PORT TOWNSEND — Stories and photographs of treks to wild and remote places, from the top of the world to the sea, highlight this season’s Winter Wanderlust adventure series.
It begins its 24th season at the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater in Fort Worden State Park on Wednesday.
Programs will be on eight Wednesdays through February at 7:30 p.m.
On opening night, Port Townsend native Leif Whittaker will share the adventure of his climb of Mount Everest and ascents of two continental high points, Aconcagua in South America and Mount Vinson in Antarctica.
Adventure has been prominent in Whittaker’s life: His father, Jim, was the first American to reach the summit of Everest in 1963.
Two Winter Wanderlust favorites return this season: Bill Porter, a well-known Chinese scholar in Port Townsend, and cyclist Willie Weir, an award-winning commentator and travel writer from Seattle.
Admission is by a suggested donation of $7, $1 for students.
A season’s pass is on sale for $40 through Friday at Sport Townsend, 1044 Water St.
After Friday, passes are $45, also at Sport Townsend.
Proceeds from the Wanderlust series benefit the Jefferson Trails Coalition and Fort Worden’s Olympic Hostel.
For more information, phone 360-385-0655.
The rest of the schedule includes:
• Norway’s Far North: Svalbard Islands, Jan. 12. Photographers Elston and Jackie Hill journeyed north from Oslo and beyond the Arctic Circle, discovering polar bears, walruses, spectacular glaciers and historic mine sites.
• Aleutian Images: Adventure Kayaking Alaska’s Remote Islands, Jan. 19. Sea kayaker Rob Avery shares about the history, nature, people and wonders of one of the most remote, windy and harsh locations in the United States.
• China’s Yellow River: Seeking the Origins of Chinese Culture, Jan. 26. Porter recounts his 1991 travels from the mouth of the Yellow River for 3,000 miles to the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau.
• Stepping Stones: Kayaking from Baffin Island to Labrador, Feb. 2. Kayaker Nigel Foster followed a legendary Inuit route through wild open water across Hudson Strait and along the rugged Coast of Labrador, negotiating 40-foot tides, squalls, calving icebergs and bears.
• Bicycling Across the U.S. & Canada, Feb. 9. Brock Tully’s 11,000-mile “Cycling for Kindness” journey included heart-warming encounters as well as the dangers of snakes, trucks, alligators, wind, snow and extreme heat.
• Sailing South: Falklands, Cape Horn, Antarctica and Chilean Patagonia, Feb. 16. Seaman and historian Mark Roye and photographer Nancy Krill’s voyage aboard the 44-foot ketch Tamara took them to the extreme reaches of South America as they followed the routes of traders, sealers and whalers.
• Portugal: Cycling with Willie Weir, Feb. 23. Stories and images of Weir’s recent bicycle adventure crisscrossing Portugal and camping “wild” along the dramatic coast, through glacial valleys, vineyards and ancient cobblestone cities.
