British adventure freak David Hempleman-Adams set another record on Friday, in the frigid wastelands of…my old stompin’ grounds of Alberta. He climbed to almost 10km above the earth (about 33,000 feet) in an open basket hot-air balloon, beating the previous record by almost 400m. A (very partial) list of what this guy has done:

• climbed the highest peaks on all “seven continents”
• been to the magnetic and geographic North Pole
• been to the magnetic and geographic South Pole
• crossed the Atlantic in an open balloon
• taken his teenage daughter with him (e.g. to the North Pole, across Baffin Island)

After his flight to the North Pole in balloon (in 2000), he was asked what his next adventure would be:

“At the moment I haven’t even gone home yet, so it’ll be nice just to go home and have a bath and then down the pub, I think that’ll be my next adventure.” — David Hempleman-Adams, from a BBC Q&A

…perhaps that’ll be my next adventure too, though I’ll “mix it up” a little and do the pub first, bath second. Just because — oh yes, that’s right — I’m feeling adventurous…

This entry was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007 at 1h21 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.