Gearing up for Mountains of Pain

Super excited. That's how I feel right about now. 5 days and counting before I embark on my next adventure. Finally I will be experiencing the famous GR20 or fra li monti which takes me across island of Corsica - at least across the more mountaneous northern part of the route.

Mountain as a birthday present

What would you give to a close friend who already has everything? The friend, who also happens to be your next door neighbor, is reaching an esteemed age of full 100 years later this year. She already has plenty of material goods, so she doesn't need any more stuff to put on top of the mantelpiece. She has also accumulated a wealth of immaterial possessions over the years. One thing that she doesn't have yet though is a proper mountain.

A visit to highest toilet in South East Asia - Reprise of Mount Kinabalu hike in Borneo

Do I hear the crowd asking for an encore? At least one avid reader was missing a recount of my visit to the highest toilet in South East Asia. This particular blog post was originally featured in my other blog - Frosty the Lion - which captures expatriate experience of living in Singapore. As the only hiking related entry in that particular blog, it is appropriate to be duplicated on this hiking blog as well. The text has been slightly edited to fit this purpose and there are few new pictures even for old readers. Without further ado here is the reprise of my trek to Mount Kinabalu due to overwhelming public demand.

Quest through Middle Zealand - Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Abel Tasman Coast Track, Hooker Valley Trail

Every self respecting geek is supposed to perform at least once in their lifetime a holy pilgrimage to the land of hobbits, elves and orcs. While at it, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do some hiking as well. Our very own fellowship (retkue in Finnish) ventured through couple of designated hikes in New Zealand while trying to soak it all in from both north and south islands within two measly weeks back in January 2012.

Visited locations with red star on those covered in this blog entry

Rotten Eggs for Four Days - Laugevegur trail in Iceland

GR20 is a footpath that crosses the island of Corsica. It has been dubbed as the most challenging multi day hike in Europe. GR20 has secured its place high up on my bucket list of hikes. Back in 2015 me & group of my friends were eyeing keenly on the possibility to complete if not the full 15 day hike, but at least the reportedly more scenic northern half of the journey. This blog entry is NOT a narration of GR20. Instead of Corsica we went to Iceland!

Feeling Well in Tatras

One of the hidden mountaineering gems within Europe is the High Tatras in Slovakia. I was lead on this little secret during one particularly warm summer night in charming Budapest, Hungary of all the places. I was trading hiking experiences with a Slovakian colleague of mine and during late night spur of enthusiasm I committed to one day come over and witness the mountains myself. I am so glad I lived true to my word on to what turned out to be one of the most memorable mountain hikes ever.

Before, during and after ski

Allowing good ol' Isaac Newton to do all the work while sliding gently downhill from mountains with skiis is pretty much the exact opposite for hiking uphill with hurting knees. I recently visited the Alps for the first time ever during Winter and even if the lifts take me up the mountain and gravity takes me down, I have to admit that I was completely exhausted by evening time, so I would argue that also this trip warrants it's place in this hiking blog.