8th – Going on a trek driving (Kathmandu (1400m) – Syange (1120m))

As planned we started at 0530 when we packed the bus and left Kathmandu in a cloud of dust and pollution. After a couple of hours drive – around 0700 – we stopped for breakfast.

Mid-day at 1200-ish we reached our destination for the bus and unloaded. After lunch we packed all our stuff onto two four wheel drives and stuffed 11 people in an on each (14 tourists, 1 guide, 1 guide assistant and 7 porters – and 2 drivers). Luckily I ended up in the car where two porters sat on the roof instead, giving the rest of us a bit extra room. Having them staying on the roof and not falling off was quite impressive considering the conditions of the road the following 2½ hours. The roads were probably some of the bumpiest roads I have ever experienced.

On arrival we were supposed to walk for another hour or so but our guide decided that we would stay at the teahouse here tonight. We spent an hour walking up looking at a waterfall nearby before returning and relaxing the rest of the day. They even have free Wi-Fi!

During briefing tonight we were given a map of the area with tours drawn on making it easier for us to see the context of where we are going. The plan tomorrow is to get up at 0630, breakfast at 0700, leave at 0730 with a 1-hour drive to Jagat (the originally planned place to stay the night) and walk app. 7 hours to Bagarchap. It will be nice to get some walking done, especially after that bumpy ride.

A single room here costs 200 NRP and one with bath/toilet 500 NRP. Their menu contains items that are priced somewhere between those two. 1 USD is app. 100 NRP. It will obviously get more expensive later one, but still…

The view from the waterfall. The teahouse is just below the photo in the middle.

6th – 7th – Departure and arrival

As mentioned previously the plan was to go via Doha with a 4 hour layover. My connecting flight got cancelled so I was moved to another flight 4 hours later, giving me 8½ hours in Doha. This meant that Qatar airways arranged accommodation for me during the stay.

The trip went well until we were to leave CPH airport. Technical issues with the plane meant we were delayed almost two hours before even taking off. Apart from that it wasn’t too bad; the Dreamliner has some massive personal screens which was nice. But I seemed to be seated among groups split up in different rows who preferred getting together in the aisles and them being relatively narrow there was an above average occurrence of butt-to-shoulder action going on.

Arriving in Doha I had only 6 hours in the airport due to the delay, and even if though was the airport hotel I got a room in it only gave me 4 hours of sleep. The room was really nice; big bed and the bathroom was almost split into three separate rooms. The flight from Doha went fine apart from Mr. “let me tip my seat all the way back regardless of the guy behind me”. Being an older plane the legroom was not as optimal as on the previous one.

I arrived in Kathmandu and broke a personal record; it took almost 2 hours to get from the plane and out to the pickup waiting for me. Not due to security or similar (which was very easy to get through), but rather due to having to wait for my luggage for almost 1½ hours.

Met up with the rest of the group at the usual meeting on the evening/night of arrival and packed our bags for the upcoming weeks. We have been given a duffel bag each which is to be packed with 7-10kg. The limiting factor in this case is more volume than weight.

Leaving the hotel tomorrow at 0530 to start the trip off with a 7 hour drive. Breakfast will be had along the way.

We are 14 people in the group; 5 Aussies, 2 Germans, 3 Austrians, 1 American, 1 Canadian, a Brit and me.

The polar opposite

So... I think this is a first. Only days after making reservations for two trips a third pops up. Woops. It wasn't even planned - not this early, at least - but I realized that if I wanted to go within the next 1½ years I shouldn't wait too long otherwise the cheap tickets would be sold out.

I mentioned previously that the trip to Svalbard would be the priciest trip I will be going on by far. So what do I do? Find the only destination more expensive - because that makes sense. Luckily the travel agent lets customers split up payments otherwise it would not have been possible for me to make any reservations. Again a cool trip I have wanted to go on but you know.. Money available and price isn't always compatible. But now it looked like I might get a break so yes, it was unavoidable.

The trip isn't until November next year and because of that it isn't possible to get plane tickets as ticket sites normally won't let you purchase more than 364 days in advance. So the tour description will be a bit more vague than usual.

10th? - 11th of November 2016

Fly out of Copenhagen to Buenos Aires.

