Category: alpine

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trek the Himalayan kingdom of Mustang

Ever since I looked down the forbidden valley from Kagbeni while trekking the Annapurna Circuit, I’ve wanted to hike Lo Mustang in Nepal. Sadly, no independent hiking is allowed.

Kagbeni at 2810 m, spectacularly situated atop a cliff overlooking the confluence of the Kali Gandaki and the Jhong Khola rivers, is the last village in Lower Mustang and guards the entrance into Upper Mustang, visible across the Kali Gandaki riverbed. It is the northernmost village that can be visited without a permit to continue on to Mustang.

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Northwards into Upper Mustang – larger photo on flickr – Claudia

Footprint Tours is one of the few companies who offer trekking trips:

… Until 1992 less than a dozen foreigners had been to Mustang. Now, in an effort to protect this culture, access is limited with less than 800 trekkers making the journey each year. The requirement to pay high restricted-area fees, travel with an organised group and take a Liaison Officer, together with difficult access continue to make the Kingdom of Lo an uncommon destination. …

A trek to the Himalayan kingdom of Mustang in the restricted regions of Nepal

That same site has a nice overview of Himalayan trekking for those who have never been:

tr02.jpgIn 1965 Colonel Jimmy Roberts introduced the world to trekking. As a former Gurkha Officer and Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Kathmandu he had spent years of his life walking the hills of Nepal. His idea, revolutionary for the time, was to provide tents together with Sherpas, to guide and cook.

This made Nepal and the Himalaya available to a wide community and was an immediate success.

Nowadays the formula is well established; groups travel through the hills, walking for five to six hours each day with all their equipment carried by porters or yaks; good quality meals are provided along with warm sleeping bags and comfortable tents; the trekker carries a personal pack with camera, day clothing and snacks. …

photo – Jimmy Roberts in 1996 a year before his death.

read more – What is Trekking?

At this rate, I may need to wait until independent hiking is allowed.

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trekking in Afghanistan?

I’d love to get to Afghanistan for hiking.

This article from the Time’s Online says it’s only for the very adventurous at this point:

Afghanistan is bursting with potential as a future tourist destination. Its mountains could rival Nepal as a trekking destination, while Silk Road cities like Herat with their brightly tiled mosques are the match of more celebrated rivals like Samarkand or Isfahan. The jewelled lakes of Band-e Amir are itching to have feet dipped in them. Nomads lead their camel caravans past the broken remains of tanks. The promise is there, and Afghans and travellers alike are just waiting for the right moment to finally return.

…

How to holiday in Afghanistan | Asia – Times Online

Of course the late, great Eric Newby went in dangerous times. One of my favourite hiking books:

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush – Amazon

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Everest Rocks 2007

My first reaction to “rock musicians on Everest” … ah, another media stunt.

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Yet they look entirely serious. Very well organized.

Perhaps this will help the Nepalese trekking industry too, which is again threatened by Maoist rebels.

They are getting big-time media attention: USA Today, MSNBC Music, SKY News, BBC and more.

… our most momentous climb and concert benefiting The Nepal Cancer Relief Society (NCRS). Cancer survivors and co founders of the Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHSF) Mike Peters and James Chippendale will lead 40 musicians, cancer survivors and mountaineers to Base Camp to perform an acoustic concert to help the Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital build the infrastructure of its clinic, NCRS, by providing them with much needed equipment and funding. In a country where the Avg. annual income is $300 a year our donation and support is going a long way to save lives NOW.

… The entire journey will be captured by a documentary team headed by Alex Coletti (the acclaimed producer of MTV’s ‘Unplugged’ series). The taping will include the training, kickoff events, trek and base camp acoustic set. …

Everest Rocks 2007

And we can even apply to join their trekking support team for future Love Hope Strength events like this.

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trekking route – map

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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

Alta Vie 1 and 2 (Cicerone Mountain Walking)

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new wheelchair record on Kilimanjaro

Well 4WheelBob …

k-wheels03.jpgAre 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)

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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

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We’ve linked to Ewen’s trip report from our Skyline Trail information page.

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another reason to love flickr … NOTES

Photo sharing site flickr popularized this feature called “NOTES”. And it is fantastic.

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(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

Rockclimbing Hell on Flickr

Ahmad A Karim has many wonderful photos on flickr, by the way. Here’s another:

508259051_da8b412308.jpg

larger original

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.

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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. …

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more amazing photos – Jaccuzzi on mont-blanc summit – Jaccuzzi.ch

Jaccuzzi on Mont-Blanc summit 15771ft (4807m), September 13th 2007

(via GO blog)

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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

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)