guided hikes – Page 26

March 7, 2009March 5, 2009

Kilimanjaro climbing video

It’s the world’s highest free-standing mountain, one of the seven summits and the highest peak in Africa. While a host of celebrities gear up to set foot on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief, TRAIL magazine – the UK’s best-selling hill-walking magazine – has just got home from the mountain.

Click PLAY or watch the promo video for the climb on YouTube.

official website of TRAIL and Country Walking magazines – Live for the Outdoors

To see a 6min highlights clip of Day 1 and Day 2 of the Machame Route, click through to The Adventure Blog.

best hike – Kilimanjaro information page

March 4, 2009March 2, 2009

climbing Island Peak, Nepal

intights from March 2008. Some nice trekking footage. Great music.

Compilation of short video clips and some stills taken on Trek from Lukla to Gokyo, over the Cho-La, to Gorak Shep, Everest base camp, then with an Ascent of Island Peak (Imja Tse). Includes additional photos/footage of Kathmandu and flight to/from Lukla.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (8min)

The rest of this Aussie travel blog posts are well worth a browse.

February 18, 2009

Roraima Trekking, Venezuela

I just got a recommendation from Andreas for a German / Venezuelan trekking guide company Kamadac based out of Santa Elena in the Gran Sabana.

Looks good.

For those who love to hike, the Roraima Trekking is one of the highlights of Venezuela. The tablemountains belong to the oldest rock formation in the world. During millions of years they have been formed. Most of the vegetation you find there, grows only at the table mountains.The Roraima tepui is the highest in Venezuela. Bizzare stone formations, barren rock landscape and unique plants shape the landscape. A three day tour brings us up to the Roraima. On the top we make a day excursion and visit the valley of crystals and the place where three countries meet “Brasil, Venezuela and Guyana.”

This tour can made any time of the year. During the rainy season we recommend it in combination with a boat trip to the Angel Falls.

Duration: 6 days

Daily walks: 3 to 7 hours

PRICE PER PERSON : 520 EUR (2 persons), 470 EUR (3 persons), 295 EUR (4 persons), additional day 50 EUR

kamadac.de

besthike Roraima information page

February 6, 2009February 4, 2009

Best treks in Africa

Anouk Zijlma on About.com posted a terrific list of the Best Hikes and Treks in Africa.

… Africa’s most popular trekking destination is Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the continent. Lesser known ranges like Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains offer an incredible array of snow-capped peaks right next to the equator.

Other fantastic hikes in Africa that don’t necessarily involve great heights include the Wild Coast (South Africa) and the Fish River Canyon (Namibia). …

Others on the list:

Mount Kenya

Simien Mountains, Ethiopia

The Drakensberg, South Africa

Mount Meru, Tanzania

Mount Elgon, Uganda and Kenya

Mount Cameroon, Cameroon

Mulanje Mountain, Malawi

Click through for more information, links and recommended guides – About.com Best treks in Africa

Most foreign trekkers prefer to go with a guiding company to ensure their safety.

mountstanley Mt. Stanley – Sylwia Duda/Creative Commons

mulanje Mulanje Mountain, Malawi – larger original – flickr – fffriendly

Compare this About.com list with our own Best Hikes in Africa

December 28, 2008December 27, 2008

hike Monkman Provincial Park, B.C.

Bluepeak was the first blog to announce the opening of the Monkman Pass Memorial Trail in Northern British Columbia.

This 63-km long trail follows the route that Alex Monkman and his band of pioneers established in the 1930s. Most of this little-known, but spectacular trail is in Monkman Provincial Park, leading from Kinuseo Falls over the Rocky Mountains to Hobi’s Cabin on the Herrick River. There are very few facilities along the route – this is a true wilderness experience.

The most famous feature is Kinuseo Falls.

waterfall
original – flickr – wgelnaw

Monkman Expeditions can guide you on the new historical trail.

But it looks quite doable for experienced wilderness hikers independently.

Start planning your future adventure. First you have to get there …

map of the Monkman Pass Memorial Trail

Monkman Provincial Park – Wikipedia

Monkman Provincial Park – official website

December 12, 2008

guided hiking tours in China

China Volkssport Associon (that’s the correct spelling) contacted us regarding their guided walking tours.

hiking-china

Their website is translated into 6 languages, imperfectly. Many of the links do not work.

The tours all seem to be about 2 weeks long. Offered throughout China year round.

I would only sign on if I had personal recommendations from people I trusted who were happy with the service. In general, the tourist industry in China is not well managed. It may be decades before the quality of service matches standards elsewhere in the world.

hiking-china2

China Volkssport Associon

December 1, 2008

trek to Mt Tronador, Argentina

As usual, the best trip report was posted by Photodiary of a Nomad.

