Category: health & safety

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Taklamakan – 150km across the Desert of Death

A new company wants you to sign-up for a trek across the dunes.

Taklamakan Desert, the Desert of Death

A desert is a dangerous place. It is bleak, barren and inescapable. Sand storms are terrifying. Yet over the ages people have been drawn to the desert. Perhaps it is precisely this sense of fear that attracted explorers.

Taklamakan desert lies within the Tarim Basin in XinJiang (China).

Covering an area of 272, 000 km square, it is one of the largest sand-only deserts in the world. The ancient silk routes pass through this region along the northern and southern edges of the desert. …

In this trip, you will trek 150km across the vast expanse of sand dunes spending 7 days and nights out in the desert.

… Logistic support is provided.

We will be doing this as an exploratory adventure. So join us today to be one of the first to experience desert crossing!

SHANGRILA ADVENTURE: Taklamakan Desert-X-ing Trek

Alvin Low – Founder and Operations Manager

Taklamakan Desert – Wikipedia

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Taklamakan up close – flickr – Kiwi Mikex

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trekking Svaneti in Georgia, Asia

Ever since speaking with a woman from Kazakhstan, I’ve been reluctant to recommend treks in the former Soviet Union.

She told me, “Kazakhstan has wonderful trekking, but you will be robbed and possibly killed your first night in the mountains if you go alone.”

But I found an impressive website from Georgia. I would happily hike with these guides in Svaneti, surrounded by 3,000-5,000m peaks, the highest inhabited area in Europe.

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Lonely Planet

Given the diversity of its relief and the richness of its history and the unique ethnic identity of its residents, Svaneti is one of Georgia’s most outstanding regions.

It had long attracted many tourists, but the political and economic decline experienced by Georgia following the fall of the Soviet Union and independence has hampered efforts to revive and further develop Svaneti’s tourist and recreational potential.

In order to achieve this, it is necessary to foster the development of the family-run tourism business, especially given that this business employs much of the population (host families, providing tourists with products and traditional crafts, vehicle transport, horses, guide services, museums, folk music ensembles and more), and provides the local people, many of whom live near the poverty line, with additional incomes.

Svaneti Trekking – About Us

They recommend a number of dayhikes in the region, all which look great. I’d love to get there.

Their longest route recommended is a horse trek called ZHABESHI-USHGULI.

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Svaneti Trekking – English, German, Russian and Georgian

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Ushba (4710m) larger original – flickr – Patricia Scherer

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trouble descending Mt Saint Helens

Great trip report and photos on the Shot from the Hip blog.

Mt. Saint Helens is the famous volcano close to Portland, Oregon.

• 11.6mi (18.7km) return
• 4565ft (1,392m) elevation gain
• summit at 8365ft (2,550m)
• 7-12 hours

Ignoring good advice from Rangers, two hikers raced up the mountain without ice axes or crampons. Then got lost and separated on the descent.

I’d like to smugly denounce them. But, instead, I relate.

In June I too would expect to be able to get up and down without heavy mountaineering gear.

Theirs were mistakes easy to make.

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first trail marker on the scree

The guys did get to the top quickly and enjoyed fantastic views.

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Mount Adams as seen from the summit.

On the way down the blue sunny skies we had at the summit quickly disappeared into a fog of clouds.

Hmm… Where are those markers? …

At one point, the boulders got bigger and more difficult to navigate. We then took a route that we thought would be an easier path. We had walked down the wrong side, but we did not know it. This side was definitely different. As we got farther down, we realized that it would be more and more difficult to go back.

At one point Eric and I got separated as we could no longer navigate the rocks and had to try to go through the snow. He slid down a ways and from his vantage point, he saw the weather station and realized we were on the wrong side.

Since we did not have crampons and ice axes, continuing to slide would not have been a good idea. So we decided to climb back up. …

To make things worse it started snowing. Not just the soft fluffy stuff dropping from the skies, but the heavy kind that pelts you with stings as it flies horizontal. Something we did not need. If I had slipped, the drop would have been quite disastrous, and the snow only made matters worse. Eventually, by the grace of God I made it up to the top, but Eric was nowhere to be found. I called out his name and no answer.

… Eventually Eric found his way up. This little adventure added about an hour to our trip.

Mt Saint Helens trip report and photos

Ah, no harm done — this time.

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Our information page – Mt. Saint Helens – besthike

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best view, best hike – Yosemite

Chris is blogging his trip from Kansas City to the outdoor centre of the universe, California.

He loved Yosemite.

… all I can say is “wow”.

