One of the harder things about a transition from an office setting to a home office is communicating. Suddenly, you have everyone scattered across a city, or even the world, and there’s no single meeting room. Your means of communication are suddenly pushed into the mass emails, the reply all button, and the embarrassing “oops, forgot to attach the file” moments.

What you need is an online project manager like apio.

Teams collaborate easier when they have one service or system that stores all of their files. Team members simply log into apio and can see all of their assigned tasks, instead of having to keep a running list on a napkin or scrap of paper. They can also check off things as they get done – and you, as the project lead, get notified when they complete projects.

Getting things done is easier when the team members are notified instantly that the status of a task has changed. Have you ever remembered to check on something right before the phone rings, and then as soon as you hang up, there’s a new email that requires your attention? You probably have forgotten (as I have) to go back in and check the status you remembered in the first place. With online collaboration software you get a notification that something has changed, so not only do you eliminate having to physically check, it’s almost like you don’t even have to remember things anymore. (Almost.)

Collaboration software goes where you go. It’s highly recommended that the telecommuter get out of their home and spend a few hours in their local coffee shop or at a library to work, just to change the scenery a bit. Usually, when you’re away from your office, you don’t have access to your files, but with a project manager, you have everything you need as long as you have access to an Internet connection.

Staying productive when you’re in a non-traditional business environment, such as one where everyone works from home can be difficult, but with the right tools to stay in constant communication with your team and co-workers will help you stay focused and get things done.

*Disclaimer: apio is an entity and product offering from TalkPath, LLC., the owner of signalnews.com*

The  70-year-old was climbing solo when he fell into the crack on Schrankogel, a mountain in the Stubai Alps in Tyrol, Austria.

He was rescued when passing climbers heard shouts for help ushering from 20 meters within the crevasse. These climbers alerted the mountain authorities who then extracted the man.

He had set off for the mountain on August 8 and fell when the snow he stood on collapsed underfoot.

More information can be found at The Daily Mail.

That was back on August 9.

They have since left Elson, Lagoon and continued on their southerly journey, rowing for four days before they were forced to hole up in another cove for another, smaller storm.

Rare at this time of year, the storms have drawn the expedition out much longer than expected.

But according to the most recent blog posts, their spirits are high. The updates have them nearing Point Hope, Alaska, which Joy called in the blog post “a major milestone” along the journey.

The big trouble now is that their water-maker has been acting up. If they are unable to get it functioning properly, they trip could come to an untimely end, because without fresh water they will be unable to continue.

Here’s that portion of the update from the blog:

“This seems to be a recurring theme in ocean rowing, and though not an immediate safety crisis, has been known to end more than a few ocean rowing expeditions. We’re certainly not at that point, as the Arctic Row crew has a hand-held backup which is very time consuming, but does produce drinking water. They also have a fresh-water ballast in the hull of the boat, which they can tap in to, then refill with salt water, if need be. The whole thing is an unnecessary annoyance, though, to say the least.”

Some mountains, however, are more deadly than others.

In order to find the deadliest mountains on earth, we looked at the mountains that are above 8,000 meters. The 8,000 meter peaks are like feathers in the caps of mountaineers. These are the tallest mountains on earth. But 8,000 meters is also known as the death zone, because there is limited atmospheric pressure and oxygen levels are much, much lower.

The list of deadly 8,000 meter peaks was compiled by Eberhard Jurgalski on 8000ers.com.

(Adventure Journal also listed the deadliest mountains in the world using a different set of metrics.)

Here are the deadliest mountains by death per climber:

1. Annapurna 1
2. K2
3. Nanga Parbat
4. Kangchenjunga
5. Gasherbrum 1
6. Dhaulagiri
7. Makalu
8. Gasherbrum 1
9. Shisha Pangma
10. Everest
11. Broad Peak
12. Lhotse
13. Gasherbrum 2
14. Cho Oyu

Photo of K2 via Wikimedia commons.

Being that Outside is one of the foremost publications on matters of outdoor adventure, a list from them is pretty much the gold standard. Not to mention that they created a scoring key that covered all the different ways a university could provide outdoor adventure opportunities for its students–namely, location and what all that location has to offer.

But the scoring key includes affordability, nearby ski resorts, mountains, rivers oceans, and of course the academic quality of the college.

