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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Costa Rica and the Green Planet
Winner of the Earthshot prize, Costa Rica plays a starring role in David Attenborough’s new, ground-breaking natural history series due to its extraordinary bio-diversity and conservation credentials. Watch Green Planet on BBC1 on Sunday evenings to see some of the country’s amazing plants and creatures including millions of fungus-feeding, leafcutter ants that form an essential role in the ecosystem of Costa Rica’s pristine rainforest.
If you’d like to discover Costa Rica for yourself there is availability on both of this year’s departures of our Gentle Walking & Wildlife Costa Rica small group holiday.
December competition winner
Our final winner for 2022 is Chris Holland with this superb photo of Ama Dablam in the Everest region of Nepal. Not only has Chris captured the beauty of this magnificent mountain but the stupa in the foreground (with its slightly cheeky expression) adds real interest and character as well as a sense of symmetry and scale between the man made and natural worlds. Many congratulations to Chris who wins our last Water-to-Go bottle of the year.
December enews - Live well
Christmas has come and gone, and we do hope that yours was a merry one. You can see us in our Christmas hats in our December newsletter, along with a jaunt up Kilimanjaro, some spring holiday inspiration, a tribute to our departed friend Kev Reynolds, and a triumphant winning entry for our November photo competition. Happy New Year, and in the words of the late Kev Reynolds, let's make 2022 the year to live the moment and live it well.
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