Category: alpine

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Alpine Lakes Wilderness = BUGGY

Just finished a week hiking and biking out of Leavenworth, Washington. (Trip reports to come.)

… Alpine Lakes Wilderness … is one of the most popular outdoor recreational areas in the State of Washington.

Although this area has the wilderness designation and no motorized vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, or even bicycles can operate … there is heavy foot traffic and camping throughout. … managing the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area to preserve its integrity is very challenging. …

This being my first visit, there are a couple of lessons learned:

• Mosquitoes and no-see-ums are terrible anywhere near alpine lakes. Doh!

I’d hoped it was just this summer, buggy in August due to the long, late Spring. But one regular hiker in the area told me it’s always this bad.

• The Enchantments truly are the most popular destination, with fierce competition for camping permits.

The (grumpy) Rangers in Leavenworth leave pre-booked permits outside in a rustic wooden box. At least one was stolen this past weekend, the actual group that had booked and paid for it required to wait around a few hours before getting a replacement. (Parks needs to find a way to prevent this problem.)

One solution, I feel, is simply to open up more camping permits for the Enchantments. Is that high region really much more vulnerable to human damage than anywhere else in the Cascade Range? … Or have they created an artificial shortage.

I saw plenty of campsites, plenty of toilets up there.

related – Washington Trails Association – Enchantment Lakes

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42 day trek Dolpo, Mustang, Nepal $5550

If I had the cash, I’d definitely sign on for this guided adventure led by Jamie McGuinness.

Highlights

+ Upper Mustang
+ stunning, otherworldly scenery
+ remote, little trekked route
+ magical Dolpo
+ a landscape photographer’s paradise
+ REAL exploration!

Sept 25 – Nov 5, 2011

Watch Jamie’s HIGHLIGHT photos from the 2010 edition of this trek.

details on project-himalaya.com

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hiking the Enchantments today

by site editor Rick McCharles

7:45am at the Ranger Station in Leavenworth, Washington, one group permit for the prized Enchantments was available by lottery of everyone standing in front of the door.

Never having lost a lottery in the past, I was confident the hiking Gods would smile on me once again.

They didn’t.

… but another group of losers explained that the Snow Lake camping permit is possibly just as good. Even better, I think, for a solo hiker with only one vehicle. It’s more scenic (overall) than the Aasgard Pass route anyway, I’m told.

I got the single available Snow Lake permit ($5/day) without a fight.

… so, I’ll hike in 6.5 miles to camp at Snow Lake, gaining 4100 feet. Then day hike the Enchantments Sunday, tenting again at Snow Lake. Exiting Monday.

The weather looks perfect. The itinerary perfect.

Gnome Tarn

The Enchantments is an area comprising an upper and a lower basin, the lakes and tarns contained within them, and the peaks of the Stuart Range bounding the basins. The area is located entirely within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Leavenworth, Washington in the United States. The Enchantments is regarded as one of the most spectacular locations in the Cascade Range. …

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Iceland – hiking the East coast

Richard Tulloch:

I’m sorry, Tasmania, Swiss Alps, New Zealand and even you, Himalayas. You’ve each just been knocked down one place in my ‘world’s most spectacular hiking destination’ list.

Five days tramping around the ‘Deserted Inlets’ of Iceland’s east coast have shot it to number one in the rankings for scenery, challenging terrain within safe limits and ‘having the place to yourself-ness’. …

read more – ICELAND – hiking with vikings

My hiking guidebook didn’t even mention that part of Iceland. No wonder they had it to themselves.

Richard was a guest of Fifty Degrees North:

Trip Name: Hiking at the End of the World
5 days
Strenuous
Price from: AU$1280

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Sierra Crest Route, California

Ben Egan sends a link to an Adventure I’ve not heard of before. It parallels these two great hikes:

• John Muir Trail, 211 miles (340 km), our #2 hike in the world.

• Sierra High Route, 195 miles (314 km), is similar, but higher and harder.

Now check out the Sierra Crest Route as documented by Leonard Daughenbaugh.

If the John Muir Trail is for the masses, Roper’s Sierra High Route is more of a mountaineer’s journey. Your Sierra Crest Route takes it to the next level.

—Bob Rockwell, Author and Sierra Mountaineer

I was definitely impressed with the concept and the research.

—Steve Roper, Author and Sierra Mountaineer

read more

The goal is to stay within a mile of the actual Sierra Crest, most often within a half mile.

Be clear. The SCR is not a “hike”:

Leonard Daughenbaugh:

Since the Crest Route is designed to be a mountaineering rather than a rock climbing route, the last requirement is that there be no individual move on the route that is technically more difficult than class 3.

Based on my evaluations, and, where available, ratings in various climbing and mountaineering guidebooks, all moves on the Route meet this requirement. There are, however, two crossings, “Jones Pass” and “Jones Traverse,” that, because of their exposure and route finding difficulties, travelers might feel are more difficult than class 3. …

Sounds great. But the Sierra High Route already is difficult enough for me.

If you are interested, the only place to get more information is SierraCrestRoute.org.

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Sierra High Route 2012

When Andrew Skurka says a trail is tough, it’s tough.

The Sierra High Route (SHR) is a 195-mile trekking route that runs north-south across the heart of the Sierra Nevada Range, through Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park, John Muir Wilderness, Ansel Adams Wilderness, and Yosemite National Park.

