Climbing with Mayan Smith-Gobat (NZL) & Kajaking with Sam Sutton (NZL)

Outdoorsportsteam 2014: Place of Happiness & Stikine River

Pedra Riscada (Brazil), Stikine River (British Columbia, CAN / Alaskan Panhandle, USA)

Place of Happiness: Far away from the insane busy streets of Rio de Janeiro, far away from the FIFA World Cup mania, adidas athletes Mayan Smith-Gobat (NZL) and Ben Rueck (USA) explored the “Place of Happiness”. Their goal was to climb the highest Monolith in Brazil, Pedra Riscada, in a one-day push. Stefan Glowacz and Holger Heuber opened the 850m-long, 18-pitches route (5.12d) on the prominent granite dome in 2009. What they found was adventure climbing at its best: “dirt crack” climbing through cactuses, crimping on sharp granite crystals, burning fingertips on red-hot rock, finishing the last drops of water in the blazing sun. But they also found happiness.

Stikine River: Shrouded in darkness and legend, The Grand Canyon of the Stikine River (British Columbia, CAN / Alaskan Panhandle, USA) is the “Everest of whitewater”. For over 30 years, its menacing difficulty has lured expedition kayakers looking for the ultimate challenge. The journey was a long soulful pilgrimage to an untamed river hidden deep in the wilderness. Once the river casts its spell, a kayaker cannot stay away. Olaf Obsommer (GER) collected some of the best young kayakers in the world for this descent of the Stikine River. His team included Sam Sutton (NZL), Gerd Serrasolses (ESP) and younger brother Aniol Serrasolses (ESP) and Jared Meehan (NZL).