Category: alpine

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Triple Crown Hikes in Waterton this summer

by site editor Rick McCharles


3 hikes
up to 55km
2650m elevation gain

I can’t resist. Waterton is the best kept secret in Canadian hiking. Tourists flock to Banff in the Rockies, leaving Waterton National Park to us local insiders.

I’m going to complete the Triple Crown myself and get my name on the Glory Board.

… Crypt Lake (9km), Akamina Ridge (20km) and the Alderson-Carthew Summit (16km) in one summer.

I’ll do the 3 during one trip, I think. Either end of June. … Or in August.

I’ve done Crypt and Alderson-Carthew in the past. But never Akamina. It looks great.

Details on ExperienceWaterton.com.

Leave a comment if you want to use the Triple Crown challenge as an excuse to get your butt to Waterton.

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falling to fly, not falling to die

Dean Potter is one of the most interesting extreme athletes in history.

Death wish? … Or does Dean have it all figured out?

Dean Potter is characterized by creativity, commitment and challenge. He started climbing as a child, with a free solo fall from a stone wall as one of his earliest memories. Since that time, he has speed soloed Half Dome and El Capitan, Cerro Torre, and Fitzroy. He was the first to make a one-day free ascent of El Cap and Half Dome, and a one-day speed linkup of both of those big walls and Mount Watkins, Yosemites third Grade VI wall. He has also established testpiece crack routes in the Utah desert and highball boulder problems in Yosemite.

Dean has walked the longest highlines, often without a safety leash, though he has dedicated over a decade of engineering and testing to create the safest highline systems currently used. Most recently, he has combined BASE jumping skill with highlining and free soloing, using a specially engineered ultralight BASE rig as his backup system. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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hiking the eastern Eastern Sierra

Last June I tried hiking Kearsarge Pass in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, California.

I didn’t get very far. The snow on the trails was too deep, even at fairly low elevation.

This year I was there even earlier, in mid-May. (When will I learn?)

Older and wiser, I stopped by the Inter Agency Visitor Center in Lone Pine (where you pick up Whitney permits) … and looked for the eldest, wisest Ranger. He instantly knew where to send me when I asked,

“Where’s the best hike … TODAY?”

Immediately he gave me directions to an unmarked hiking area on the eastern side of Highway 395. The mountains on the Nevada side were mostly clear of snow.

hiking the eastern Sierra Nevada

The trails were rutted ATV and jeep tracks, so I took off cross-country to the top of the nearest peak.

Check out the views of Mt. Whitney across the valley.

Rick hiking the eastern Sierra Nevada

My half-day hike was fun. And challenging, actually. I decided on a slightly more adventurous descent via this water course.

hiking the eastern Sierra Nevada

Lesson learned – seek expert local knowledge before you go off hiking. It worked for me.

The only other hike I’ve ever done in the eastern Eastern Sierra was Mt. White, with 4WheelBob. (PHOTOS) (VIDEO)

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youngest ever to climb Everest

It’s easy to criticize the parents for letting their “child” do something so dangerous.

A 13-Year-Old Kid Has Summited Everest

But this kid is no rookie. He’s already completed 6 of the 7 summits. In December he’s scheduled to attempt Vinson Massif in Antarctica.

There’s some age that’s “too young” for high altitude mountaineering. But I’m not sure what age that would be. It depends on the child, I’m thinking.

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hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

Though May is reckoned to be the best month to hike Capitol Reef, rather than set up a tent I fled to this little “camping cabin“.

hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

Good call. Morning dawned well below zero with plenty of snow on the ground.

hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

The Visitor Center is everyone’s first stop. From there it’s only a few miles to Hickman Bridge trailhead where you have the option of 4 hikes:

• Hickman Bridge
• Rim Overlook
• Navajo Knobs – 9mi return, 1649ft ascent
• Cohab Canyon

These range from “easy” (Hickman Bridge) to “challenging” (The Knobs), ideal for a mixed ability group.