It is a rugged alternate to the John Muir Trail (JMT)– it boasts about 100 miles of cross-country travel, numerous Class III scrambles, and endless miles of boulder hopping. SHR hikers are rewarded with pristine alpine settings, long stretches of solitude, and a sense of true adventure.

I hiked the SHR in early-July 2008 with famed ultra runner Buzz Burrell, who at 56 years young is still going really strong. We were both taken back by the immensity of the High Sierra — its alpine regions are vaster than any other place we’d been in the Lower 48, in both length and girth, which is not necessarily the impression given by the JMT. I would have to imagine that this trip with Buzz will be just the first of several trips on the SHR. We comfortably did the entire route in 8 days and 4 hours, an average about 23 miles a day. …

AndrewSkurka.com

Skurka’s site links to the best guidebook and Andrew’s personal Mapset & Databook.

I’m going to want GPS coordinates and a SPOT Satellite Messenger device.

Leave a comment if you might be interested in doing this trip summer 2012.

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Venables – Higher Than the Eagle Soars: A Path to Everest

Stephen Venables is one high altitude mountaineer you’ve heard about, since he didn’t die young.

I really enjoyed his 2008 career retrospective – Higher Than the Eagle Soars: A Path to Everest.

It won Best Book — Mountain Literature at the 2007 Banff Mountain Book Festival.

In 1988, Venables became the first Briton to ascend the summit of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen. His ascent, as far as the South Col, was by a new route up the Kangshung Face from Tibet, with just three other climbers, Americans Robert Anderson and Ed Webster, and Canadian Paul Teare.

All four reached the South Col but Teare decided to descend from here, concerned about incipient altitude sickness. The other three continued up the final section of the normal 1953 route, but Anderson and Webster were forced to turn back at the South Summit.

Meanwhile Venables reached the summit alone, at 3.40 pm.[1] Descending late in the day, he decided to bivouac in the open at about 8,600 metres, rather than risk a fall by continuing in the dark. Anderson and Webster spent the night slightly lower in an abandoned Japanese tent. In the morning all three were reunited and continued down to their own tents on the South Col. It took them a further three days to complete an epic retreat down the Kangshung Face. All three climbers suffered some frostbite, with Webster affected worst. …

Venables is a fine writer. A better writer than climber if his autobiography is to be believed.

An early letter of recommendation from one Dr. Buxton:

Dear Sirs,

Stephen Venables shows little aptitude for academic work, so he might as well spend the summer climbing.

He recently injured himself falling off a cliff in Bristol, so I should imagine that some alpine training would be a very good idea.

Yours sincerely,

John Buxton

His life story is one of one underfunded, under-planned, over-enthusiastic misadventure after another. I’m very happy to be a hiker, not a climber after reading the life & death tale of Kangshung.

Venables as a young man hung out at Snell’s Field in Chamonix while his American contemporaries were living on a shoestring budget at Camp 4 in Yosemite.

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survived Corsica’s GR 20 …

by site editor Rick McCharles

I grossly underestimated the difficulty of “Europe’s toughest trek“, the 180km long GR 20.

The second night was my low point, both hamstrings cramped. … I thought I’d need to quit, following two other hikers who decided to limp out due to blisters.

But each day I got stronger, the pack lighter. I ended up doing about 100kms of the tougher ‘half’ of the total route over 6 challenging days.

The last day was a long scramble to the summit of Monte d’Oro.

That was FUN. Perfect weather.

Less fun, from there (7837ft / 2389m) … it’s about 1400m straight down to the narrow gauge railway line at Vizzavona, where I made my escape.

That’s my toughest hike ever, by far.

Trip report and photos coming SOON.

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Great Himalaya Trail

The ultimate long trek in the world, I reckon, is the Nepal section of the GHT.

The Great Himalaya Trail is one of the longest and highest walking trails in the world. Winding beneath the world’s highest peaks and visiting some of the most remote communities on earth, it passes through lush green valleys, arid high plateaus and incredible landscapes. Nepal’s GHT has 10 sections comprising a network of upper and lower routes, each offering you something different, be it adventure and exploration, authentic cultural experiences, or simply spectacular Himalayan nature. …

read more on The Great Himalaya Trail

2011 guidebook – Nepal Trekking & the Great Himalaya Trail (Trailblazer)

Thank Richard for the update. And for the link to an interview with thru hiker Shawn Forry (trail name Pepper). He and Trauma did 57 days carrying their own gear cache to cache. Some harsh sections.

One big problem with Nepal is the complexity and cost of trekking permits. They tried to do it legal, relying on Adventure Alliance in Kathmandu to organize the paperwork.

Respect guys.

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hike Wells Gray Park, B.C.

Wells Gray Park has a summer adventure for everyone! The best hiking trip in BC- Hut to hut through alpine flower meadows, lakes and old growth forests. Canoe the pristine waters of Clearwater and Azure Lakes and relax on the beaches.

Hike the incredible Wells Gray Park wilderness in an environmentally sensitive way with only a small pack and stay in the comfort of a wilderness cabin. This trip is one of the best hikes in British Columbia. The all inclusive fully guided and catered outdoor adventures start at only $130/day. …

details on skihike.com

For more information call 1888 754 8735 or email info@skihike.com

Thanks Ian Eakins for the link. Sadly I’ve never hiked that Park myself.