Sidetracked Volume 15

The Beautiful Hardship of Adventure

We’re not designed to spend our lives nesting and resting. However comfortable we may be in our homes, on our sofas, it’s when we leave our sanctuary that adventure begins, and we discover things about ourselves we might never have known otherwise. In facing the challenges needed to reach our destination, armed with both spirit and resilience, we can begin to feel the depth and complexity life has to offer.

In this issue we travel back to 1977 on a school climbing trip to Afghanistan, freedive under the ice in Canada and seek out paradise via packraft in Mexico. We look at the harsh and devastating consequences when expeditions don’t go to plan and the immeasurable rewards when they do.

And, through kayaking through the Balkans and kite-surfing an arid dam in Cape Town, we look at how adventure, photography and art can make significant progress towards highlighting global political and cultural issues and protecting Earth’s natural places.