Adventure travel specialists World Expeditions have noted a 50% rise in Mongolian travel enquiries, following the recent UK book tour of expedition guide Tim Cope who has authored a title on the country. Now available in the UK, his book ‘On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey through the Land of the Nomads’, follows the World Expeditions guide …
ViewRanger app voted ‘Best of 2013’
Outdoor GPS and mapping application ViewRanger has been selected by Google as one of the Best Apps of 2013. Designed for outdoor exploration, the offline mapping and navigation software features a guided trail service, GPS mapped location without the need for mobile signal, track recording, sports computer stats, real time location sharing and can be used with a web account …
Moro and Goettler to attempt winter Nanga Parbat
The North Face are supporting an expedition to attempt the first ever winter ascent of Nanga Parbat in the western Himalayas. Set to depart later this month, The Nanga Parbat Winter Expedition 2014 will see The North Face athletes Simone Moro and David Goettler battle extreme conditions as they endeavour to become the first Alpinists to reach the summit in …
Krakow Mountain Festival 2013
This week sees the Krakow Mountain Festival take place, a three-day long mountain-themed event packed with talks, discussions, mountain films and more. Now in its 11th year, the festival will take place in Poland’s second largest city from December 6 – 8, while playing host to elite climbers from around the world including alpinist Leo Houlding, big wall climber Mark …
Wainwright Literary Prize launched
A new literary prize entitled ‘The Wainwright Prize for UK Nature & Travel Writing’ has recently been launched – and entry is now open! Named after legendary British fellwalker Alfred Wainwright, the annual competition aims to recognise original works of writing which focus on the British countryside. The winning title, which should represent Wainwright’s core values; respect for nature, a love of …
Walking the world’s longest river
British explorer and expedition leader Levison Wood has set off on a year-long adventure to walk the length of the world’s longest river, the Nile. If successful, Wood will set a world record by becoming the first person to complete the 4,250-mile journey across Africa. Following his departure on December 1, Wood will journey from the highlands of Rwanda to …
New 'mountain-proof' smartphone from Quechua
French mountain sports brand Quechua have introduced the new Phone 5’’, a smartphone developed especially for use in the mountains. Quechua describe their phone as ‘mountain-proof’, but what exactly does that mean? Well, the shock and weather resistant model features more than 30 inbuilt applications designed for trekking and mountaineering, has a quadcore 1.2 GHZ processor for fast navigation, and …
Spot the Snugpak elf
With less than a month to go before festive celebrations begin; sleeping bag experts Snugpak have launched a new Christmas competition. From December 2 – 18, visitors to the Snupak website could win daily prizes by searching for the hidden Snugpak elf. When discovered, visitors should click on the elf image and fill in their details to confirm entry into …
Easton win Popular Science award
Outdoor equipment experts Easton have received the 2013 Popular Science “Best of What’s New” award in the recreation category, for their Syclone™ composite tent poles. The Utah based brand have come up with a breakthrough design using high-strength, lightweight, aluminium and carbon fibre tubing, which has been recognised as improving both performance and value. Claimed to be the most resilient …
First ascent of Alps rock tower
British climber (and Trek & Mountain contributor) Tony Penning has soloed a previously unclimbed rock tower on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc Massif. Situated just below the southeast face of the Grandes Jorasses, the tower attracted Penning’s interest while camping in the Val Veni this August. Penning made two carries to the bivouac below Punta Grassi, before repeating …