A video of a thrill-seeker who traveled to remote Vanatu, to the island of Ambrym, to get up close and personal with the rim of one of the world's most remote active volcanos, probably so he could make a video of it, has been going viral the last couple days. And that (arguably idiotic) thrill-seeker turns out to be San Francisco startup guy, Sam Cossman, who went with friend and fellow explorer George Kourounis along with professional volcano guides Geoff Mackley and Brad Ambrose to the Marum Crater, a volcano that's been active for 2,000 years. And they took their GoPros.
According to Facebook, Crossman works at Xola, a company that works in the realm of these sort of "rare and extreme expeditions [that] are physically challenging and costly." * (The volcano adventure is now front and center on Xola's homepage, where visitors are asked to check a box that says, "I confirm that I would be able and willing to contribute between $15,000 - $25,000 to participate [in adventures like this]." Why go whitewater rafting as a team-building exercise when you can do something much more potentially deadly!?)
It's also, obviously, a terrific ad for GoPro cameras, just like that lengthy Anderson Cooper segment on 60 Minutes.
Pretending not to be shilling for his company, Cossman tells ABC, "I like to live a little bit outside the box," and he mentioned on YouTube that, "More people have visited the moon than the firey [sic] bottom of this spectacular and deadly place." It's unclear if he can prove that claim, since records on Ambrym may not be that well kept going back 2,000 years. But anyway, it does look like it's hard to get to! And that crater is deep (1200 feet), and required rock-climbing equipment, special fire-proof suits, and a four-day camping trip.
They've got 2 million hits on YouTube in just four days, and yesterday Cossman appeared on Good Morning America to talk about his trip:
In the video (below), while standing what seems to be just a few feet from the bubbling cauldron of magma, Cossman and company see a nice fat nugget of molten rock shoot up and land near them. They were probably at risk of being doused by a larger burst of fiery death, but they stood around taking some lovely, dramatic, National Geographic-style footage of the volcano nonetheless. Cossman told GMA, "It's been relatively stable for a few years... There's always an element of risk, but the risk was worth it to me."
Did he get to plug his company in that appearance? Nope! But I guess I'm doing it for him here. Nice work.
Update: Cossman writes in to say that our take on his story was not entirely accurate. See his corrections below, on the nature of this company, and the volcano guide.
Xola is not a startup that sells extreme experience. It is and has always been a (Saas) company that provides booking and reservation software for activity companies. Our goal is to empower small lifestyle businesses with tools to help them make money doing what they love. Plain and simple, it’s a noble pursuit. It wasn’t until after I returned that, we changed our landing page and began running an experiment to validate demand for this extreme consumer experience, but to date, we have never sold one or claimed to sell one spot. We are simply collecting information at this point. We have been around for 3 years and have a respectable business with hundreds of loyal customers that we serve.Xola had nothing to do with my expedition, so it wasn’t a business expense. It was purely something I was passionate about doing, so I saved up to achieve this goal...
Additionally, I had no intentions of making a viral video, in fact the only reason i posted it was to share the link with a few friends.
We were accompanied by volcanologists. anthologists, and film makers to document this rarely seen place. It wasn’t a thrill seeking experience...
Geoff Mackley was the first person to have descended to the bottom of the crater, this is a well known fact by adventurers around the world. The only people who have subsequently gone in, have done so with him. I’d encourage you to chat with he and the Vanuatu community if you’d like to dispute the number of people he claims to have taken with him.
* This article has been corrected to show that Xola is not a company that sells extreme travel, and Cossman did not use this as a business expense.
Photo via GMA
