Who knew time lapses and bikes could go so well together. Check out the trailer to Life Cycles, a cinematic, visual adventure into Canadian mountain biking. Not your average bike movie.

Life Cycles OFFICIAL Trailer from Life Cycles on Vimeo.

--Caroline Treadway

Including news, features, photo galleries and videos, What Matters? is dedicated to covering adventure sports, active travel and the outdoor lifestyle on behalf of VentureThere.com--a member of the USA TODAY Travel Alliance.

Screenshot courtesy Big Up Productions.

Whether or not First Round First Minute will become the hardest route in the world, is yet to be determined. But for Chris Sharma, it looked pretty difficult. The world famous rock climber had projected the powerful route, which trends up a streaked, pocketed limestone wall in Margalef, Spain, for a year and a half. On April 19, he finally sent. This footage, which debuted in the Reel Rock Film Tour last year, and was produced by Big Up Productions, documents the world's hardest rock climber battling what could be the world's hardest route. It's exciting stuff, I can't wait to see the send!

-- Caroline Treadway

Including news, features, photo galleries and videos, What Matters? is dedicated to covering adventure sports, active travel and the outdoor lifestyle on behalf of VentureThere.com--a member of the USA TODAY Travel Alliance.

Camp 4 Collective's latest expedition to the Ennedi desert in Chad, tells the story of three elite climbers who scour the African desert for untouched, hidden towers, and climb them.

The mission, sponsored by The North Face, follows Mark Synnott, climber and writer, James Pearson, a young Brit known for hard trad ascents, and the more-than-bold Alex Honnold, the who's climbed some of the biggest and baddest walls, without a rope, as they drive 400 miles into the Ennedi, sans road, and encounter sand, bandits and crazy looking rocks to climb along the way.

"Chad is everything you could imagine and more," said Camp 4's Tim Kemple. "We went to the middle of nowhere, in a country that is one of the most barren I've ever been too. An awesome adventure with some of my best friends."

With an enviable amount of technical genius and climbing experience, Camp 4 is a team of climbers turned production artists who capture extreme athletes and their rarified adventures on camera, in a way that few could. By combining their creative talents, Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk and Tim Kemple have branded themselves into a visual tour de force of the outdoor industry, producing some of the hottest, story-driven content out there.

Check out this teaser from their upcoming film, Towers of the Ennedi, and witness the Camp 4 magic.

FINAL TNF Chad Expedition Teaser 3.14.11 from Camp 4 Collective on Vimeo.

Also check out this photo gallery from the trip. http://www.venturethere.com/photos/album/Climbing-Expedition-in-the-Sahara-Desert/121.html

--Caroline Treadway

Including news, features, photo galleries and videos, What Matters? is dedicated to covering adventure sports, active travel and the outdoor lifestyle on behalf of VentureThere.com--a member of the USA TODAY Travel Alliance.