Via the Faïja Plateau, and with stops in Marrakech, Aït Benhaddou, and Todra Gorge. Our Sahara trek takes us through the fascinating and vibrant Sahara desert with its myriad of colourful dunes. Along the way we’ll camp at oases, watch spectacular sunsets, see gazelle, wild camels and birds of all sizes. We’ll drink tea with …
Chöpfenberg South Ridge (s-grat)
Bert and I start early. Our target: the south ridge (S-Grat) on Chöpfenberg (1894m). It’s just the two of us, so he fires up his Porsche to take us to Schwändital where we park. Between all the 4-wheel-drives and converted camper vans parked here, in this rugged camping area, the Porsche looks somewhat… erm… incongruous… …
How to climb Ras Dashen – Ethiopia’s highest peak
The climb to Ras Dashen is perhaps one of the most anticlimactic climbs I’ve had on African peaks. The final day’s climb is on goat and animal tracks. Sticky mud when wet. Ending abruptly on a flat, rocky, uninspiring outcrop. A single concrete block on top marks the highest point in Ethiopia. And the views …
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Walking the enchanting Valle Verzasca trail
Mergoscia to Ponte dei salti It’s early spring. On the slopes, the snow is melting. Slushy snow and snowshoes don’t make for a great combination. So we packed them away for this year. And with a lot of unstable snow still lying around above 1500m, we decided to head for the valleys. The weather in …
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The delicate matter of peeing and pooping on the trail
The whole subject of peeing and pooping on the trail remains a… shall we say, ‘delicate matter’? Pun totally intended, by the way. And the delicate subject of the how and where of peeing and pooping on the trail is one that pops up regularly. Someone even wrote a whole book about it – I …
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Brienzersee three waterfalls trail
We were looking for a spot to go hiking and stumbled across a description of a three waterfall hike near Brienzersee. We fiddled about with the original description and mapped it out carefully on our mapping app. The result: our own ‘trail of the three waterfalls’ above Brienzersee. We started our hike at Wäldli bus …
Hörnligrat to Urdenfürggli has to wait
For the second half of the Easter weekend, Barbara and I had booked ourselves into the Hörnlihütte for the night. Our intention was to walk from Hörnligrat to Urdenfürggli the next day. A ‘snowshoe’ trail we’ve wanted to do for some time. Getting to the Hörnlihütte was relatively easy following the marked Heidi and Gigi …
What vaccinations do I need to climb mountains in Africa?
I wrote this article for Walk in Wild Places, but thought it may be useful here too. So, here’s a list of mandatory and recommended vaccinations if you intend climbing Kilimanjaro, or travelling in East Africa and Africa in general. Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B – Even if you skip all the other vaccinations, and are …
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Snowshoeing in the Beverin Nature Park
The beautiful Beverin Nature Park was our snowshoeing destination for the first part of the Easter weekend. The centrepiece of the park is Piz Beverin (2998m). Home to large herds of ibex (or capricorns in the local Romansh vernacular), Piz Beverin is surrounded by imposing rock faces and flanked by deep gorges. One of which …
Snowshoe trail to Wildsee – Pizol area
A few weeks ago I came to this area, intending to hike to the Wildsee area. I kept sinking into the snow. Knee-deep. So, after a couple of hundred metres, I gave up. Deciding that this wasn’t going to work. On Sunday, I came back with Barbara. This time we were going to make our …