Aconcagua – the music video

Guido Patrignani climbs Aconcagua, a trekking peak, while … singing. 🙂

Kraig Becker:

Check out his latest fun clip below and get a sense of what it is like on one of the Seven Summits.

Click PLAY or watch it on Daily Motion.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2grqiq_i-lived-in-aconcagua_travel?start=241
 
If you like that, check his Everest Base Camp music video – Counting Stars in Himalayas

100 Classic Hikes

36 countries on 6 continents.

Cam Honan:

Listed below are 100 multi-day hikes that I have had the good fortune of doing from 1995 to the present day. In my opinion they are all “great”  or “classic” hikes, however I have refrained from assigning them any type of order other than alphabetical. How can one compare the jaw-dropping grandeur of high alpine regions to the stillness and timeless quality of the desert?

The Hiking Life

Cam

___

editor: I’ve started clicking my way through Cam’s impressive list.

By comparison, I’ve only done about 35 of those, in part or in whole.

Leave a comment if you know of any hiker who’s done MORE of the world’s best hikes?

Big Agnes mtnGLO™tents

A review by Casey Schreiner, the Modern Hiker:

New for 2015, the Big Agnes Rattlesnake SL2 is a relatively lightweight three-season tent that features an easy, two-piece hub-pole setup and plenty of headroom for one person—or two people who don’t mind getting cozy. More interestingly, it also has a series of LED lights woven into the tent’s interior fabric—a feature Big Agnes calls mtnGLO. …

read more on REI

tent

LEDs

Sufferfest 2: Desert Alpine

Cedar Wright and Alex Honnold

This time, a month riding their bikes and climbing desert towers in the American Southwest should be a piece of cake for these fast friends. Or will it? …

Click PLAY or watch a clip on YouTube.

Radical Reels Night People’s Choice Award at the BMFF Festival – sponsored by Deuter.

That was our favourite of 8 short films in the Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival program – night 2.

off trail in Iceland

Hank Leukart:

Two brothers search for eternal life in the Icelandic wilderness during what may be the last time in history anyone is able to see all of Iceland’s natural, untouched beauty.

Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo. (17min)

 

Because my brother and I live so far apart (he’s in New York; I’m in Los Angeles), we have agreed to reunite once every year, somewhere in the wilderness. We’ve been to Alaska’s Denali, Chilean Patagonia, and even Everest Base Camp, but, for our most recent trip, we set our sights on a hard-to-reach lake in the Icelandic wilderness called Eilísvötn, which, in Icelandic, means “Lake of Eternal Life.” …

Brian and I start by trekking two classic, connected Iceland treks: the Fimmvörðuháls and Laugavegur Trails, the first of which begins at a huge waterfall called Skógafoss on the southern coast.

We feel almost disappointed to be enveloped by the sublime, rolling, green hills and plethora of waterfalls, because it feels like we’re in the most beautiful place in Iceland already — we’re getting a fantastic payoff way too early in our trip. Soon enough, though, as we continue through the snow and glaciers near Fimmvörðuháls Hut, it becomes obvious that there’s no chance Iceland will ever disappoint us no matter where we go. …

Without Baggage – Mission Iceland: A Tale of Two Brothers

Selfoss

I’m researching a possible Aug/Sept 2015 hike. Laugavegur is very, very high on the list of treks I want to do next. 🙂

researching Fish River Canyon, Namibia

The Fish River Canyon 5 day trek is one of the best in the world.

But it’s very difficult to get a reservation, even a year in advance. I’ve been turned down for all dates in June 2015. 😦

But I may try to show up at the trailhead anyway. Hang out. And look to substitute for a hiker missing from a booked group. (You must have a minimum of 3 people to register, in any case.)

Wish me luck.

- by  Daniel Smith
– by Daniel Smith

I’ve put up a draft information page on the Fish River Canyon trek with what I was able to find out online.

Leave a comment if you have any advice.

hiking Assiniboine, Sunshine, Rockwall

Ross, Jon and Guillermo get together every year for an outdoor adventure. Something they call the annual Pollard Memorial Trip.

hikers

For 2014 it was Mt. Shark trailhead near Canmore, Alberta to Assiniboine, Sunshine meadows, Egypt lake, Ball pass, Flow lake, Rockwall and finally the Ottertail river trail to exit near Field, BC.

Rockwall
Rockwall

gear

Check Ross’s trip report and photos – the shultz gambit – Spray lakes to Field with a leaky tent

Guillermo posted a trip report as well:

The GDT runs as close as possible to the continental Divide (the BC/Alberta border) from the US border adjoining Waterton Park to Kakwa Lake some 1200 km north. …

For this trip we chose to hike a popular and well-travelled section in the middle running through two provincial parks and three national parks. …

I had identified this route as a possible solo hike option, but when both Jon and Ross expressed interest, we attempted it in 2013.That summer saw many trails destroyed by spring flooding and later some portions of the Rockwall were closed due to fires and bear problems. In addition, a worrying knee problem which I misdiagnosed as a torn meniscus forced us to abort our hike on the first day. Our 2014 attempt went much more smoothly …

—guillermobarron – The Great Divide Trail: 150 km from Shark Mtn. to Highway 1

Finally, here are Jon’s black and white photos.

(via Hiking in Finland)

Theodore Solomons Trail, California

socalhiker:

The Theodore Solomons Trail was designed as an alternative to the more heavily traveled John Muir Trail. Sadly, the trail seems to have largely fallen off the map (so to speak). The last guidebook to the TST was published in 1992, and some of the trails appear to be no longer maintained and difficult to follow.

I’m collecting research on the trail to potentially come up with a viable route …

If you’ve got feedback on the route or suggestions for improving it, leave a comment. If I can come up with a good plan, I may organize a thru-hike in 2016.

Theodore Solomons Trail

Theodore Solomons Trail map

Looks like a terrific long circuit, to me. 🙂