The route is well marked with cairns.

hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

Views are wonderful throughout though there’s not much protection from wind and sun.

Pectols Pyramid is the first highlight of many.

Pectols Pyramid - hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

My first rattlesnake ever! (They’ve seen me, but I’ve never seen one of them.)

hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

… Apparently it’s too early in the Spring for this guy. And a Ranger told me they are only very rarely found on this trail.

Was he looking for this guy?

hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

The route climbs parallel with the highway. Here’s the valley far below:

hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

That’s them?

The Navajo Knobs?

hiking Navajo Knobs, Utah

A bit of a let down. They’re simply 2 bumps of limestone atop the Waterpocket Fold. The main reason to go the extra miles is to see around the corner. It’s impressive!

I left a Summit Stone atop one Knob, reward for anyone keen enough to get up there.

Rangers were pushing this guidebook: Capitol Reef National Park – The Complete Hiking and Touring Guide.

I used my trusty Lonely Planet Hiking in the USA.

As both a driving tour, and hiking destination, I highly recommend Capitol Reef.

See the rest of my photos from this day hike.

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fear the Henry Mountains, Utah

These black, bleak peaks looming over 8000ft above the surrounding deserts are out-of-place.

Remote. Barren. Inaccessible.

Nobody lives there, aside from American bison. And that was by forced relocation. Poor beasts.

The Bureau of Land Management do not make regular patrols. Too dangerous, I assume.

… The Henry Mountains were the last mountain range to be added to the map of the 48 contiguous U.S. states (1872), and before their official naming …, sometimes referred to as the “Unknown Mountains.” …

One hiker dared climb, Bob Palin. Read his photo trip report: Hiking Mount Ellen

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Dave Adlard climbs Mt Ranier

When I gave Dave my expedition hiking pack, I had no idea he was planning to become the next insane high altitude mountaineer.

Here’s his (lengthy) Mt Ranier trip report from this past weekend:

If I live to be 100, I may never see a better day to climb, especially on the fickle Mt. Rainier.

I had been looking forward to this weekend for a while – everyone  normally “do stuff with” was out of town, and so i had noted this date on my calendar as a possibility for getting over and doing a “real” mountain. I had had no luck finding a climbing partner, and so, with a little bit of trepidation, I made the 6.5 hour drive toward Rainier on my own, with ever increasing clouds as I got closer.

Once at the Paradise visitor’s center/trailhead, I was amazed at how deserted it was… normally, on weekends and in the summer, this place is packed, but the climbing/hiking season didn’t actually open until the next day. …

Continue reading “Dave Adlard climbs Mt Ranier”

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Gear Junkie at Everest Base Camp

STEPHEN REGENOLD is on drugs.

… Acetazolamide. That’s what’s written on the bottle. Diamox is its more common commercial name, and because of its aid in acclimatization, the medication is among the most popular with trekkers and climbers in the Khumbu Region of Nepal.

In two weeks, I have come from Minneapolis to Mount Everest, from about 1,000 feet above sea level at home to the thin air of Base Camp. I pushed one day higher still to 18,600 feet, ascending a small peak near Everest (Kala Patthar) for a view of Mount Pumori and the stark black pyramid of Everest itself, an angle of rock piercing to 29,035 feet in the sky. …

click through to read about his trek – Thin Air: Essay on Everest Base Camp

I’m still waiting on a summary report from Kraig Becker, the Adventure Blogger, who was there about the same time.

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Bhairab Kunda trek, Nepal

UPDATE: Thanks to FV here are links to an excellent trip report by Thegaddabouts. And thanks to David, check out some great photos of this trip found by a Bing Search.

=== original post:

I heard about this trek first on Facebook. This photo by Rene Jungsnickel was posted by Trekking, Hiking, Walking….

Yet when I search Google, all that comes up is a long list of trek guiding companies.

What I want is a Wikipedia entry for the hike.

Or some flickr photos.

Or some trip reports.

I should be able to filter out the “commercial” hits on a Google search. Is there an alternative search engine that does?