5 walking regions in Italy
ENRICO FORTE – Top 5 Trekking – Hiking spots of Italy on Newsvine.
The title is a little over-the-top, but it did give me some leads on hikes in Italy I had not heard of before:
1) Liguria
2) Lombardy
3) Trentino Trentino-Alto Adige
4) Veneto
5) Emilia Romagna
Friends just returned my Italia and it is near the top of my person must-hike list of destinations.
Certainly Alta Via 1 tops my list. That’s 150km hut-to-hut, the classic Dolomite high route.
Treks in the Dolomites: Alta Vie 1 and 2 (Cicerone Mountain Walking) – Amazon
new wheelchair record on Kilimanjaro
Well 4WheelBob …
Are you up to challenge Bern Goosen’s new record
Bern Goosen of South Africa reached the summit of Kilimanjaro – and in doing so, smashed his own record for the fastest ascent of the mountain in a wheelchair.
Mr Goosen – who has now reached Uhuru Peak, the summit of Kilimanjaro, twice, and remains the only man to conquer the mountain in a wheelchair – used the Rongai Route for his record attempt, covering a total distance of approximately 27.1km (16.8 miles) and gaining 3885m (12,746 feet) from the Rongai gate (sitting at 2010m, or 6595 feet above sea level), near the border with Kenya, to the summit known as Uhuru Peak (5895m, 19,341 feet) – the highest point on the |African continent.
… Amongst the other trekkers was Neil Stephenson, who lost his leg in a shark attack in his native South Africa a few years previously. Stephenson also made it to the summit.
WORLD RECORD FOR KILIMANJARO WHEELCHAIR CLIMB SMASHED! – Climb Mount Kilimanjaro
What about, instead, one of those South American volcanoes we talked about, Bob? Perhaps Misti. (5822m (19,101ft)
photo – Climbing Kilimanjaro
(via Get Outdoors)
hiking Skyline Trail, Jasper in OCTOBER
So, the University of Alberta Outdoors Club in Edmonton decided to hike the Skyline Trail in Jasper National Park in the Fall.
That’s crazy, man!
This — our favourite hike in the Canadian Rockies — is difficult enough in August.
Did they survive?
Check the trip report by Ewen on his Outdoor Video Magazine site:
… When I awoke in the morning, I discovered the rain had turned to 4 inches of snow over night, and everything was frozen solid. A temperature somewhere between -5C and -10C coupled with the rain the night before meant people had to resort to licking tent poles to get them to collapse, and I had to spend nearly 10m de-icing the bear hanger before we could get our food down.
…
Outdoor Video Magazine » Hiking the Skyline Trail- Jasper National Park
We’ve linked to Ewen’s trip report from our Skyline Trail information page.
another reason to love flickr … NOTES
Photo sharing site flickr popularized this feature called “NOTES”. And it is fantastic.
(Left to Right) Paiju Peak (Trango II?), The Trango Monk, Trango Nameless Tower (6,239 m), and the mass of the Great Trango (6,286 m) on the northern lateral moraine of the Baltoro Glacier in the Baltoro Muztagh Range. …
K2 Basecamp Trek
Baltoro Glacier
Pakistan
Late July 2006
Ahmad A Karim has many wonderful photos on flickr, by the way. Here’s another:
Sunrise from the top of Gondogoro La (5620m) on a very cloudy morning.
Between West-Vigne and Gondogoro Glaciers
Baltistan District, Northern Areas
Pakistan
3 August 2006
LAS Summer Trek 2006
And if NOTES does not impress you, Alex on the photopreneur blog posted 36 more Reasons Flickr is a Photographer’s Ultimate Tool.
Jaccuzzi on Mont-Blanc summit
We love hikes to hot springs. But this is ridiculous …
After over six years of evolution, the concept of “jaccuzzi events†has led to the realization of a dream. …
For us, Jaccuzzi Events are parties that are thrown in unexpected and exceptional places. …
more amazing photos – Jaccuzzi on mont-blanc summit – Jaccuzzi.ch
Jaccuzzi on Mont-Blanc summit 15771ft (4807m), September 13th 2007
(via GO blog)
The Beckoning Silence – Joe Simpson returns
The Beckoning Silence is one of the compelling mountaineering books written by Joe Simpson. It’s not as good as his Touching the Void, in my opinion, but is still brilliant:
The Beckoning Silence – Amazon
This month a documentary — also called The Beckoning Silence — with Joe Simpson as narrator, will be released. The film is loosely adapted from Joe’s book and was created by the same team that made the BAFTA-award-winning documentary Touching the Void, my favourite outdoor film ever. (It happened in the remote Huayhuash Mountains in Peru.)
The new film The Beckoning Silence is …
… the true story of four twenty-something climbers … who attempted to climb the notorious North Face of the Eiger in 1936. They began their ascent via an access shaft from a railway tunnel that ran halfway up the mountain, but before long, tragedy struck.
… unlike Touching the Void, this distinctly chilling story does not have a happy ending. All eventually perished. Kurz was the last to die, spending a frostbitten night within feet of rescuers before signing off with the line: “Ich kann nicht mehr” (I cannot go on). …
Joe Simpson: High flyer – The Independent
If it’s half as good as Touching the Void, it will be well worth getting a copy of the new film. (Available on 4DVD on November 5th.)
The Beckoning Silence will be shown at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival in the UK November 17th with Joe and the production crew in attendance. I’d love to be at that screening!
(via The Piton)
Himalaya – Michael Palin
Just finished an excellent book, Himalaya by Michael Palin of Monty Python fame.
Palin is far better known now for his adventure travel documentaries on BBC TV. In fact, this book is the companion to Himalaya, the TV series available on DVD (2004).
Instead of reading the book, I bought it on Audible.com (about US$12) as Palin reads his own prose. And reads it very well. Both informative and amusing.
I recommend Palin to one and all. (The audio version is much lighter to take with you hiking.)
Himalaya – the book – Amazon
Michael Palin – Wikipedia
A second book was produced from Palin’s 6 month trip featuring the photos taken on the Himalayan journey by his official photographer:
Inside Himalaya – Basil Pao
PCT late season hike – Freezer Bag Cooking
Sarah’s Freezer Bag Cookingâ„¢ | Outdoor Food Simplified site is #1 for hiking food in my opinion.
But Sarah’s a hard core hiker, as well.
Check these photos from her latest trip report:
My friend Steve and I set out to do the section hike of Chinook Pass to White Pass on the PCT here in Washington. We headed southbound on this section. It is roughly a shy 30 miles. …
We left Chinook Pass in a snowstorm, the only vehicle besides us up there was the snow plow.
Would you go out this late in the year?
Snow on the PCT – trip report and more photos
Autumn hikes in North America
The Adventure Blog links to a Backpacker Magazine article. And editor Kraig adds some recommendations of his own:
We’re into October now, and that means that Autumn is in the air and soon the green leaves of Summer will give way to the bright reds, oranges, and yellows of Fall. I know that it’s a perfect time to hit a trail and enjoy the cooler weather and stunning scenery, and so do the folks over at Backpacker Magazine where they’ve compiled a nice list of suggestions on where to go depending on how much time you have to spend.
… they recommend Lowe’s Bald Spot in New Hampshire, or Lost Maples State Natural Area here in Texas …
read more … The Adventure Blog: Autumn Hiking Suggestions
In Canada it is almost too late to see the larch trees turn golden at Lake O’Hara in the Rockies. I planned to head up there myself last week — but decided, instead, to fly to Mexico for dental work.
more photos from our Fall 2006 trip – flickr
besthike.com 