Rick Mc

November 8, 2008

Banff Mountain Film Festival – best books

Last year I stayed the entire week in Banff for the famous festival … and was somewhat disappointed.

This year â€” though it’s only an hour away â€” I’m giving it a complete miss.

Here’s the first review I’ve seen online:

I arrived at the Banff Film and Book Festival last night to find snow flurries and white-capped gorgeous Canadian rockies surrounding the Banff Center, and where last night a few Outside colleagues took top honors at the Book Awards. Out of 113 entries from 14 countries, these were the winners:

1) Outside contributing editor Nick Heil’s book, Dark Summit, The True Story of Everest’s Most Controversial Season, won the John Whyte award for Mountain Literature. …

2) Former Hardway columnist Mark Jenkins’ book, A Man’s Life: Dispatches From Dangerous Places, a collection of his popular Hardway columns, won the Adventure Travel writing award. …

3) The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek by Sid Marty won the Canadian Rockies award, which celebrates regional talent.

4) Mont Blanc by Mario Colonel won the Mountain Image award for best photography.

5) Fallen Giants by Maurice Isserman and Stewart Weaver won the mountaineering History award. It was annouced that the book also has been nominated for a Pulitzer.

6) Lofoten Rock by Chris Craggs won the Mountain Exposition Award.

7) The Grand Prize was shared by Sid Marty’s The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek, and The Wild Places, by Robert McFarland.

8) Fatal Tide: When the Race of a Lifetime Goes Wrong by David Leach received a special mention.

Tons of terrific authors are in attendance at the Festival this year, including Jennifer Lowe-Anker (author of Forget Me Not: A Memoir, about her life with Alex Lowe); Maria Coffey (author of Explorers of the Infinite); Topher Donahue (author of Bugaboo Dreams); climber Majka Burhardt (who gave an inspiring presentation about her book, Vertical Ethiopia); and Dr. Geoff Tabin, author of Blind Corners: Adventures on Everest and the World’s Tallest Peaks (who gave a hilarious and moving presentation about his work performing cataract surgery in the Himalaya, and whose projects were written about by Dark Summit author Nick Heil in Outside and filmed by Serac Adventure Films’ Michael Brown.

—Mary Turner – Outside – The 7 Best Adventure Books at Banff

This is the one I added to my “to read soon” list:

Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes

November 8, 2008

hiking popular in Norway

I keep hearing that hiking is getting less popular in North America.

Not so in Norway:

… the Norwegian Trekking Association has 222,291 members. Around 7000 of these joined this year, an increase of 3.6 percent compared to last year.

A trend?

Head of communications at DNT, Merete Habberstad speculates as to why membership keeps increasing:

â€œIt may have something to do with the current situation, I donâ€™t know. However, in the past weâ€™ve seen that times of financial troubles have given our organisation more members,â€ Habbarstad says.

All-time growth for Trekking Association

November 6, 2008

Annapurna Base Camp, Nepal

My buddy Grant Assenheimer just emailed:

Leaving tomorrow for the Annapurna Base Camp.Â Have to get my permits today, pick up a sleeping roll and sleeping bag and some chocolate and I’m good to go.Â Haven’t managed to find anyone to go with me yet but I’m not going to let that slow me down.Â Should be able to find someone in Pokara and, if not, surely on the trail!Â No guide or porter…I agree with you and don’t think it is needed at all!!
Â
I’ll send youÂ a pic!

larger version – flickr – mikemellinger

more interesting photos of Annapurna Base Camp

My own solo trek to ABC in Nepal was one of my personal best hikes.

Here’s an excerpt from my 1998 trip report:

… Access to the Sanctuary is via an intensely scenic gorge; a narrow, winding trail through dense bamboo and huge trees. You scramble over river boulders; gnarled, polished hardwood roots; traverse the most recent avalanche tracks; climb bamboo ladders.

There are no permanent settlements here. This is the only major trekking route in Nepal subject to serious avalanche risk. Occasionally backpackers are trapped at basecamp when tons of snow collapse into the gorge from the unseen. On November 11, 1995 a freak early winter storm resulted in the death of 63 people in Nepal. This caused a bit of unease when it started raining, hailing, and snowing while I ascended to the notch of the Sanctuary gate.

The basecamp itself is bleak. An eerie calm. No wind, though clouds swirl in every direction up on the mountain tops. The scene is dominated by huge, white, vertical Annapurna — one of the most difficult faces ever climbed. On Christmas day 1997 an avalanche here killed Anatoli Boukreev, the Tiger Woods of high altitude, and subject of the best seller, The Climb. …

Annapurna Sanctuary – trip report

original – flickr – Gianni Scopinaro

related: besthike Annapurna Circuit information page

November 6, 2008

walking Sydney to Perth

This would be a death sentence for almost any serious trekker.

