Nepal posts

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (1 month ago)
Sep 28th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Clifton Maloney, the husband of U.S. Representative from New York Carolyn Maloney, has died while climbing in the Himalaya. The millionaire investment banker was 71 years old, and was on Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world, reaching 26,906 feet in height. Maloney was described as an avid adventurer who was into running, sailing, and climbing. He had competed in the New York City ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (2 months ago)
Sep 9th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Yesterday we told you about the highest photography and videography workshop in the world, which is scheduled to take place in April of 2010 on the North and East side of Everest. Today we have nine more great photography adventures courtesy of Outside Magazine, who asked their favorite photographers to name the best locations for getting amazing photos. Topping the list is Antarctica, which gets ...

by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (6 months ago)
May 24th, 2009 at 4:30PM: A 65 year-old man who suffers from vertigo has climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest.
He is the famous English adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who adds this latest feat to a long string of successes such as crossing Antarctica unaided. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Sir Ranulph says the key to avoiding vertigo is "not looking down" but he managed to take a peek when he reached the summit ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Apr 18th, 2009 at 8:00AM: We mentioned the Annapurna Circuit a few weeks back, calling it one of the world's classic treks, but also lamenting the fact that a new road, built in the name of progress, was altering the experience forever. What once took the better part of three weeks to traverse, can now be driven in just two days, and the solitude of the Himalayan hike is now gone. While the traditional Annapurna Circuit ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Apr 14th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Many people operate under the assumption that the most dangerous part of climbing Everest is the so called "Death Zone", above 26,000 feet, or the summit itself. But on the South Side of the mountain, at least statistically speaking, that just isn't true. There have been more deaths in the Khumbu Icefall than any other area on Everest, and the Icefall is located just above base camp at about ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Apr 10th, 2009 at 8:00AM: There are a number of legendary men who cast large shadows over the world of mountaineering. Men like George Mallory, Sir Edmund Hillary, and Reinhold Messener, whose exploits in the mountains are told around campfires from the Karakorum to the Andes. But there is a woman who stands with these legends and casts a large shadow of her own. Her name is Elizabeth Hawley, and even the most accomplished ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Apr 7th, 2009 at 8:00AM: As we mentioned last week, the Himalayan climbing season is in full swing, and the first teams of mountaineers should be arriving in base camp on Mt. Everest this week. BC on Everest falls at approximately 17,500 feet, higher than most mountains in the world, but it is only the beginning of the climb that hundreds of people have paid as much as $65,000 each, and devoted two months of their spring, ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Apr 3rd, 2009 at 8:00AM: Clearly the entire travel industry has been undergoing some dramatic changes over the past few years. There was a time when the thought of "green" travel was relegated to a relatively small, niche market that included some eco-conscious tour operators. But in the past few years there has been an inceased effort to be more green in all area of our lives thanks to an increased awareness of global ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Apr 2nd, 2009 at 8:01AM: China has announced that it intends to reopen the borders of Tibet on April 5th, allowing foreigners back inside on the eve of the country's biggest tourist season. The borders were closed at the beginning of March due to fears of internal unrest on the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama going into exile in India. By most accounts, the anniversary, and the month of March, passed uneventfully, ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Mar 31st, 2009 at 8:00AM: Climbers and high altitude mountaineers aren't the only ones having fun in the Himalaya this spring. Plenty of backpackers will pour into Nepal too, setting their sites on one of the greatest treks in the world, the legendary Annapurna Circuit. Unfortunately, this may be the last great year to take this hike, as the completion of a new road could spell the end of the things that have made this one ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Mar 28th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Yesterday we mentioned that Kathmandu has become a very busy place this week as climbers and trekkers heading to the Himalaya arrive in the city before setting out on their various adventures in the more mountainous regions of Nepal. Amongst those making the journey once again this year is Ed Viesturs, who many consider to be America's premiere mountaineer. Viesutrs has a long, and storied career ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Mar 27th, 2009 at 8:00AM: The arrival of spring means different things in different parts of the world. In northern Alaska it marks the end of the long darkness, with the returning of the sun. Further south, in the Mission at San Juan Capistrano welcomes the swallows home, while in the Midwest, the last of the winter snows give way to blooming flowers. Likewise, each spring in the Himalaya is marked with a ritual of its ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Mar 25th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Modern transportation has made it extremely easy for travelers to get to just about any place in the world. Each day there are international flights that can take us to the four corners of the globe and modern roads and trains will deliver us to the best sights and monuments to be found at our destination, before whisking us back to a comfy hotel, complete with hot and cold running water, room ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Mar 20th, 2009 at 9:00AM: Every adventure traveler knows about the Inca Trail or the Annapurna Circuit. They're amongst the best known hikes in the world, and the amount of traffic on those trails reflects that. While they both offer amazing scenery and a great travel experience, that experience can be tempered by the crowds. Thankfully, Backpacker is here to offer us ten great unknown treks, a list of outstanding long ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Mar 15th, 2009 at 10:00AM: The BootsnAll Travel site has a great article up listing the highest cities in the world. Amsterdam doesn't make this list however, as we're talking the cities that fall at the highest altitude. These mountain communities will have you gasping for air as soon as you step off the plane, both with their thin air and stunning mountain scenery. Topping the list as the highest city in the world is La ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (9 months ago)
Feb 26th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Last week we posted a story from CNN.com that named five places to see before climate changed altered them forever. The destinations that made their list included the Great Barrier Reef, the city of New Orleans, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, the Alpine Glaciers in Switzerland, and the Amazon Rain Forest in Brazil. Here are five more amazing places that you should see before they are ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (9 months ago)
Feb 10th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Kathmandu is a vibrant, noisy, colorful city, whose name alone elicits thoughts of adventures in far flung places. It is the Gateway to the Himalaya, and the home of more than 700,000 people. For nearly 2000 years it has been a cradle of civilization in Nepal, and the spiritual center for many practitioners of Hinduism and Buddhism as well. Although steeped in tradition, in many ways this ancient ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (10 months ago)
Jan 26th, 2009 at 12:30PM: The mystical, mythical Shangri-La has held a special allure to travelers since the release of the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton. In the book, the main character survives a plane crash in the Himalaya only to discover a hidden valley that is a paradise on Earth where the people live for hundreds of years without a care in the world. Since that time, many have searched for the possible ...

by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (10 months ago)
Jan 19th, 2009 at 1:30PM: Australian newspaper The Age has taken a good look at how adventure tourism is changing in Nepal as the country undergoes political change and modernization. In this story, published over the weekend, they discuss how one of the worlds most famous treks, the Annapurna Circuit, has been altered forever by the opening of road in the region early last year. Tourism has always been an essential part ...

by Josh Lew (RSS feed) (1 year ago)
Oct 9th, 2008 at 1:30PM: A Yeti Airlines Twin-Otter plane carrying sixteen passengers and three crew members crashed at a remote airstrip in Nepal yesterday morning, local time. The plane's wheel became entangled in a security fence as it was landing at the trekking base of Lukla, about 30 miles from Mount Everest. 18 people, including a group of 12 German trekkers, were killed. Only the pilot survived, though he remains ...
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