Our grading system explained
Triple summit success in the Alps
Earlier this month five clients with a head for heights travelled to the Alps on our Mont Blanc Summit trekking peak adventure. We were very pleased to receive encouraging reports from our trek leader, Kevin O’Neale, highlighting that the group had managed to summit an impressive three peaks, all over 4,000m.
Standing high at 4,810m, Mont Blanc presents a challenging mission and requires a great level of skill and careful acclimatisation to altitude. The group completed skills refreshment on Trift Glacier and, in order to maximise their chances of summit success on Mont Blanc, ascended two smaller peaks over 4,000m - Allalinhorn (4,027m) and Weissmies (4,017m). Sadly, due to the nature of adventure travel, challenging weather conditions meant that the group could not summit Mont Blanc itself, however the accomplishment of ascending neighbouring peaks and traversing exhilarating glaciers are all individual achievements in their own right.In place of Mont Blanc the group took on the technical ascent of Nadelhorn (4,327m) on their final day, after which the group returned to Saas Grund in the Swiss Alps for a celebratory meal.
Well done everyone!
Pictured is the triumphant group on the summit of Allalinhorn.
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Autumn Inspiration
If the summer's let you down and you're still in need of some sunshine and good walking, then look no further than our latest enews. It features loads of holidays with autumn availability from Croatia to Nepal to Patagonia, so you could soon be out on the trail enjoying your next great adventure.
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Farewell to Wilderness Lectures
One summer’s day in 1987 Steve Berry (our MD) and fellow adventurer, Steve Marriott, were standing at the foot of the cliffs in Avon gorge. Having agreed that it was too hot to climb, they had been killing time in a ‘Wouldn’t it be great if…’ competition. This was when the fantasy of listening to the epic stories of their favourite heroes became a solid plan…
Since then, the two Steves and their caving friend Dick Willis, have organised more than 400 lectures whose general theme has been ‘Worldwide Adventure’. These epic stories have taken the audiences from the deepest point of the deepest ocean to the summit of Mount Everest, and from darkest, dankest inner spaces of our planet to even darker journeys in Outer Space. There have been mountaineers, sailors, cyclists, divers, balloonists, and even a man who cycled around the world on a penny farthing, and another who flew his car from Europe over the Straights of Gibraltar to Africa. There have been world famous explorers, record breakers, and people who have headed out into the remote unknown just for the hell of it.
Having run Wilderness for 36 years the three friends have decided to step back and retire so there will be no series this winter. However, they would be really happy if a younger individual, or a group of friends, would step forward to take over Wilderness and pick up where they are leaving off. If anyone is interested contact Wilderness Lectures here.
NEW Naar Phu Circuit Trek
We've just launched new tea house trek in the heart of the Annapurna Mountains in Nepal. An exhilarating, 18-day trekking trip, the Naar Phu Circuit takes you away from the popular trails of the Annapurnas, into a genuinely remote and truly spectacular region where access remains restricted.
Take a look at the full trip details here or speak to Harry in the Mountain Kingdoms office who completed the Naar Phu Circuit Trek earlier this year and rates it as the best he's ever done.