Check it out on Outisde Online here, with a full explanation of how they picked these schools.

The list from Outside Online is below, with each link corresponding to an article written in Outside about the school and what it has to offer:

01. University of California, Berkeley
02. University of California, Los Angeles
03. Stanford University
04. University of California, San Diego
05. Cornell University
06. University of Arizona
07. Warren Wilson College
08. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
09. University of Vermont
10. University of Georgia
11. University of Wisconsin, Madison
12. University of California, Santa Cruz
13. Bowdoin College
14. California State University, Humboldt
15. University of Wyoming
16. Alaska Pacific University
17. Reed College
18. University of Oregon
19. University of Iowa
20. University of Hawaii, Manoa
21. University of Arkansas
22. Green Mountain College
23. University of Nevada, Reno
24. University of Alaska, Fairbanks
25. University of Idaho

Photo of UC Berkeley via Wikimedia Commons.

The word on that July day was that Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team would return in August to conquer the highest skydive ever, this one from more than 19 miles. (The previous record was set by Joseph Kittinger in 1960 who leaped from 102,800 feet.)

Baumgartner plans to jump from 125,000 feet, and Kittinger is on the Stratos Team sending him up.

Yet until lately there has been little word on when Baumgartner would be making the actual jump. And it turns out, that is a result of the previous jump having left the pod, which Baumgartner takes to the edge of space, damaged.

Here is what it said on a Red Bull Stratos blog post, August 14:

“Several hours later the Recovery Team reached the capsule and discovered it had sustained damage on landing. After Baumgartner jumped from the capsule, it was detached from the balloon shortly before it would have drifted into US military airspace southwest of Roswell. However, after descending under parachute, it landed on a rocky, uneven surface and was thrown onto its side.”

As a result, the capsule had to be largely reassembled and retested. The retest occurs on September 24 in San Antonio, Texas, where it will be placed in an altitude chamber that recreates a stratospheric environment. Once the new pod is deemed safe for flight, Baumgartner will go back up to the edge of spce for the world record.

Official date is unknown. But the Red Bull Stratos teams asaid early fall would likely be the date.

Photo of capsule in altitude chamber at Brooks-City Base in San Antonio, Texas via Red Bull Stratos Blog.

Jurek, who wrote the popular book Eat and Run and is something of an ultrarunner-celebrity, set up the trip for 14 runners to come and train with him in Ethiopia next winter from Feb. 22 to March 3, 2013.

The program allows them to raise money by running through Ethiopia, experiencing the culture, and learning from some of the sports’  best competitors.

According to Outside, The Ultrarunners involved include Gebre Gebremariam, winner of the 2010 New York City Marathon, Werknesh Kidane, world cross-country racing champ, and Haile Beresalassie, two-time Olympic gold medal winner in the 10,000 meters.

Participants of the trip will also get the chance to see the Himalayan Cataract Project’s operations as they are in the field. The proceeds from the trip will go to the HCP, which performs cataract surgeries in remote locations surrounding the Himalayan mountains.

More about the trip at Outside Online, AccelerateEthiopia.com, and imagine1day.

Ethiopia Map via Wikimedia Commons.

More that 70 climbers from around the world turned out for the tournament, which was in Stuttgart, Germany.

The women’s final boiled down to Puccio and Akiyo Noguchi. Puccio won with a 25 second time to the top.

Jon Cardwell took second place in the men’s event.

20,000 Euros were split between the winners.

For more information and photos of the event check out PlanetMountain.com.

The SS Terra Nova was found by the Schmidt Ocean Institute as they were testing equipment on their own ships.

The Terra Nova was constructed in Dundee in 1884. On its final voyage, Scott had sailed the ship from Cardiff to the Antarctic on a journey to become the first crew to reach the South Pole.

The full story is available at The Telegraph.

The Consulate of Oman has been on a recent push to expand tourism in the fabled and prosperous country. And a number of adventure cyclists have recently found the country in their sites.

In fact, a recent proposal was put together to develop an International Mountain bike Race in Oman.

Seizing on this opportunity for mountain biking, the three brothers (names were not provided) went on a mission to sample the different types of terrain Oman had to offer, pedaling rocky and sandy trails, steep descents, and wadis, which are dry creek beds.

Check out a primer for the story in Outer Edge here. And read the whole thing in the 33rd issue of the magazine.