33
What's called a refuge in French is a Hütte in German. In both cases, it can be staffed (gardé, bewirtschaftet) and possibly offer some basic catering or be unstaffed (refuge non gardé, Selbstversorgerhütte) or a mere shelter (cabane or abri de secours, Notlager or Biwakschachtel).
The German and Austrian alpine clubs run many of them and also maintain ...
23
I climbed Mount Fuji 5 years ago. I would say:
I don't think Earthquakes are a realistic danger on Mount Fuji (if there is one, probably better to be out in the open than under a roof that can collapse anyway).
As ohers have already mentioned, the climb is not too technical but quite tiring. The last hour is especially terrible, walking on volcanic sand and ...
22
Japan does not have a general "right to access" like Scandinavian countries, wild camping on public land is theoretically illegal and wild camping on private property requires the landowner's permission.
That said, both rules are only loosely enforced and there's a bit of a tradition of "urban camping" (野宿 nojuku) in Japan: simply put, if you pitch up a ...
15
We (a party of two) have just returned from a trek in the Khoa Sok national park in Thailand.
The first portion of the trek included an elephant experience. We expected to maybe have a short ride on an elephant, then feed them... etc etc.
What we instead found was this: Arriving at the elephant "sanctuary" we were plonked on top of a random elephant. The ...
14
Wikivoyage will tell you all you need to know: Mount Fuji
The TL;DR version:
The mountain is officially open to climbers only from July to early September. Visiting outside the official season is legal but inadvisable unless you know what you're doing, since everything is closed and the weather can be extreme.
It's cold up there, temps at the summit can ...
13
You should go. I've never been to Montenegro, but I have been to various places in Dalmatia, and I have spent a good deal of time in and around Sarajevo, where my mother in law lives.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "trekking" (and I have no idea what you mean by "integrist"). Land mines are a problem in Bosnia, but the problem is dwindling, thanks ...
13
Probably not
This is a rather vague half-answer, but it's more than a comment.
Through the commercial tourism association http://www.schwarzwald-tourismus.info/ I found the different organisations that take care of the national parks/reserves there. They are all listed in the footer of that page.
I called the one for the north and asked. They said their ...
12
Hikr.org is a popular hiking portal mainly for the Alps, but there are also two reports about Adam's peak. Both of them state that it isn't a very difficult hike, and one of them even classifies the route in the official hiking scale. The report states it is a T2, which means:
T2 – Mountain Hikes
Paths with continuous marked-out route. In case it is ...
12
I'm not brilliantly positioned to answer this, but since nobody else has...
So I walked a small section of the route back in 2000 or so (Sounkyo Onsen to Kurodake and back) as a day trip, just enough to realize that it's a pretty "serious" national park and you'll want to be well prepared for a serious hike:
As you can see, the problem is not that it's 55 ...
11
Short answer, you can't.
However, you can at least make sure they have an official license, and any other accreditation which might lend some credence to their claims.
Look for ones that are licensed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), and consider googling for the tour company plus some key words, to see if anyone has mentioned them or complained ...
11
I have not "trekked" through the Balkans but I have cycled unaccompanied with no support through Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia and found the people very friendly and helpful and the overall experience 'safe'. Although my description of safe may differ from yours.
I stayed in a hostel/b&b for one night in Podgorica but the rest of ...
10
I'll answer my own question after staying in Rio and doing the trekking.
This trail is completly safe in all sense. There are police controls in the first part of the trail (the Pista Cláudio Coutinho) and in the upper part (the cable-car station). In reality, all the area is a militar settlement, so I doubt that anybody try to attack you there.
In the ...
9
You can have warm days and hiking is definitely possible. But the first week of September is very different from the end of October and anything can happen, even snow. There is certainly a decent chance of wet and relatively cold weather but that's not the end of the world, on a multi-day mountain trek, you have to be prepared for that anyway.
The main ...
9
For established long distance routes, you can find them on Scotland's Great Trails. These are waymarked long-distance routes, that you may be able to get special maps covering the route. There's also a slightly better overview map at WalkHighlands. Most of these long-distance routes however delibeatley avoid unnecissarily summiting however, which conflicts ...
8
That's the kind of gear I'd use when going to hike well into subzero temperatures. Attempting to hike in such a gear at +20°C, especially in humid air, you'll not be comfortable at all. It's a total overkill. Especially the pants.
