Adventure Bulletin 12th August 2026
You may have seen the news in the past week of the deaths on Broad Peak (8051m Karakoram, Pakistan). What you may not have heard was that, among the 10 climbers killed in the avalanche was Nadhira Al Harthy, the first Omani woman to summit Everest - and the second person from Oman.
Her close friend and climbing partner, Netty Attar from Egypt, wrote: “The world has lost a phenomenal athlete, mountaineer and, above all, one of the kindest human beings I’ve ever known.”
You can read more about her adventures and legacy at nadhira-alharthy.com/nadhira-story . The Everest Live YouTube channel have released an interview with Nelly Attar about Nadhira.
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Justine Curgenven (veteran sea-kayak filmmaker) and partner Jean-François Marleau have completed their 2,500km circumnavigation of Iceland by kayak. It took them 71 days on the water. More about the expedition here: cackletv.com/iceland-circumnavigation . You can read Justine’s daily updates and see photos by scrolling back through her Facebook page: @justinecurgenven
An all-women canoe crew, Edge of the Atlantic (Madlen Anderson, Emily Kay Dunning, Abby Auran, Katherine Heinle, Annabel Weil, Emeline Krill) are paddling 1000km across some of North America’s most remote waters to the Arctic Ocean: from Labrador City, NL to Kangiqsualujjuaq, QC. More about the expedition and a tracking link can be found here: edgeoftheatlantic.blog
My feed has been full of the Tour de France Femmes this week, which I would class as sport rather than adventure (your take welcome in the comments section). But it reminded me of Meaghan Hackinen absolutely smashing the 2026 Tour Divide women’s record back in June. She was 8th overall finisher and beat the previous women’s record by 13 hours. The new women’s record is now 14 days, 10 hours and 2 minutes - still one hell of a journey! Makes me think about where the dividing line is between sport and adventure.
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In books, I have been reading Thundery at Times by Katie Carr. Her brother set out to kayak in all the areas of the UK’s shipping forecast, but died before he could complete his project. Katie, not a sea kayaker herself, decides to finish his adventure. It is a really good book and I’ve already recommended it to several friends, but I haven’t finished it yet as grief for loss of family is a bit sensitive for me at the moment. There is a lot of grief and loss in the book but I wouldn’t say it’s sad overall so far, more hopeful.
More about the book from the publisher here: Thundery at Times.
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Thirty Below by Cassidy Randall has recently come up on my radar too, covering the first all-women team’s ascent of Denali in 1970. (It’s described as harrowing and heroic.)
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In podcasts and interviews, you might like “What Makes a Fantastic Outdoor Leader” with Jeannette Stawski on the See Her Outside Podcast. The blurb begins: “On day 21 of an instructor course in the Wind River Range, Jeannette Stawski’s rope dislodged a 250-pound boulder. It landed on her legs 15 miles from the nearest trailhead, in a designated wilderness where no helicopter was coming fast.” I do like a good rescue story and we can always learn from near misses in our ow mountain leadership.
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The August episode of the Ageless Adventuress Travel Podcast, which exclusively features women over 50, was with Alice Morrison who always doing cool adventures in the middle east. This episode focuses of solo adventures in Morocco, Saudia Arabia and Africa. Listen here.
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BMC Women in Adventure Film Competition is currently open! It’s only open to women and has monetary prizes - you don’t have to be a documentary filmmaker either. Entries must be short films up to 10 minutes.
Deadline is 27th September 2026 with winners being screened at Kendal Mountain Festival. I’d highly encourage you to apply, even if you’re only vaguely into video. Many moons ago, I entered a short film about my walk to every tor on Dartmoor that got shortlisted. I share it here to emphasise that you absolutely don’t need perfection to have a go.
Enter: thebmc.co.uk/en/women-in-adventure
Call for newsletter items
Do you write, film, podcast, go on adventures or know people who do? I know at least some of you certainly do. Do you believe in shameless self promotion? No? Do you believe that women should get more coverage in adventure media? You do - then please tell me about it!
Drop links in the comments, email me at emily@intrepid-magazine.com
Shout it from the rooftops - although you may need a pretty big megaphone to reach rural Devon. I would love to hear from you all. Even if it’s not that big, even if you’re just starting, even if it’s not yours but you just heard about it and thought it might be of interest to someone. Please share :)
P.S. Still resisting the urge to make any comments on my personal life or the future of the mag but take this as a g<REDACTED>…
Thanks for being here and, as ever,
Stay intrepid,
Emily
Hi Emily, I scuba dive - and write about my underwater adventures on my Substack :) I'm not setting records or doing anything extreme (although I guess that depends on your definition!) but I am underwater a fair bit!