Seems this guy â€” benjamin safari â€” is giving it a go.

I have NO IDEA why he’s carrying all that crap.

benjamin safari – MySpace

November 5, 2008

magic rock balancing video

Danny Brown put together an interesting art piece.

A short film that is played entirely in reverse and involves the “reverse destruction” of balanced rock sculptures. There is one character in the movie that appears to magically create these sculptures. Although the film is played in reverse it appears as the man who is doing his magic is going forwards in time.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via The Adventure Channel)

November 5, 2008

gorgeous Himalaya photos

Ian Parnell is a photographer and photo blogger. He posted some highlight pics on Planet Fear from 4 climbing trips to the world’s highest mountains.

A must read.

more photos – Visions Of The Himalaya

(via The Adventure Blog)

November 3, 2008

trek the Pakistan / India border?

The Indian army has gone ahead with plans to allow trekkers to visit the disputed Siachen glacier, despite protests from Pakistan. Three civilians were among 42 members of an expedition which left Leh in Ladakh on Wednesday for the glacier area, an army spokesman told the BBC.

It is not the first time that civilians have been to Siachen, between Pakistani and Indian-administered Kashmir.

But new Indian plans for “adventure tourism” there have angered Pakistan.

The two sides have fought and argued over the 5,500m-high glacier – described as the world’s highest battlefield – for decades. …

The expedition has been made possible because of a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan which has held for almost four years. …

Officials say that India has decided to open 200 peaks, including four on Siachen, to climbers as part of a national “adventure park” project to attract more tourists.

BBC

‘Adventure park’ is the term being used now by India. But some dreamers have called the proposal a “peace park“.

This looks more like posturing to me. I doubt I’ll be heading for the Kashmir border â€” the World’s Highest Battle Field â€” any time soon.

India has perhaps 5,000 troops on the Siachen glacier, while Pakistan has fewer than half that number. Harsh weather in claims many more lives than fighting.

original – flickr – more photos from this set

It must be a beautiful, but boring, military outpost.

The beautiful coincidence point of Siachen and Baltoro glaciers (75 km & 64 km respectively).The two longest non-polar glaciers in the world.More than 60 peaks (above 7000 metres) of Karakoram mountain range are clustered around the both two.Baltoro glacier contains 28 peaks above 7000 metres with 4 even above 8000 metres & the Siachen glacier contains 32 peaks above 7000 metres.

larger version – flickr – Heartkins

more interesting photos tagged “Siachen glacier” on flickr

November 3, 2008

beautiful Mt Sanqingshan, China

Mount Sanqingshan National Park was recently added to the World Heritage List.

The photos are beautiful.

… a unique array of forested, fantastically shaped granite pillars and peaks …

larger original – flickr – GenekÂ´s cards

It has some crazy cliffside pathways similar to those of Mount Hua (Hua Shan).

larger original – flickr – Vincent H P Liu

more interesting Sanqingshan photos on flickr

Mount Sanqing (Chinese: ä¸‰æ¸…å±±; Pinyin: SÄnqÄ«ng ShÄn) or San Qing Mountain – Wikipedia

(via The Adventure Blog)

November 1, 2008

trip report – Ausangate Circuit, Peru

Ausangate is our #4 best hike in the world.

That’s a demanding 70km (43.5mi) plus sidetrips recommended only for confident hikers acclimatized at high altitude.

The best trip report I’ve seen yet was posted on Photodiary of a Nomad. That’s a couple who have documented “4000km of walks, with detailed descriptions and over 8000 photos”.

From Ausangate Circuit (part 1):

At 6372m, Nevado Ausangate is the highest mountain in the Cuzco Region.

The mountains were sacred to the Andean people and Apu Ausangate was considered one of the most important deities, the origin of alpacas and llamas and the source of many legends. It stands somewhat isolated from the rest of the Cordillera Vilcanota, a massif with several distinct peaks and many glaciers lining the hollows and slopes between them.

To circumnavigate this massif, you need to cross four major passes, two of which are over 5000m, while the valleys that head off in different directions are home to quechua-speaking mountain people whose daily lives have changed little in centuries. To trek the Ausangate Circuit provides not only the opportunity to experience the alpine landscapes of the high Andes, but to see how life was, and still is, like in its harsh environment. …

The scenery is stunning.

I highly recommend you click through to check it out: Ausangate Circuit (part 1)

What to hike Peru yourself?

Check our besthike Ausangate information page.

October 31, 2008

yet more Autumn photos

Hiking Guide author John Soares has a blog called Northern California Hiking Trails. I’ve recently subscribed.

I liked John’s post on the Fall Colors in Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon.

One of John’s books:

100 Classic Hikes in Northern California: Sierra Nevada/ Cascade Mountains/ Klamath Mountains/ Coast Range and North Coast/ San Francisco Bay Area (100 Classic Hikes)