What I'd use for such a hike:
t-shirt, preferably non-cotton stay-dry kind;
soft shell fleece jacket (Windstopper or equivalent)...
8
My wife and I booked through Barking Gecko Travel last January and had a really great experience. Barking Gecko Travel is operated by Travel Hub, so I think it would be fair to expect reviews about Travel Hub may translate over to Barking Gecko.
The tour guides provided spoke great English and we really felt that we were being taken into the jungle and ...
8
Just came back from my trekking vacation in Nepal.
It's possible (and simple) to get to the lake without camping, using local guesthouses. It requires no special means like helicopters, and it even helps with acclimatization before the Thorung La Pass.
8
You are quite safe if you have no European good-looking girls in your company. If you have such girls you might be in big trouble, because Bride kidnapping is still a popular ritual in Georgia and Chechnya.
Pass the border between Georgia and Russia is better in Kazbegi (Other roads go through Abkhazia and North Ossetia - if you want to visit those countries,...
8
You expressed your will to camp in Daizetsusan, so my answer will focus on Daizetsusan, see jpatokal's answer for more general information.
I have hiked across Daisetsuzan for several days, and camped various different kinds of places:
Spots of ground and poles, nobody except other campers. Just put your tent on a spot big enough, and put your bags of food ...
7
Well firstly most buses won't go directly to El Calafate. You'll likely have to change buses, and likely will want to - it's a long way!
However, a convenient stopping point could be Puerto Madryn (Chubut). It's a great little beach town, with the Valdez Peninsula - and I kid you not - you can sit on the hostel balcony and point at the whales as they come ...
7
Amazing Thailand has much to say on the subject.
Key points:
Tourist attractions throughout the country will often have a resident elephant, however serious trekkers and elephant riders will need to go to the northern regions of Thailand for a richer experience.
The cost will generally be around A$15 per person for an hour ride. A full day trekking will ...
7
Goodness, you're not kidding, it's hard to find.
I can offer the following:
Barking Gecko Tours: 2 Day 1 Night Trek and 3 Day 2 Night Trek, both which certainly don't MENTION elephants, despite having a picture of one on their banners. They are officially licensed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
7
There are three routes.
Hatton route.
Rathnapura route
Kuruwita route
Easiest and most common route is Hatton route. If you go this way Slippers are the best.(Thats what the locals use)
If u want to get more jungle experience, you should go in other routes. Better to use water proof boots.
And please consider this is one of the most sacred places in ...
7
Trekking around the general area is possible around the year, but the weather is of course something to be worried about.
Here is a monthly temperature chart of the base camp. This should give you an idea, minus 36 degrees celsius is surely something to write home about. The issue however will be the snow rather than the temperature. According to ...
7
Duration
Is it feasible in six days? Certainly. Is if feasible for you in six days? That depends on you.
In general the organised treks will take a few days longer than what you propose. But those are meant to be accessible for overweight, middle aged, European coach potatoes. If you are in reasonable physical shape, six days is fine. If you are really fit ...
6
It is sad that most companies claim 98%, because there is really no truth behind those fact. If you ask them for the actual numbers most will not release them. We decided to climb with E-Trip Africa as they do put up statistics that seem a little more realistic. They claim 88-89% overall, and when I asked for actual numbers of people it calculated ...
6
It sounds to me like your Quecha jacket should do the job - the main advantage of more expensive fabrics is improved breathability etc - it's ppossible for quite cheap materials to be very waterproof. Although investigate the zips - if they're not sealed/taped then water will ingress through them in sustained rain.
Be aware that in the hills of the UK, the ...
6
There is not a lot to find about permits, but you can find where you need to pay for entrance, and photo and video cameras.
In the extended text you can find the text:
Govind Wildlife Sanctuary Information Center
Wildlife Warden
Govind Pashu Vihar Sanctuary,
Purola, Uttarkashi.
and
Divisional Forest Officer,
Tons Forest Division.
...
6
In popular hiking regions such as Karakol, hostels / guesthouses and outdoor equipment rentals can often provide you with suitable maps.
If there's a CBT nearby, you might be able to buy maps there - although sometimes they don't in order to promote their local hiking guides.
6
Common sense suggests that if the law says it's illegal to wear it as a civilian then "but they're available for sale on Amazon!" probably would not be an effective defence in court.
is it really going to get a civilian in trouble if he wears any kind of Army camouflage for a trip?
Hard to know for sure.
It is only the beret and badges that ...
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