But dear ol’ Jimmy put it much better when he said, “This place is amazing…It’s like your walking in a picture” which is true, cause Yosemite IS the place where all landscape pictures are taken. …

My Favorite Hike and My Favorite View

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My Favorite view is from where I stood in the above picture looking down 3000 feet into Yosemite Valley. …

As for My Favorite Hike, and I do mean my favorite hike of ALL time, it was suppose to be a leisurely walk to the Cathedral Lakes cause this was the end of the week and by this time Jim and I were hurting more places than we care to think.

So we thought we could handle the relatively flat walk to these picturesque lakes. We did managed to stick to the trail all the way to the gorgeous lakes but once we reached our destination and saw those tall, commanding, pointy little peaks we just could not resist a shot at the top.

So we hiked along the ridge … and had some incredible views of Cathedrals lake on one side and Bud Lake on the other. Shortly we reached the base of the peak from which reaching the summit look quite doable so we hike on up as rain clouds gathered over head and scrambled within 50 feet of the pointy little summit …

I would say that that 360degree view was second only to Yosemite Valley in its incredibleness.

The Tulumne meadows in front Cathedral and Bud lakes to the sides and Yosemite Valley way off behind me all add up to the best hike I’ve ever enjoyed. Not even to mention that it was off trail which makes it better 🙂

Hike Bike Climb: Yo Semite Nation Park

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wicked outdoorsy: How green is YOUR backpack?

Wicked Outdoorsy – right again:

More and more, I’m beginning to realize that Treehugger is the green-zine equivalent of a politician on the stump.

Regardless of the good intent, regardless of the question, the answer is about an hour too long and meanders down a winding yellow road through fields of poppies.

Oh Toto. My eyes … sleepy …. so sleepy.

wicked outdoorsy: How green is YOUR backpack?

I’d love to cancel my RSS subscription to Treehugger.com — it’s too “shotgun”.

Can anyone recommend an environmental blog with more “balance”? One less preachy?

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unlikely survival on the West Coast Trail

About one in a hundred hikers are evacuated off the WCT on Vancovuer Island in British Colombia. It’s difficult and dangerous.

But this is the strangest WCT evacuation story I’ve heard yet.

Disaster struck the group when they tried to cross a deep surge channel in the sandstone early in the day. …

Peterson’s father, Neil, a veteran hiker, had looked at the width of the surge channel and instructed the others to get their ropes out of their backpacks.

Taking off their packs probably saved their lives.

“The packs would have dragged you down immediately,” said Neil, 63.

As they pulled out their ropes, there was no sign anything was amiss. “There was no water in the area and it was close to low tide,” he said.

Seconds later they were thrashing around in the churning water, buffeted by huge pieces of driftwood.

Death by rogue wave. Death trying to cross a surge channel. Those are old stories on the West Coast.

The amazing part (one I still can’t picture) is that the hikers were left stranded in a “hole”. I assume in the surge channel and surrounded by washed-up logs.

One of their group had crossed the surge channel successfully. He — eventually — was able to call in the American Coast Guard helicopter. They all survived.

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Photograph by : John McKay, Times Colonist

Watery trap was ‘like certain death’

(via Two-Heel Drive)

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Safety & Staying Healthy – Are surge channels a problem? – i-NEEDtoKnow

I’d like to update this post with photos of where they were trapped.

West Coast Trail – besthike information page

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flooded – Valley of Geysers, Kamchatka

Just today we posted our first hiking recommendation for Kamchatka, Russia — having missed completely the news story being reported over the past week:

Scientists mourn devastation of Valley of Geysers

Wildlife in the Valley of Geysers may be threatened by the rubble that has caused flooding (below).

Teams of scientists have been sent to the Valley of Geysers, on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia, to report on the condition of the World Heritage site after a massive landslide in the Kronotsky national reserve.

The slide, which lasted only seconds on 3 June, loosed an estimated 4.5 million cubic metres of rock, gravel, snow and ice. A deluge of material into the Geyser River created a dam the size of 30 football fields, officials estimated. This has since been breached by waters building up behind the dam, clearing some of the valley and allowing at least some of the geysers to spout again.

The extent of damage to the region is unclear, including to scientists contacted by Nature who have study sites in the area.

news @ nature.com – Scientists mourn devastation of Valley of Geysers …

See a sobering series of before-and-after photos.

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Igor Shpilenok

No humans were injured.

Volcanic disruptions like this happen over and over, geologically speaking.

It may be attractive for hikers to see how the landscape recovers as they do at Mt. Saint Helens in Washington State.

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Wonderland in August?