12th of November

After spending a night in Buenos Aires I get picked up and brought to the airport from where I fly to Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world. Here I get to spend the rest of the day taking in the sights of the end of the world.

13th - 23rd of November

In the afternoon we embark the MS Expedition (same one, actually, which will be bringing me around Svalbard) and sail south, crossing the Drake Passage followed by 6 days where we explore the wildlife and scenery of Antarctica around Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands. The goal is to be able to get ashore twice a day to get a closer look of penguins and generally keep an eye out for whales and seals feeding. After the 6 days we will be heading back north to the mainland.

24th of November

Arriving last night we have breakfast on the ship before disembarking. Flight back to Buenos Aires late morning or early afternoon.

25th - ? November

Flying back home from Buenos Aires, but as I have no flight plans yet I am thinking of maybe spending a couple of days in the city. We'll see.

There were surprisingly large variety of expeditions to Antarctica and some of them would be bringing us past by the Falklands and South Georgia and while it was tempting, there was something very, very sobering about the price. So, I'll take a limited edition of "only" passing by Antarctica, but I'm fine with that.

Polar stuff!

I have a list of places I want to go which is roughly prioritized. The trips the last couple of years have helped cleaning out some of the items on the list even if there still are new ones arriving never letting me empty the list (which I consider a good thing). One of the destinations have been there for quite a while, and relatively high up, too, but the reason for not going yet is fairly unique from the other trips; price. My treks, climbs and safaris have usually been cost efficient and I've felt that I have not been losing money on these trips, and while this one won't (hopefully) make me feel like throwing money down the drain it is... not cheap. But then again; supply & demand, the living conditions on the trip and the fact that the location is relatively inaccessible the price makes sense.

So - off we go!

12th of June

Flight out of Copenhagen via Oslo to Longyearbyen on Svalbard.

13th - 20th of June

After spending an extra night in Longyearbyen I board the travel company's ship in the afternoon and the following days we will be sailing up and down mainly along the western coast of Svalbard looking at wildlife, whether it's marine or land based. My main goal is to see polar bears but there will be chances to see birdlife, seals, walrus, polar fox, reindeer and much more. Chances are that there will be opportunities to take a zodiac and have a walk around on land getting closer to the animals. But otherwise we will be staying on the boat for the entirety of the trip.

We will return to Longyearbyen on the 19th in the evening and disembark on the 20th.

20th

Flight home, via Tromsø and Oslo.

Back to Nepal

With the trip to Ecuador and later Mexico in November being botched I considered saving my vacation days for some time next year, maybe combining them with Easter giving an even longer time off opening up for several possibilities to go on a long trip. But I had mentally prepared to go now in November and suddenly not having anything made it feel disappointingly empty.

So I had to find a remedy for that. How? By finding another trip!

Looking at climbs I realized that there were no real realistic alternatives for me that I hadn't already done so I started looking into treks instead. My attention quickly went to Nepal where I for some time have wanted to return since the Everest Base Camp trek back in 2012, and luckily there was a departure that perfectly fit my schedule. And one free spot left. Lucky me!

6th - 7th of November

Flight out from Copenhagen via Doha to Kathmandu. At least Doha has gotten a new airport since my last layover so the stay will be a bit less dull than the last time I was here.

8th of November

We will drive to Besi Shahar from where we will go on a short trek to Jagat and passing by beautiful hot springs on the way.

9th - 22nd of November

The itinerary is fairly limited on information other than "walk from [here] to [there]" so splitting the description on in a day-to-day basis as I usually do feels like a waste of time. Basically we will be walking almost two weeks along the Annapurna range in the western part of Nepal home of several summits, among them Annapurna I, II, III and IV (the imagination needed to name them!). Annapurna I is the only 8000m summit (8091m) in the range and is the 8000m summit with the highest fatality rate of app. 32%.

We will be having a couple of rest days on the way but most days we will be walking 6-8 hours bringing us through valleys, along mountains and over passes in some beautiful terrain and see amazing views. Hopefully the latter will apply, too, and the weather won't be acting up.

The highest point we will be reaching on the trek will be Thorung Pass of 5416m but normally we will be walking in the area of 2000-4500m.

