health & safety – Page 76

April 2, 2009March 27, 2009

Trail on Kilimanjaro – part 2

Entertaining!

Its day three of Trail Magazine’s attempt on Mt Kilimanjaro via the Machame route, and things are starting to get tough. The mountain is getting seriously spectacular but the air is getting thin and exhaustion is kicking in. As midnight on the last day approaches, will it be a glorious dawn on Africas Highest mountain or a whopper of a disappointment? Join Trail Magazines Simon Ingram to find out…

Click PLAY or watch Part 2 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 31, 2009March 31, 2009

avoiding trailhead vehicle break-ins

From Rocky Thompson:

Colorado police arrested a four-person burglary crew that would run a smash-and-grab on cars parked at trailheads. The four thieves-who are kind of like supergroup combination of Bonnie and Clyde plus Thelma and Louise-would wait until hikers had left their cars before smashing windows and stealing credit cards to buy video games and electronics. …

The Goat Hikers Targeted by Criminal Masterminds

I’ve tried just about everything over the years, including leaving an empty vehicle unlocked.

There’s no perfect solution. Each trailhead needs be considered individually.

In Hawaii last year I left my rent-a-car miles from the (reportedly dangerous) trailhead at a campground. Walked the extra distance to the trail, for security.

At many trailheads in Canada there’s no worry. Remote hikes in the Rockies are almost all safe.

Leave a comment if you’ve a strategy to share.

March 30, 2009March 30, 2009

Lost in the Yellowstone

Lost In the Yellowstone: Truman Everts’s Thirty Seven Days of Peril is a surprisingly engaging read. One of the best survival stories ever.

One Amazon customer review:

Today, being lost in Yellowstone National Park is as simple as turning on the wrong road after you lost your complimentary map or you can not locate the restroom in the Old Faithful complex. For Truman Everts, being lost in Yellowstone was a struggle between life and death. Everts’s account details his 1870 adventure in Yellowstone after finding himself separated from his travelling companions.

The separation began Everts’s thirty-seven day struggle for survival in a pre-developed Yellowstone in which Everts had to find what little food and shelter he could just to survive.

Readers will find this account to be a real-life struggle for survival reminiscent of Jack London’s fictional work. The editor, Lee Whittlesey, does a superb job of editing Everts’s story by providing the reader with additional information and the historical background of the book.

The work is also illustrated with many early day photographs of Yellowstone which provides an stunning visual account of early-day Yellowstone National Park. This book will be appreciated by anyone looking for an exciting true-life adventure story as well as historians of the American West. People who have been “lost” recently in Yellowstone will also appreciate the book, even if their modern-day adventure pales in comparison to Evert’s

His bad luck was horror show. Everything went wrong. He was treed one a night by a cougar, for example.

Almost his only food for 37-days was the root of a plant commonly known today as Everts thistle or elk thistle.

It’s a shame he could not catch fish. (He did gulp down a couple of mineral tainted minnows.)

yell-early-anglers

Yellowstone photo from 1923 – National Parks Traveler

related – Yellowstone Park – Lost in the Yellowstone Wilderness: The Story of Truman Everts

March 21, 2009

kids forced to climb Mt Everest

Smiths Medical today announced the opening of a new high altitude medical laboratory. Located at 11,154 ft (3,400m) on Mount Everest’s slope, Smiths Medical High Altitude Laboratory’s initial research will include studying nine healthy British kids and how they react to a low oxygen environment. …

medGadget

Smiths, I volunteer to replace these poor young people.

March 1, 2009

sleeping bag – bear costume

Cure your fear of bears by pretending you are the mighty hunter and have slayed the terrifying bear. Then strut around the room wearing the huge bearskin to show off your prowess. OR take the sleeping bag camping and you can scare the be-jezuz out of your friends when they wake up next to you.

Both are possible with this incredible new sleeping bag by artist Eiko Ishizawa. This fun design is so cool (and a little creepy looking) that we just had to share it with all of our readers. …

the-sleeping-bear-1

My Bad Pad

(via campingblogger on twitter)

February 25, 2009February 23, 2009

NEW – Sierra Summits Sunscreen

I’ve often doubted the effectiveness of expensive sun block.

Here’s a product even I will pay big bucks for ….

Sierra Summits High Altitude Adventure Sunscreen, a zinc oxide mineral blocker for face and body. Oil free and Fragrance free, SPF 40, won’t burn eyes, has light elegant feel on skin. Formulated for sensitive skin types to perform and protect at altitude, on water, and closer to the equator, where UV rays are more intense.

For shipping only, they will send you a free sample.

February 18, 2009February 15, 2009

7 trekkers die in the mountains

Himalayas?

Andes?

Nope. The UK.

Icy conditions in the fell country lead to seven trekker deaths on Wales’ Mt. Snowdon and the English Peak and Lake Districts.

Terrible.

I had no idea that winter walking in the United Kingdom was so dangerous.

The lesson here? Easy is all about conditions. When the slopes and trails are wet, or muddy, or icy, or the lightning’s flying and the wind’s howling, your easy hike just turned into a big deal. Whenever you go into the woods in winter, never scrimp on safety and travel equipment like poles, crampons, axes, skis, snowshoes, gaiters, goggles, bivy gear and clothing.

You have two choices out there: If you’re ready for the conditions, have fun. If you’re not, turn around. It’s a simple decision, but one that people often have a hard time making. If you let desire pull you onward when you’re not prepared….well, you can learn from the examples above, or learn it on your own. Always do your suffering vicariously.

Hike safe. – Steve Howe

Backpacker – Danger in the British Isles

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

February 2, 2009February 1, 2009

Torres del Paine Circuit trek, Chile

Hank Leukart posted a magazine quality essay on one of our top treks in the World, the Paine Circuit.

Adopted by Kiwis in Chilean Patagonia. How to hike the Torres del Paine Circuit on someone else’s family vacation

… The only thing standing between us and views of 270-square-kilometer Glaciar Grey was Paso John Garner, a steep and rocky pass through the Patagonian Andes Mountains. My brother Brian and I looked up nervously at the severe mountain crags and glacial ice surrounding us, and though we hadn’t been able to substantiate the rumors of a lost hiker’s death during a blizzard in the pass three days before, the gossip made us uneasy. We knew that some hikers had turned back, failing to conquer the pass due to dangerous weather. …

glaciar-grey

read the 3-part series article on Without Baggage

Especially if you want to find out why Hank decided to climb on to an iceberg.

hank

related posts – more Without Baggage trip reports

January 29, 2009January 29, 2009

World’s Most Dangerous Hike – Hua Shan

The best video of this hike I’ve seen yet.

Robin takes off to China to find the source of one of the web’s most amazing photos, and see if Mount Hua is indeed the world’s most dangerous hike. More gonzo madness at www.moderngonzo.com

Travel Writer Robin Esrock now has a TV Show, as well, called Word Travels showing in Canada on OLN, and in dozens of countries worldwide on National Geographic Adventure.