UPDATE: Mount Rainier National Park is not issuing permits for the entire length of the Wonderland Trail in 2007. Only sections. Check the website: WTA.org

Wonderland Trail, Mt. Ranier, Washington, is one of the best hikes in the world.

However, it’s taken a lot of storm damage over the past winter. Not all trails will be open for 2008, I believe.

ed_529_rainier_broken_bridge.jpgOn the other hand, this adds interest and challenge to an already unbelievable hike.

I would like to do the wonderland trail 9-12 days. preferably have other married woman like myself. husband doesn’t like to hike.

The responder should be a strong hiker. (lot of ground to cover but would be life altering experience.) I plan to do the hike in august 24-sept 2 if you think you can do this e-mail me

sgiglenda @ yahoo.com

Wonderland Trail – besthike information page

bridge photo – Washington Trails Association

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lost overnight – Syncline Loop, Utah

Things can go wrong, fast.

A series of decisions, all which seemed reasonable at the time. Even experienced hikers can get lost in canyon country.

Three friends, planning on a challenging day hike on the standard Syncline Loop in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, got stuck overnight without provisions. One suffered some hypothermia.

Rich posted a detailed account of how it happened:

Now, we didn’t really have much in the way of food. I had brought a few slices of bread, some saltines, a jar of peanut butter and, of course, plenty of water. We each had a similiar supply.

We planned on stopping at the grocery store on our way to Moab but, somehow that slipped our minds. …

So, we figure … we’d probably find a bit of trail food at the visitor center.

Well, we soon found out there was nothing at all in the way of trail food at the visitor center. The Island of the Sky Visitor Center is a little more than a Ranger Station. In fact, I really like Canyonlands because it doesnt have any amenities.

The desert is one place your really do need the 10 essentials. And extra water. Even if setting out only for an hour or two.

They made one last urgent scramble to get up and out.

… we saw … a potential exit. It was crazy and we were all really uncertain but, we pushed on. Every second getting closer to darkness.

Of course, as they do in the desert, temperatures plunged with the setting sun. Thankfully, we still had clear skies and little to no wind. We climbed higher and higher.

… It is endless!!!

For certain, that mile or so was the most intense and rugged hiking I have ever done in my life. Naturally, I loved every minute of it but, my lungs would argue otherwise. We had been on the trail for nearly 10 hours.

No pretty pictures on this post. Just three wiser hikers the following morning when the sun finally came up. Cold, but never in any real danger.

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Canyonlands National Park – WikiTravel

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“Worlds Most Dangerous Tourist Route”

UPDATE from Brad in California:

Unlike every other report I’ve read on the internet, Brad’s actually been there.

It’s a good sidetrip out of Xian, site of the astonishing Terracotta Warriors.

A few more facts: It is not "Mt." Hua Shan. It is just Hua Shan. …

A hostel is available on the mountain top — what a cool place for a midwinter honeymoon?! Despite the vigor and risk involved in the climb, it is crowded in fair weather! …

The mountain has multiple summits, and looks somewhat like a blossoming tulip: hence the name flower mountain.

You can take a cable car to the vicinity of the lowest summit, or you can hike about 5 or 6 klicks to the same area. The "hike" option is very worthy, with incredibly lengthy and steep staircases carved into the stone, — awesome. Rusty chain handrails are anchored into the rocks.

Once on the lowest summit, you can climb the circuit of the other higher summits. This is where you will encounter the most harrowing exposures, and the pictures that accompany this page.

Again, on a crowded day, it would suck! Everything is one-way, or narrow, etc… We went on a rainy day, with fog, and had the mountain almost to ourselves. It was incredible when the fog cleared!

Snow or freezing rain would make this hike very dangerous. I would not do it!

Mount Hua (Hua Shan) – Wikipedia

We’ve added Hua Shan to our list of the best hikes in Asia.

Click PLAY or watch a “hiker” on the route on MetaCafe.
Snapple Scores With Super Premium Tea Ad During Super Bowl XLI – Click here for funny video clips

==== original post Nov. 6th, 2006:

The most dangerous tourist route in the world is located in Tibet.

Damn Cool Pics: Worlds Most Dangerous Tourist Route

But … they have the location wrong.

It seems these photos are actually from (or Mt Hua or Mt Hua Shan) in Shaanxi province, China. It is the Western Mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains. This error was pointed out in a comment on Cool Pics by JJ.

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More photos:

Welcome To China – Welcome2CN.Com

photo set – Fosdick

To a hiker like me, this scramble looks like good fun. Similar to Half Dome in Yosemite.