For those of you who actually do know the geographical layout of western Nepal here's the route we will be following: Jagat - Bagarchhap, Bagarchhap - Chame, Chame - Pisang, Pisang - Manang, Manang rest day, Manang - Yakkharka, Yakkharka - Phedi, Phedi - Muktinath, Muktinath rest day, Muktinath - Kalopani, Kalopani - Tatopani, Tatopani - Sikha, Sikha - Ghorepani, Ghorepani - Pokhara. My spell checker is going into overdrive.

23rd of November

Drive back from Pokhara to Kathmandu where we will be spending the last night together.

24th - 25th of November

Flight back home, again via Doha. Extra happy with the new airport as I will be spending around 8 hours there this time. Nope, no better connections.

Update on the trip to Mexico's volcanoes

God dammit. The trip has been cancelled due to lack of interest. The travel company couldn't get the minimum necessary number of tourists onto the trip.

Probably my shortest post ever, but there is not much else to say.

Non-Ecuador (i.e. Mexico) and volcanoes

Due to reasons mentioned here this trip has unfortunately also been cancelled.

So... Nature is a brutal mistress and apparently she has been in one of her moods again. Cotopaxi has within the last 48 hours been erupting making it impossible to get near it, and a state of emergency has also been declared in the vicinity. So I received a mail from the travel company saying that due to this they were forced to cancel the trip. Instead they would move us to another trip, same time and similar in altitude and location, but away from all the excitement.

What is it with me and natural disasters in places I am going to?

18^th – 19^th of November

Fly to Mexico City via Amsterdam. An advantage here over the trip to Ecuador is that we don’t leave until noon (no more checking in at 0400 in the morning!). Arriving we spend a day in the city.

20^th of November

We will leave Mexico City and drive out to see Teotihuacán 50km NE of the city. Spend some time looking (and climbing) the pyramids, walking Avenida de los Muertos and being hassled by hagglers. After the visit we leave and drive app. 110km and spend the night at the Toluca hut at 3250m.

21^st of November

Today we will climb the Toluca volcano which is 4640m tall, Mexico’s 4^th highest mountain. The path to the summit (crater edge) will be done by following a path so the technical level will be limited. Coming down again we will drive to the Amecameca village at around 2300m where we spend the night.

22^nd of November

The next goal of the trip is the Iztaccihuatl volcano, Mexico’s 3^rd highest mountain. We will drive to the Alzomoni hut at 3900m via the small village La Joya. In the afternoon after arriving at the hut we will do a small 3-hour walk to a small peak between the hut and Izta giving us a view of the surrounding moutains.

23^rd of November

Today we will be moving our camp up to the Ayoloco hut at 4725m. This day seems to be the most challenging day on the trip due to the hut being exposed to the wind and we have to carry all our gear ourselves during the ascent.  The views from here are beautiful and apparently the sunsets are supposed to be something special.

24^th of November

A 10 hour walk today where we climb and summit Iztaccihuatl (hopefully) at 5230m. From the summit you should among other things be able to see Mexico City and surrounding areas. There are a few different routes we can take depending on the strength of the group but in the end it won’t change much time-wise. Coming down again we drive to Puebla City.

25^th of November

Rest day in Puebla City.

26^th of November

We’ll drive app. 150km to Tlachichuca where we’ll swap over to 4-wheel drives and continue on to the Piedra Grande hut at 4260m on the northern side of Pico Orizaba, our final goal. The volcano is the tallest point in Mexico, and 3^rd tallest on the North American continent (only surpassed by Denali and Mt. Logan).

27^th of November

A short 3 hour walk today in conditions that could be dry and rocky, or there can be snow, or even ice. We will ascent to 4700m to the final camp on a plateau with a beautiful view of the volcano.

28^th of November

Starting the summit attempt before dawn to spend as much time on the snow before the sun worsens the conditions. We will be following the Jamapa glacier with an average incline of 35° which means we will be roped together on the entire walk. Reaching the summit at 5746m we will be able to see the Mexican Gulf to the east and the central plateau to the West. Coming down again we will drive back to Tlachichuca where we spend the night. The day is estimated to 10-12 hours so not much longer than when climbing Iztaccihuatl, but the temps will according to the description be very low.

29^th of November

Transfer back to Mexico City

30^th of November – 1^st of December

Flight back to Copenhagen via Paris. Late departure from Mexico so no need to get up early.