http://blog.firstascent.com THE FIRST ASCENT BLOG Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:11:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/10/18/first-ascent-kayakers-battle-jungle-vines-and-diverse-whitewater-to-descend-brazils-rio-mambukaba/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/10/18/first-ascent-kayakers-battle-jungle-vines-and-diverse-whitewater-to-descend-brazils-rio-mambukaba/#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:54:28 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=9353 http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/10/18/first-ascent-kayakers-battle-jungle-vines-and-diverse-whitewater-to-descend-brazils-rio-mambukaba/feed/ 3 Chris Korbulic recaps a five-day descent of the Rio Mambukaba in the Brazilian jungle. mambukaba thumb http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/08/23/chris-korbulic-and-ben-stookesberry-explore-evolving-class-v-and-high-sierra-firsts/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/08/23/chris-korbulic-and-ben-stookesberry-explore-evolving-class-v-and-high-sierra-firsts/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:32:19 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=8927 http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/08/23/chris-korbulic-and-ben-stookesberry-explore-evolving-class-v-and-high-sierra-firsts/feed/ 0 First Ascent Guide Chris Korbulic reflects on the state of California kayaking. chris graceland thumb http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/25/ben-stookesberry-does-the-math-walks-away-from-a-kayak-descent-record-attempt/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/25/ben-stookesberry-does-the-math-walks-away-from-a-kayak-descent-record-attempt/#comments Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:00:09 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=6587 http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/25/ben-stookesberry-does-the-math-walks-away-from-a-kayak-descent-record-attempt/feed/ 1 Story by Ben Stookesberry; photos by Chris Korbulic Twenty-six days into the filming of the Brazilian reality TV series, I am standing at the brink of a 40-meter monster. My stance is as wide and as stable as possible, to compensate for the red Jasper at edge of the drop that is some of the [...] http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/24/chris-korbulic-balances-safety-with-success-in-venezuela/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/24/chris-korbulic-balances-safety-with-success-in-venezuela/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:47:45 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=6574 http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/24/chris-korbulic-balances-safety-with-success-in-venezuela/feed/ 0 Story and photos by Chris Korbulic You win some. You lose some. Such is life, such is the story of adventure, and of filming a kayaking television series. Sometimes it’s difficult to see the difference between a win and a loss, and reason doesn’t always support what you think you have in the end. Win or [...] http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/14/first-ascent-kayakers-detour-to-explore-kaietuer-falls-guyana/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/14/first-ascent-kayakers-detour-to-explore-kaietuer-falls-guyana/#comments Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:53:40 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=6409 http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/14/first-ascent-kayakers-detour-to-explore-kaietuer-falls-guyana/feed/ 1 The First Ascent kayak team heads to Kaietuer Falls, Guyana, as part of a Brazilian TV series film shoot. Ben_Homepage http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/02/fa-kayak-team-paddles-into-production-in-the-brazilian-amazon/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/02/fa-kayak-team-paddles-into-production-in-the-brazilian-amazon/#comments Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:07:11 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=4536 http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/03/02/fa-kayak-team-paddles-into-production-in-the-brazilian-amazon/feed/ 0 Story and photos by Chris Korbulic First Ascent kayakers Chris Korbulic and Ben Stookesberry are in Brazil filming for the second season of “Kaiak,” the first adventure kayaking television series. Our plane was on time to the Manaus airport, and we were only a little worse for wear after the multi-stop flight from Sao Paulo. [...] http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/02/18/first-ascent-kayakers-head-to-brazil-to-shoot-kayaking-tv-series/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/02/18/first-ascent-kayakers-head-to-brazil-to-shoot-kayaking-tv-series/#comments Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:07:18 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=4222 http://blog.firstascent.com/2011/02/18/first-ascent-kayakers-head-to-brazil-to-shoot-kayaking-tv-series/feed/ 1 By Chris Korbulic In 2010, Ben Stookesberry, Brazilian Pedro Oliva, and I faced some of the most difficult whitewater in central Brazil. Thanks to Pedro’s desire to be the face of kayaking in Brazil, images from the trip were produced into a television series for a Brazilian network. (You can watch last year’s trailer here.) To capture [...] http://blog.firstascent.com/2010/12/08/africa-kayak-expedition-update/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2010/12/08/africa-kayak-expedition-update/#comments Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:59:36 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=3765 http://blog.firstascent.com/2010/12/08/africa-kayak-expedition-update/feed/ 35 Yesterday Eddie Bauer received word that the South African whitewater guide, Hendri Coetzee, who was leading First Ascent Kayakers Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic through the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was pulled from his kayak on the Lukuga River by a crocodile and is presumed dead. Following the incident, Ben and Chris were [...] http://blog.firstascent.com/2010/12/01/first-ascent-kayak-team-navigates-africas-ruzizi-river/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2010/12/01/first-ascent-kayak-team-navigates-africas-ruzizi-river/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:00:01 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=3717 http://blog.firstascent.com/2010/12/01/first-ascent-kayak-team-navigates-africas-ruzizi-river/feed/ 0 Ben Stookesberry: “Yesterday, we had 200 people, 250 people on the Rwanda side following us, local villagers … there was one guy … he started scouting the drops for us, trying to pick out lines with hand signals. In fact, I’d run a huge rapid, I was the last to run one of the biggest [...] http://blog.firstascent.com/2010/11/17/fa-kayakers-recap-summit-of-the-mountains-of-the-moon-uganda/ http://blog.firstascent.com/2010/11/17/fa-kayakers-recap-summit-of-the-mountains-of-the-moon-uganda/#comments Wed, 17 Nov 2010 23:30:58 +0000 First Ascent Brand Team http://blog.firstascent.com/?p=3686 http://blog.firstascent.com/2010/11/17/fa-kayakers-recap-summit-of-the-mountains-of-the-moon-uganda/feed/ 0 By Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic The Mountains of the Moon (called the “Rwenzori” by native peoples) literally inspired our expedition when planning began six months ago. Before friend and trip advisor Dr. Jessie Stone first mentioned the Rwenzori, I had little knowledge of the highest mountain range in Africa. With its rich, pre-colonial history [...]