Topic: Travel

Wondering what happened to Ben Clark and friends? Well, here's the latest udate from Ben Clark, Josh Butson and Tim Clarke, whose plan is to summit and ski down Annapurna IV. The three are posting blogs and audio dispatches on their website.

"Himalayan climbing is challenging, pioneering in this great range is an even more daunting proposition. The mountain has spoken to us, it is all around us, it is inside of us as we melt and drink it to sustain ourselves. This is the awareness and connection I come here for. It is not what everyone wants and feels.

If you've been wondering how Ben Clark and friends are doing on their trek up Annapurna IV, then wait no longer. Here's the latest of the colorful dispatches from Ben Clark:

"Twisting wisps of wind dance along the solemn northwest ridgeline of Annapurna IV. Playfully the dance has drawn us in forcing us to question, will the jet stream push away these little snow devils and surge the ridgeline with the power of a hurricane or will we enter a window of opportunity? We will be there to see, we begin the ascent tomorrow.

Ramona Bruland headed to Moab, where she tried out rafting and kayaking. With the gorgeous Utah desert only a couple hours from Telluride, it's the perfect getaway for just a couple days or even a couple weeks. Mountain biking, rafting, kayaking, hiking – it's all there.

Need a break from the mountains? Try heading to Moab for bit of rafting or kayaking, where the cool rapids are the perfect match to the warm, dry sun.

Ben Clark, a host for Plum TV's Fresh Tracks show, has traded the San Juans for the Himalayas. Here, he writes about waiting out a storm:

"It won't stop snowing, the Austrians have retreated and each day the mountain is slowly cleaning itself of the newfallen precipitation. We are avalanche pros and know to stay off the peak...but smaller lower angled aspects around basecamp? Oh, you should check out the pics on the website!

The latest dispatch from Ben Clark, a Plum TV host who is summiting and skiing down Annapurna IV in Nepal:

"We spent most of the day today dodging thunderstorms and Austrians. Both are omnipresent and change the nature of base camp. It was a classic rest day in a secluded Himalyan locale.

Here's the latest update from Plum TV host Ben Clark, who is in the Himalayas and plans to summit and ski down Annapurna IV.

"Annapurna IV is a striking peak cutting the cobalt sky and breaking the jet stream. A long technical shoulder leads to it's lofty summit, this will be our path. We now sit below this shoulder at 15,500'. Distant echoes of glaciers calving are now drowned out by thunder. Thunder.

By Emily Setzer

You've probably seen Plum's Tennessee native, Ben Clark, on Fresh Tracks in the winter as he tells Plum's viewers where to find the best stashes of snow on the mountain and which runs have been groomed. Now he's spending his off season on a different mountain – hiking through the Himalayas with the goal of summiting Annapurna IV.

After sitting on multiple plane rides, dealing with last-minute changes to travel plans, and nursing his swollen "cankles," he and his teammates are now in the high country at about 24,000 feet, with Annapurna IV looming above them. They still have a couple thousand feet to go before summiting the incredible peak, and will blog their experiences along the way.

Everyone in Telluride seems to be heading from the hills these days, packing swimsuits, bikes, boats, climbing and camping gear for a much needed warm vacation. And it's no wonder - the mountain is closed and the Snocats are digging around, making it difficult for hikers to access any remaining and new dumps of snow.

So if you're fretting about what to do in the off season, here are Plum's picks that are perfectly ripe for the pickin'.