March 2006

"SPORTS. On the verge of the impossible"

For the second year running, a minisheet made up of six stamps and six illustrations is devoted to the TV programme “Al filo de lo imposible” (on the verge of the impossible). This issue is included in the Sports series and shows scenes filmed by the main characters of the programme and given exclusively to make up this attractive minisheet.

Faithful to team work, solidarity, risk and adventure, this TV programme continues to explore the few places that are still practically unexplored in the planet. The series began to be broadcasted more than 20 years ago by the public television and its documentaries have allowed us to get to know the most extraordinary places in the world. According to Sebastián Alvaro, the programme director, Al Filo de lo Imposible aims at spreading a different way of life, with a deep respect for places, people and culture.

In the minisheet are depicted different sports scenes like mountain bike, which enables going through hidden tracks difficult to reach. One of the best mountain ranges of the Iberian Peninsula for practising this sport are the Pyrenees which are depicted in this issue.

The paraglider is a type of flight consisting of jumping from a mountain in a parachute. In the 90’s the team of Al Filo de lo Imposible flew over the highest vulcanoes on earth, some of them in the Chilean region of Antofagasta, which is depicted in the minisheet.

The crossing of the desert is the adventure par excellence. In the winter of 2004, a team pursued the crossing made by the German Gerhard Rohlfs in 1874, travelling 800 kilometres through the Libic desert in Egypt.

The adventure of navigating around the Iberian Penninsula in kayak, was performed by three canoeists of the programme. They had to carry the tent and the survival kit in the kayak during the three months that took them to travel the 3,500 kilometres.

Rafting allows the descent through rough water streams of fierce rivers. The Bio Bio (Chile) is one of the most complicated.

The gullies descent combines speleologists and climbing techniques used in the Reunion island to film some of the deepest ravines in the world.