Tag Archives: exploration
Pakistan trip part 3: Hunza Valley
We made our way from from Minapin to Karimabad. For a desert town, it was remarkably green. The Hunza Princely State was established around 1200AD and acceded to Pakistan on 3 November 1947. The fort commands great views over the town. When we arrived, the mountains were still hidden in the clouds. One summit was […]
Pakistan trip part 2: Rakaposhi Basecamp
Classification of mountain ranges is something I’ve had strong feelings about for many years, so when I heard that we’d be traveling through the location where the Karakoram, Himalaya and Hindu Kush meet – I naturally had to do some homework on this location. Claims like this often disregard observable facts in favour of marketing. […]
Pakistan trip part 1: Nanga Parbat Basecamp
If you ask ten people who are knowledgeable about the greater ranges what their favourite 8000er is, most will give you the same answer: K2. But if they had to provide a second answer, Nanga Parbat would likely be the most common response. I first learned about the existence of Nanga Parbat in my early […]
Hiking in Botswana
It’s a surprisingly well kept secret globally that South Africa is an exceptional hiking destination. While venues such as Table Mountain are generally well known, there are hundreds of amazing venues across the country to chose from. So the first question a reader may ask is “why would you drive for five hours to hike […]
Thaba-Phafane West
Where is the line between a hill and a mountain? When is a summit significant and when is it just a high point on a ridge? There is no one correct answer to these questions, and definitions vary from country to country and region to region. In Scotland there is a list of roughly 277 […]
Blouberg
Ga-Monnaasenamoriri, also known as Blouberg, is a 2051m peak with 1014m topographic prominence in Limpopo. It is best known for its multi-pitch climbing routes, but has been on my radar for a number of years due to it being one of the 24 mountains in South Africa with at least 1000m topographic prominence. I had […]
Poon Hill and Mardi Himal
In 2022, after completing the Three Passes Circuit in the Everest Region, I went to the Annapurna Region to complete the Annapurna Sanctuary hike. About 8 weeks later, the exact aircraft I had flown in crashed just short of Pokhara Airport in the worst Nepali aviation disaster in over 30 years. Coming into land at […]
Ama Dablam part 3: Second attempt
Ama Dablam Basecamp is a beautiful place to rest and recover. As a result, plenty of hikers not attempting the mountain come and visit each day. However, some of them fail to recognise that walking up to someone’s tent and taking a photo inside without asking first is incredibly rude. Others come want to come […]
Ama Dablam part 2: First attempt
Leaving Pheriche to head to Lobuche Basecamp meant one thing: I was about to walk past a spot I rate as one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. Cholatse is a strong contender for the most beautiful mountain on earth, and on this day I would spend a lot of my […]
Ama Dablam part 1: start to Nangkartshang
I first became aware of the existence of Ama Dablam when a friend had just returned from Everest Basecamp, and showed me their photos from the trip. It immediately became one of my favourite mountains, and one of the primary reasons I wanted to visit the Everest Region of Nepal. Fast forward to 2022 and […]
Ghaznavid Hiking 
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