3 Kiwis get juiced skating the driest desert in the world. New Zealand trio Alan Carnaby, Troy Bilbrough and Guy Parsons just returned from an epic longboard trip through Peru and Chile. The skaters travelled 1600 kilometers ( 994 miles for us still stuck on standard measurement ) rolling through the Andes also becoming the first people to skate in the Atacama Desert, the driest in the world.
If you think that sounds dangerous, that’s because it is. “Halfway through the trip I was attacked and bitten by wild dogs (and needed rabies injections), Alan got sick, Guy pulled a muscle in his leg and we had to survive on just eating biscuits for three days.” Bilbrough stated. “Needless to say we had a few tough times, and not to mention having to deal with the raw elements: the wind, the altitude, the hills, the potholes, the sun scorching your back, the wild jaguars in the jungle… but overall we had a heck of a lot of fun.”
Aside from the perils of their journey the boys had a good time. “We encountered some rather interesting situations when we would arrive in a remote village which does not see many tourists. Often we would arrive in a village after coming down a hill on skateboards with parachutes deployed, helmet cameras going, the works and the shocked and confused expressions on people’s faces were certainly a sight to behold” explained Guy Parsons.
“Skating the world, one country at a time”
“Our primary aim was first and foremost to have fun and make a few people smile along the way” says Carnaby. “We wanted to do something that had never been done before and we did a bit of research and found that no one had ever skateboarded this area before and in hindsight probably for good reason!”
“We wanted to raise a bit of awareness about sustainable travel and how, with a little effort you can make more environmentally sustainable choices.”
To back up their sustainability pledge the guys got their trip carboNZero certified where they had to measure, manage and offset the carbon footprint of their trip. They also are trying to raise money for Project Litefoot.
Project Litefoot is a charitable trust with the goal of inspiring New Zealanders to become more environmentally aware and is helping sports clubs reduce carbon emissions and reduce costs, helping them put more money back into what they love.
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