Category: spiritual

Religious pilgrimage and traditional spiritual walks.

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hiking, climbing, scrambling Meteora, Greece

A place so unbelievable, you have to visit it, immerse yourself into it, to comprehend it. …

… immense monolithic pillars and hills that are composed of sandstone and conglomerate. Small and large pebbles stick out of them, making them one of very few places on this planet where you can see, climb and experience such rocks. And while these rocks themselves are reason enough for many people (climbers!) to visit Meteora, it are the seven active Eastern Orthodox monasteries on top of some of these rocks …

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Hiking in Finland – Meteora

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4 Wheel Bob – the movie

I once hiked with 4 Wheel Bob. His ascent of 14,252-foot (4344m) White Mountain Peak, California.

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Bob’s smiling here. But let me confirm that trip was bloody tough. I could never possibly have made it in his chair.

The documentary about Bob is finally coming out.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

He and filmmaker Tal Skloot have been working on it for 5 years.

Follow Bob Fourwheelbob Coomber on Facebook for updates on that project.

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Hiking Retreat in the Dolomites

23-27 June 2016.

Looking for an excuse to travel to Italy?

And walk the gorgeous Dolomites 4-5 hours a day?

Dolomites

In addition to walking with a local guide, each day will include local culture and typical food.

Cost is 440£ (4 days) plus hotel. If you stay in the official hotel the price is in the range of 615£-650£ total.

Check the official website.

related – Dolominds – Hiking & Meditation Retreat – September 2016

Contact dolominds (a) cadorehub.com for more info. They’ll email you the gorgeous brochure.

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Markha Valley trek, Ladahk, India

by site editor Rick McCharles

Locked and loaded. I land in Leh September 11th, 2015. I’ll be doing Markha and other local treks.

LehAT A GLANCE

  • the most popular hike in Ladahk, northern India, bordering Tibet
  • easy access out of Leh
  • 6-8 days
  • 111km (69mi)
  • early June to mid-October
  • moderate-demanding
  • big risk of altitude sickness
  • 2-3 high passes (4900m-5200m)
  • several nights at very high altitude
  • sleep in tent or in “homestays”
  • frequent flights from Delhi. Infrequent flights from Srinagar and Jammu.
  • hike independently or with a Guide
  • check the confusing tourist visa requirements for India. Some nations can get a visa-on-arrival at airports.
by lupus alberto
by lupus alberto

Click PLAY or watch 3minuteAdventures – Markha Valley Trek, Ladakh
on YouTube.

That’s the toughest itinerary, starting out of Stok village rather than the more popular trailheads of Spitok or Zinchen.

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Walking the Earth’s Spine

This looks great. I’ll try to find a copy in Kathmandu.

When Jono Lineen‘s brother died in tragic circumstances, he gave up a comfortable life, moved to the Himalayas and over eight years immersed himself in the cultures of the world’s highest mountains.

The experience culminates in his book Into the Heart of the Himalayas, a fascinating memoir that traces his solo trekking odyssey from Pakistan to Nepal across thousands of kilometres of mountain terrain. No-one has ever before attempted to walk the length of the Western Himalayas alone, but Jono’s intentions were more psychological than physical. It was about integrating the Himalayan culture he had grown to love, assimilating the wisdom of the place and coming to terms with his loss.

Jono’s openness with everyone he meets on the trail – from Pakistani military officers to Tibetan lamas and naked Hindu Saddhus – lies at the heart of one of the most complete portraits of the Himalayas ever written. Jono Lineen – a lone, disarming man – crosses borders, religions, castes, languages and philosophical boundaries to find the way to embrace his future.

Earth Spine

interview with Jono Lineen

He explains why an adventure from 1995 was not published until April 2014.

Into the Heart of the Himalayas [Kindle Edition]

Walking the Earth’s Spine: A 2,700-kilometre Solo Hike Through the Himalyas

[paperback]

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Mawson: And the Ice Men of the Heroic Age: Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen

I thought I knew much about the history of Antarctic exploration. Yet I learned much, much more after reading this book.

The incredible story of Australia’s most famous polar explorer and the giants from the heroic age of polar exploration.

Douglas Mawson, born in 1882 and knighted in 1914, was Australia’s greatest Antarctic explorer. This is the incredible account of an expedition he led on December 2, 1911, from Hobart, to explore the virgin frozen coastline below, 2000 miles of which had never felt the tread of a human foot.

… he headed east on an extraordinary sledging trek with his companions, Belgrave Ninnis and Dr Xavier Mertz. After five weeks, tragedy struck—Ninnis was swallowed whole by a snow-covered crevasse, and Mawson and Mertz realized it was too dangerous to go on. Dwindling supplies forced them to kill their dogs to feed the other dogs, at first, and then themselves. Hunger, sickness, and despair eventually got the better of Ninnis, and he succumbed to madness and then to death.

Mawson found himself all alone, 160 miles from safety, with next to no food. This staggering tale of his survival, against all odds, also masterfully interweaves the stories of the other giants from the heroic age of polar exploration, to bring the jaw-dropping events of this bygone era dazzlingly back to life. …

GoodReads

Mawson cover

Mawson: And the Ice Men of the Heroic Age: Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen. (2012)