.
Chelsey Gribbon kite boarding in North Dakota
Stay out for adventure!
John B. Sullivan III aka ColdAvenger Pro
Stay Out Longer!
Stay Out for the Jedi,
Talus athlete and world-renowned mountaineer—
“…I know there’s a lot of questioning now about why and when I decided to use supplemental oxygen. And again, my decision was based on safety and team unity, safety on my behalf and also the anxiety level of my team mates for me going out ahead and being on my own. I started thinking about this quite a bit when I first arrived at the South Col, it was very cold, very windy up high and I started to contemplate the risks of climbing in those conditions without supplement oxygen. The risks are definitely increased when you climb without supplemental oxygen especially when it’s very, very cold and very, very windy. I would have had to leave the South Col at least an hour or perhaps two ahead of my team calculating that they may have caught up to me somehow during the day as I would probably have been climbing slower. So I would have been separated from my team, they would have been probably a little worried about me, and I would have been a little bit worried about myself as well especially in those cold and windy conditions.”
