One of the best day hikes out of my home town, Calgary, is Banded Peak. But it’s a big day:
Something like 37 km return, a 1416m (4645ft) height gain.
Perhaps 27km on the bike and a 10km return hike/scree scramble to the 2,934m (9,626ft) summit.
Banded Peak from near the trailhead
Here’s the final deceptively easy looking approach.
summit
Banded Peak, together with Mount Glasgow, Mount Cornwall, and Outlaw Peak, forms a small range which lies between the Little Elbow River to the north and the Elbow River to the south. …
It’s become a tradition with the families of some of my hiking buddies to take their sons on this adventure as something of a rite of passage to manhood.
On Sept. 19th, 2009 we took three 13-yr-olds. They had to get to the top … or die trying.
Rob Glaser, our leader, was far from certain that a group this big could finish. And finish in time before night fall.
Here we are on the summit. Everyone made it. Somehow.
It was extremely windy on top. I’d estimate 80km/hr (50MPH).
Other than that, the weather was great for this time of the year. We were lucky.
Our best fun was some of the scree runs on descent.
Happily, we all made it back to the trailhead by 5:30PM.
… found an interesting article over at WideWorld in which the British online magazine lists their top picks for the 10 best inflatable canoes and kayaks with some interesting recommendations for those that don’t have the space to store a hard shell or a rack for the roof of their car. …
Rugged enough to traverse the entire length of the Amazon river twice, Sevylor’s classic Tahiti K79 two-person inflatable canoe comes in bright yellow. Produced since 1963, it features an I-beam floor for extra buoyancy, drain hole with plug, Boston valves, bow and stern spray decks, and specially designed inflatable seats with back support.
Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro FounderOutdoor Afro is a website community that reconnects African-Americans with natural spaces and one another through recreational activities such as camping, hiking, biking, boating, gardening, and skiing. Outdoor Afro uses social media to create interest communities, events, and to partner with regional and national organizations that support diverse participation in the Great Outdoors. …
As a career gymnastics coach, I can assure you that hiking is NOT the best way to get fit.
For each hour of exercise, gymnastics conditioning and Crossfit are the easiest ways to get strong and lose weight. Using your own body weight as resistance works best.
However, the LSD (Long Slow Distance) exercise methods do work. But they take many, many more hours.
above Chamonix, France
I hiked most days this past summer, many with a full pack.
Within the first few weeks my fitness (for hiking) was perhaps best of my life.
Rarely could any walker pass me, with or without a pack.
Climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland I must have passed 700 people including trail runners who walked up, ran down. None passed me. The 1,344m (4,409 ft) seemed easy in the good weather.
You need weeks on the trail if you plan to get fit by hiking. But it will work.
The best air mattress on the market right now is the NeoAir made by Cascade Designs Therm-a-Rest.
I was lying on mine one night in the tent during an 8-day hike of the Haute Route in the Alps. A strange sizzling sound began.
At first I thought I was being attacked by insects under the tent.
Then my NeoAir began to swell in one small spot.
Bizarre.
Each night after being inflated the swelling increased in size. It seemed to stop when internal pressure reached a specific point. (under-inflated)
weird bulge on an air mattress
I slept on the thing anyway though, being a savvy hiker, I was actually carrying a second small air mattress, using it as a pack frame and pillow.
I’m BRILLIANT to have a back-up. Right?
Sadly, my “pillow” had developed a slow leak. It was worse than the NeoAir.
The NeoAir is not widely available in Europe as yet. By luck I happened to find a demo model in Chamonix, France reduced to 109 Euro (US$156).
I’ll be returning the damaged NeoAir on warranty when I get home.
But I’m wondering if this was a fluke. Or a design flaw in a new product. Leave a comment if you’ve heard of this happening to any other NeoAir mattresses.
I’ll post it to Twitter tagged #NeoAirFail, as well.
Jeremy Twigg sends us the update on that inspiring fund-raiser:
I wanted to share some good news: Team IBDadventures safely reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro on September 13!
Says team member Clinton Shard from Squamish, BC:
“What an emotional roller coaster when we got to the summit. Incredible views, ice everywhere, and cold. Very cold. I hope when people hear about this trip they will recognize they can accomplish anything and they shouldn’t let Inflammatory Bowel Diseases stand in their way.”
I did take a free trial, years ago. Was not so much impressed at that time.
I’ve never liked “walled garden” members only websites.
Seems to have improved a great deal since then. Here’s the email they sent me when I inquired as to cost:
The US$49.95 charge covers a 1 year subscription to Trails.com. Your subscription includes:
* Unlimited access to more than 44,000 Trail Guides – complete with driving directions, trail directions, maps and more.
* 20% OFF one entire order in our Gear Store (some exclusions apply). This benefit alone could easily pay for your entire Trails.com subscription!
* Unlimited access to every USGS Topographic Map in the USA.
* Trail Finder for fast and easy searching.
* Tools to track your favorite trails, and the ones you’d like to visit.
* The ability to create, download and save, email and print maps and guides.
* Real-time weather and GPS integration (coming soon).
* Trail reviews, photos and many more community features.
* The Trails.com Newsletter – with exclusive offers for Trails.com members.
In tribute to the greatest mountaineer of all time (Dick Bass, my ass), Reinhold Messner, I visited one of his Messner Mountain Museums. (He has 4 museums already and is working on a 5th.)
Reinhold Messner has dedicated to the mountains and the mountain culture a unique project, a network of museums located in five extraordinary places in the Alps. The Messner Mountain Museum is a place of encounter with the mountains, with humanity and ultimately with oneself.
The Messner Mountain Museum Firmian is located at Castle Sigmundskron near Bolzano, Reinhold’s home town.
It is very well done. I highly recommend it even to those not particularly interested in mountaineering.
In fact, the Himalayan section made me homesick for Nepal.
By the way, after 35yrs, in 2005, the remains of Günther Messner, Reinhold’s brother, were found on Nanga Parbat.
Reinhold had lived those decades with accusations that he abandoned his 23yr-old brother to die on that tragic expedition.
I always believed Reinhold’s version of the story. That his brother must have been caught in an avalanche.
It’s nice to see him vindicated in his own lifetime.
besthike.com 