His original goal was to hike until April 30th and break the current 620-mile World Alpine Style Backpacking Distance record. “I have maps for about 1100 miles,” he said before he left. “And it’d be a shame to carry a bunch of maps many hundreds of miles and then not use them.” He made it 31 miles. He did break one record. From Mountain replica watch gift Crossing, he mailed home 115 pounds of stuff, blowing their average 12 pound ship-off out of the water. After that, he traipsed about for a few more days with a less-than-30-pound load before calling it quits. “One is always thrilled to be proven right in one’s wackiest ideas,” he says. “But it’s one thing to make a plan and it’s another thing to go live it.”-Claire Napier Galofaro
U.N. refugee camps, rarely seen by outsiders other than aid workers, the occasional politician, and Angelina Jolie, are about to get a higher profile. Google Earth, the satellite mapping program that allows users to explore in 3-D, is now offering close-up images of U.N. refugee camps and aid projects. The 350 million Google Earth users will now be able to zoom into crisis zones in places like Chad, Iraq, and Colombia just as easily as they can view the replica Longines watch Honduran ecolodge where theyve booked their next vacation. Google plans to add photographs and interviews with refugees along with educational text. Former U.N. HighCommissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson applauded the development as a tool for raising awareness. We need all the communications possible to change the dynamic, to make this something very personal, she said. --Emily Matchar
Trek Bicycle Corp. announced this morning that it has filed a motion in federal court seeking to end its often contentious 13-year partnership with the LeMond Cycles brand of three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond. Trek president John Burke announced the move during an employee meeting at the company’s Waterloo, Wisconsin, headquarters replica Movado watch this morning. Burke went over the reasons for the decision with a detailed multimedia presentation and in surprisingly blunt language. He cited, among other things, LeMond’s public comments about doping allegations against Lance Armstrong, who won seven Tours on Trek bikes, and a lawsuit LeMond recently filed against Trek, in which he accused the company of not supporting his brand.
