Indonesian Digital News Archive

It's a short week for updates on the Adventure Blog as I'm headed to Veracruze, Mexico today to attend the ATMEX Conference. Over the next few days the focus will be completely on adventure travel in Mexico, which has a lot to offer outdoor enthusiasts. The country has fantastic mountain biking, sea kayaking, climbing, whitewater rafting and more and the conference is designed to help tour operators connect with travelers and market their options more fully.

I'm honored to be taking part in a couple of panel discussions at the conference mostly focused on blogging and how tour operators can work with the online community to get the word out on what they have to offer. I, and my fellow panelists, will be speaking about how we work with various brands in the travel industry and how online travel writers and those brands can work together to promote their destinations. It should prove to be a fun and interesting experience and I'm so happy that the Adventure Travel Trade Association asked me to be a part of the event. If you happen to be attending as well, be sure to track me down and say hello.

I'm not sure what kind of Internet access I'll have while I'm away. If I have a reliable connection I'll try to post some updates. Otherwise we'll be back to the usual routine next Monday. While I'm away, everyone have a great few days and be sure to get outside and enjoy some adventures of your own.

At 5636 meters (18,491 ft) in height, Pico de Orizaba is the tallest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in all of North America. The video below documents a climb up the massive volcano as part of the Challenge 21 expedition with filmmaker Josh Wolff joining climber Jake Norton on quite an adventure. Orizaba is a popular, yet challenging, climb that is not unlike a trek to the top of Kilimanjaro in Africa in that it is mostly a non-technical climb. But the views from the top are  beautiful and rewarding after a tough hike. This video serves as a good introduction to the climb and the efforts that Challenge 21 are undertaking to raise awareness of the need for clean drinking water.