Their 3 day traverse of Nahuel Huapi National Park in Argentina â€” on an unusual route â€” without meeting any other hikers on the trail, appeals to me. (They did have a dog or two tag along.)

… it was hard to decide the highlight – was it the glinting granite slabs of Cerro de las Cristales, the amazing blue of Laguna Azul, the perfect form of the green-clad glacial valleys, the richness of the wetlands, the great vistas of Tronador glistening in the sun – was today better than yesterday? – did it really matter? – tonight we would have some very pleasant dreams.

Personally, I want to see Mt Tronador.

larger version – flickr – fainmen

Check the trip report for yourself: Nahuel Huapi Traverse

Our besthike Nahuel Huapi Traverse information page.

November 21, 2008

hiking in India is booming

Hiking is booming in Norway.

And southern India too.

From The Chennai Trekking Club:

1300 members, 10+ joining each day, 50 treks completed, 15000+ photos

They sound excited about the outdoors:

… trekking through tropical, dense jungles, stretching your physical limits while conquering steep uphill slopes, breathing fresh mountain air, exploring virgin ever-green forests, navigating through mountainous terrain with map and compass, diving into hidden mountain streams and waterfalls, setting up our own camp, experiencing the peacefullness and beautyfull valley views, drinking from clear mountain streams, sleeping under the bright stars, spontaneous bonding between new trekkers while overcoming obstacles together, photographing that once-in-a-lifetime wildlife scene, …

Looks like they are having FUN:

The website looks good … though some of the links did not work correctly.

ChennaiTrekkers.org

November 20, 2008

another Inca Trail alternative – Moonstone Trek

First off, this adventure does not have you hiking into Machu Picchu.

It finishes 7mi away in (amazing) Ollantaytambo. From there you take the train to Aguas Calientes. Then the bus up to the ruins.

larger version – flickr – FranUlloa

On the other hand, it does look pretty good compared with the over-popular, problematic Inca Trail.

It passes through seldom-visited Andean villages, Inca and pre-Inca ruins and heads onto a beautiful altiplano plateau surrounded by glaciated peaks. Most groups wonâ€™t encounter any other tourists for the entire trek and the combination of stunning mountain scenery and wildlife, fascinating relics and real isolation is truly rewarding. …

Supported by horses rather than porters. It’s claimed to be a little tougher than the standard Inca Trail, as “it goes higher and covers slightly more distance”.

Exodus Guide Tours – Moonstone Trek

larger version – flickr – FranUlloa

(via The Adventure Blog)

The best alternative is still Choquequirao to Machu Picchu.

November 19, 2008

scrambling Annapurna Base Camp, NEPAL

My old hiking buddy from South America 2004, Canadian Grant Assenheimer, just climbed down from the high Himalayas. He was on a “holiday” between assignments for Doctors Without Borders.

From Grant’s email:

Just got back from ABC and had a fantastic time. The ‘scare’ tactics used by the tour companies almost had me convinced that I should take a guide but it is TOTALLY NOT NECESSARY. Pass the word! Even if you are only moderately fit, you can easily do any of the teahouse trekking without a guide or porter.

larger version – flickr

My favorite day was a scramble up from the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). Although most people stop at ABC, I rounded up a couple of New Yorkers and the 3 of us did this great day trip UP to the base camp for Tent Peak, one of the smaller ‘trekking peaks’ in the area. We started at 4100 m, went down and crossed the stone-covered glacier and then climbed to 4800 m via a steep morrain, icy river through a narrow gorge and finally a bit of a slog through steep high-altitude grassy slopes. This gave us GREAT views of the Annapurna Range, Machapuchre and some other ‘lesser’ 5 and 6 thousand meter peaks. The way UP was a bit challenging (ie. GREAT) because we didn’t see the PATH until we were already pretty much at the top. Lets just say that the way down was MUCH easier and didn’t involve navigating that icy river in that steep canyon or the 60 degree grassy slopes…

I also read Annapurna by Herzog during the hike. Wow. All I can say is that the Nepal of today is NOTHING like the Himalayas of the early mountaineers. I mean, they actually walked in from India. No apple pie or internet cafe waiting at 4000 m for them. What a story.

I started in Phedi, walked to ABC and then came out via Gorenpani and Poon hill. Truly spectacular and worth putting up with everyone else for the views. Definitely NOT a wilderness experience but if you go in without expecting one, its a great time.

larger version – flickr