Take The High Road [Diversions]

On this flickr set, a photographer named Ken Ohyama captures some incredible images of what might at first seem incredibly boring — highway interchanges. Shot mostly by night, these eerie, desolate asphalt and concrete spans take on mesmerizing, fantastical and sometimes even organic forms. [Thanks, Tommy]

 

The Everest Archives [Toil and Trouble]

I’m humbled, honored, and more than a little surprised that Outside Magazine has included my story about Sherpas relocating to New York City from the Himalayas on a list of its best ever stories relating to Mount Everest. On the roster are several articles by writers I admire, including the massive feat of reporting that became Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, and eleven other alternately harrowing and hilarious high-altitude yarns by Mark Bryant, Nick Heil, Eric Hagerman, Brad Wetzler, and Kevin Fedarko, among others. Be sure to check out the photo galleries, too, with film and video work by the likes of Martin Schoeller, Jimmy Chin, and writer/producer Jenny Dubin. 

After the jump, unedited, is Outside’s list. 

Storms Over Everest, Past and Present

   Good reason to stay home tomorrow: “Storm Over Everest” on PBS’s FrontLine,  airing Tuesday night from 9-11PM on PBS. Here’s why: the film, created by veteran mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears, and producer David Fanning, is riveting and timely. May marks Everest’s annual climbing period, and though it’s been 12 years since the deadly 1996 season (which claimed 15 lives, 8 on a single day), interest in the peak and its yearly life-and-death dramas never seems to wane, despite the increasing triviality and hype surrounding some expeditions and the fabled debauchery of Base Camp.  On the contrary: last year, 500 people attained the 29,035′ summit, an astonishing total given that only around 2,000 had previously managed the feat since 1953.

  This season has been drastically different. The Chinese government recently closed the Tibet side of the mountain to climbers for an Olympic Torch-touchdown mission to the summit, broadcasting the successful climb on TV. With ongoing protests worldwide over the Olympics, three significant new books on the ill-fated 2006 season (including HIGH CRIMES, by Michael Kodas, and DARK SUMMIT, by Nick Heil), and now the Breashears film (which not only departs from Jon Krakauer’s take in crucial ways but also recreates scenes from the disaster with certain survivors portraying themselves, and presents moving interviews with physician Beck Weathers, twice left for dead on the peak ), it’s a ripe moment to look at the peak’s enduring grip on the Western imagination–and in the media. 

 

Heads Up

 Occasionally I contribute to The New York Times’  Thursday Styles section and its Physical Culture column. Here’s the latest. In short, want to document your hair-raising two-wheeled morning commute? Or attempts at extreme mountain biking, Mister and Missus Weekend Warrior? Now you can, more easily than ever. RELATED: Joanne Colan of Rocketboom threads Manhattan in this cool video. And here’s another insane look at Manhattan through the eye of a helmet camera, thanks YouTube.