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NEW New Zealand hiking site

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

New Zealand Track Profiles (NZTP)

Outdoor route planning made easy

New Zealand Track Profiles (NZTP) provides a comprehensive solution to route planning for the New Zealand outdoors:
Elevation profiles for ALL walking tracks in New Zealand

High resolution 3D topography covering the WHOLE of New Zealand with all the essential details and features normally found only in printed maps. Each map sheet has equivalent area coverage as the corresponding commercial paper map.

Comprehensive track statistics which describe the characteristics of each track and its level of difficulty.

Navigation aids in the form of GPS and Google Earth files, for each track in the map sheet.

Each map sheet is available as a set of two ZIP files which can be downloaded independently.

Some of the 12,000 tracks are free. The rest cost a maximum of $2. … Cheap.

I’m thinking of returning to New Zealand for hiking next year. It’s our #1 hiking destination in the world.

Posted in cost, health & safety, maps, navigation, websites | Comments Off

another June Tour de Mont Blanc

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

Richard Tulloch’s amusing summary of his early season trek on one of the very best hikes in the world.

The full circuit of Europe’s highest range is some 170km long and takes about 60 hours of walking. Most people do it in 8-12 days. ….

It’s staggeringly beautiful terrain – or is that my pack making me stagger? …

Doing it in June is risky:

… We’re in a bit of trouble on our hike, high on Switzerland’s Col d’Emaney. It’s blowing a gale and there’s frozen snow on a treacherously steep slope. My Dutch companions are carrying ice axes, but I’m not roping myself to anyone who learned their mountaineering below sea level in Amsterdam. …

Click through to see how they got out of this situation …

TOUR DE MONT BLANC – the Swiss section

And while you’re there, click through on HIKING for Richard’s adventures in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and more.

→ besthike TMB information page

Posted in alpine, blogs, health & safety, snow | Comments Off

lightweight collapsible hiking poles

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

I find hiking canes too inconvenient. My hands need to be free to take a photo … or blow my nose.

But if I had poles that retracted mechanically whenever I wished, … I’d consider them.

Technology is getting closer. Shannon Davis reporting from the Outdoor Retailer show 2010:

Black Diamond’s Ultra Distance Z-pole. These things are unreal–eight-ounce carbon-fiber poles. They will be pricey ($149), and they will come in four fixed-length sizes. The poles fold like a tent pole with a protected inner bungie cord, and they snap to rigidity like an avalanche probe. The Distance model will be $20 cheaper, adjustable, and about and ounce heavier. …

Backpacker

Update: Similar technology in a walking stick. Thanks Daniel.

Posted in gear, health & safety | Comments Off

Survivorman returns with new TV show

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

The Adventure Blog:

… Les is about to return with an all new show for the Discovery Channel.

The new show is called Beyond Survival, and it will begin airing on Friday, August 27th. This time out, Les will be venturing into the remote corners of the globe once again, but he’ll be living amongst the indigenous people …

Survivorman Les Stroud Returns with New Show!

Click PLAY or watch the preview on YouTube.

Posted in health & safety, product endorsements | Comments Off

Montana – man in tent killed by Grizzly

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

A few days before my solo Beartooth High Lakes hike, nearby a camper was killed and eaten by a bear.

Montana Department of Fish, WIldlife, and Parks (MFWP) officials have captured a 300 – 400 lb. grizzly sow that went berserk in a Montana campground, fatally mauling Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, MI. Two other people were injured in the attack, which took place around 2 a.m. Wednesday, July 28 in Soda Butte Campground on the Gallatin National Forest northeast of Yellowstone. Witnesses said the sow was with three yearling cubs.

MFWP officials say Kammer was by himself in a tent when the attack happened. He was found at around 4 .M. about 25 feet from his tent by a team of state park investigators dispatched to the area on a report of a bear attack. He was a husband and father of four children, ages 8,9, 15 and 19 and he was alone on a fly-fishing vacation. …

Island Park News