Category: books and magazines

Posted on

legend of Kayak Bill

Rocco forwarded us an amazing feature story in Sea Kayaker magazine:

… We asked the clerk at the Echo Bay general store about the kayaker, “Oh, that’s Kayak Bill. He has a camp at Eden Island, and a bunch of other camps around. He does a few odd jobs sometimes, but mostly he lives off the land. He started off from Vancouver about ten years ago to paddle to Alaska, but after wintering at Eden Island, he said he didn’t need to go any farther.” …

Kayak Bill – A Requiem

It’s well worth the read. Thanks to the author Keith Webb.

kayak
original – flickr

Posted on

where to hike in New Zealand

Looking at a trip to our #1 hiking destination in the world?

There are HEAPS of choices for tramping there.

A good starting point for browsing your options is Photodiary of a Nomad. They’ve done New Zealand.

new-zealand.jpg
screenshot

These trips were taken September 2004 through April 2005.

WOW!

Click through to their index page – Tramping the Land of the Long White Cloud

The best guidebook by far is Lonely Planet Tramping in New Zealand.

related – our list of the best hikes in New Zealand

Posted on

TOP 7 THOUSAND-MILE TREKS

A headline in ALL CAPS ??

Am I CRAZY !!

A list this over-the-top deserves them.

Adventure Journey — The Extreme Traveler’s Handbook — makes 7 bold picks … DESERVING OF ALL CAPS.

7) Heysen Trail – Cape Jervis to the Parachilna Gorge, South Australia
6) Pacific Northwest Trail – Cape Alava, WA to Glacier National Park
5) Tarifa, Spain to the border of Switzerland
4) Nouakchott, Mauritania to Timbukto, Mali
3) San Carlos de Bariloche to Rio Gallegos, Argentina
2) Jammu > Srinagar > Leh > Shimla, India
1) North-south full traverse of Madagascar

top-7-treks.jpg

details – TOP 7 THOUSAND-MILE TREKS

Actually, I am quite impressed with their list. It’s gutsy and informed. That walk in Argentina would be FANTASTIC.

I’d like to subscribe to Adventure Journey … but they have no RSS feed. Ah ha, Google Reader could not discover an RSS feed … BUT, it’s right there on the top of the page. (if I had only looked.)

Thanks MadMardigan.

Posted on

Survivorman – publish, not perish

… how do you like that headline, Tom?

From the sun-scorched sands of the Kalahari to the snake-infested jungles of the Amazon, Les Stroud has survived it all. Now, the creator, producer, and host of the hit television show Survivorman shares his field-tested expertise and gives you a no-nonsense look at the real world of survival. …

Survivorman.ca

Now he’s an author. I’m adding his new book to my Christmas wish list:

Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere - Alive

Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere – Alive

I’ll add my thanks to the many others who love the reality TV show that Les Stroud did SOLO for three season. That’s impressive.

The first two seasons are available on DVD:

  • Survivorman
  • Survivorman: Collection 2

    • (via The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog)

    Posted on

    5 best day hikes in the Alps

    As selected by Greg Witt, adventure guide. He is the author of The Rough Guide to Ultimate Adventures 1 .

    His adventure travel company, Alpenwild, specializes in hiking, trekking, and photographic adventures in the Alps.

    alps.jpg

    1. Höhenweg Höhbalmen

    Where: Zermatt Length: 11miles/18km Duration: 5-7 hours Zermatt is touristy, to be sure, but within five minutes of the center of town you’re already leaving wildflower-spangled meadows to ascend through larch forests. …

    2. Riffelsee to Sunnegga

    Where: Zermatt Length: 8 miles/13km Duration: 3-5 hours Once again, the Matterhorn is the showstopper here, but you access the postcard views quickly by taking the cog-wheeled Gornergrat train to Riffelsee, where you’ll have mirror-reflections of the Matterhorn in the small glacial lakes. …

    3. Lac de Louvie

    Where: Verbier Length: 9 miles/15km Duration: 6-8 hours Make a quick escape from the ski-resort bustle of Verbier by taking the gondola to Les Ruinettes and continuing on a short stroll to the Cabane du Mont Fort for views of the Mont Blanc massif. …

    4. The Faulhornweg

    Where: Grindelwald (Jungfrau) Length: 9 miles/15km Duration: 6-8 hours For high-level panoramic views of the Jungfrau, the Faulhornweg is a hiker’s dream. …

    5. Mürren

    Where: Lauterbrunnen (Jungfrau) Length: 6 miles/10km Duration: 3-4 hours The Lauterbrunnental is the world’s largest glacial valley (it’s hard to imagine someplace that outshines Yosemite) and it’s ringed by 72 waterfalls, including some of the highest in Europe.

    read more – Adventure Travel – About.com

    800px-lauterbrunnen_valley_mid_summer.jpg
    Lauterbrunnen valley – larger original – Wikipedia

    They sound great. We’ve added all 5 to our list of the best hikes in Europe.

    Posted on

    National Outdoor Book Awards 2008

    The winners were just announced.
    Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes was — predictably — chosen. It’s been nominated for a Pulitzer, as well.

    The second most interesting book to me was in the History/Biography Category, as well:

    Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon

    Winner. Grand Obsession: Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon. By Elias Butler and Tom Myers.

    Harvey Butchart was the legendary hiker and canyoneer who explored more of the Grand Canyon than any other person. He was largely known through his sparse and somewhat cryptic hiking guidebooks. But even more cryptic was Butchart himself. Who was this man, and why did his interest in the canyon become an obsession that consumed his life? You’ll find out in this uncommonly well researched, well-structured and well-written biography.

    See the rest of the Winners – National Outdoor Book Awards

    Posted on

    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 — though it’s only an hour away — 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:

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

    Posted on

    Annapurna Base Camp, Nepal

    My buddy Grant Assenheimer just emailed:

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

    abc.jpg
    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

    annapurna.jpg
    original – flickr – Gianni Scopinaro

    related: besthike Annapurna Circuit information page

    Posted on

    yet more Autumn photos

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

    lithia-park-fall-color-wood-duck.jpg

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

    One of John’s books:

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

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

    I really can’t get enough Fall photos.

    Of all the great photo blogs I know, Batish is the best. Consistently interesting.

    A couple of samples:

    2985727532_4f04b18b53.jpg

    2985723434_6d1ce9067e.jpg

    A Month of Autumn – Batish