Random travel questions

[The SnowShow]

been to the bow valley in June. Was Near peak river runoff, some trails not yet open, potential for record flooding depending on alignment of time. Bears might be really hungry.

Geneva to chamonix is a short drive.

How is Cham to Zermatt?

[old goat]

If you're up for a multi day hike it's hard to beat the Tour du Mont Blanc for stunning and civilized. You can do a self guided trip with a company planning the tourmaking the hut and hotel bookings for you--we were very happy with Alpine Exploratory in the UK. Most people do it in about 10 days with a layover day--it's 110 miles I think. The Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix do it in 5. The runners do it in 24 hours or so.
If you or anyone else wants some tips about route, lodging PM me. I also posted a TR a few years ago.

Rick Steves does a segment of the TMB in his show about Chamonix and the French Alps. He spends a day and a half doing what we did in a morning. And we did the 10+1 day version. And he has his luggage transported by van. Which some people do but hardly seems worth the hassle, since your luggage consists of a pack with whatever clothes you aren't wearing that day and you might not be able to stay at some of the nicest huts which aren't accessible by van. I think we stayed about half the nights in huts and half in villages and towns in dorms or hotels.

It's also possible to do most of the TMB by road--buses and taxis, as long as you don't stay at most of the huts. We met a couple who had taken a year off work and found at just before the TMB that she was pregnant--so the guy hiked, she took buses and taxis (she was having a lot of trouble with morning sickness) and they'd meet at the end of the day.

[Buster Highmen]

I haven't spent enough time in the Canadian Rockies to opine there, but Switzerland, Austria and Italy r00l for refugio/hutte to refugio/hutte hikes and tours.

https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&...city=1,1,1,0.8

[dunfree]

How is Cham to Zermatt?

never been in June or summer. The Haute Route was first a summer hiking/mountaineering thing, well before it was a ski thing, and the valleys are beautiful. Weather wise it was 10C at the summit of mt blanc last week

[MakersTeleMark]

Ooh, I've got one:

Climbing Mt. Whitney and Mt. Russell soon. If all goes well, we will have 2 extra days to make it back to LA. Looking for something else cool to do on the way- doesn't have to be super outdoorsy but we will have backpacking gear. Already been to Death Valley and it's going to be 110. Sequoia? Mammoth? Palm Springs?

Jtree.

[muted reborn]

Both are jaw dropping but the culture and the food and all the crazy lifts everywhere makes Europe better.

Go to both at some point though, it's not an either/or choice in life if you can afford to travel a bunch.

[old goat]

Both are jaw dropping but the culture and the food and all the crazy lifts everywhere makes Europe better.

Go to both at some point though, it's not an either/or choice in life if you can afford to travel a bunch.

With the caveat that the food in the huts along the TMB, and in the dorms if you decide to stay in them, is not what makes Europe better. 3 nights in a row dinner was a bowl of boiled potatoes and a bowl of melted cheese. Mind you, this was in Switzerland. The food was a little better in Italy and France and outstanding when we stayed at hotels. The breakfast buffet at Hotel Bouton d'Or in Courmayeur was beyond incredible. And we got to do it twice since that was our layover.

[dunfree]

My winter hut experience was food varied by the hut, the wardens, and the day of the week (low volume week days were better). Three straight days of potatoes was not my experience, but shit varies, maybe there are us hits with draft beer now

[old goat]

I agree--it depends a lot on the kind of hut, also which meal. I've been to huts--the Requin hut on the VB route, the Monch hut which was a hike across the Aletsch glacier from the Jungfraujock, the Elisabetta hut on the TMB, where hikers, skiers, or day visitors could order a nice lunch. But even the Elisabetta served the same unmemorable dinner to everyone staying the night. None of the meals made us sick or were inedible, none left us hungry. My point is that you don't do the TMB for the food, especially if you prefer to stay in the huts for the view rather than in a village or town in a valley. While some of the huts can be reached by motor vehicle most of them are supplied by donkeys or hikers carrying loads. Maybe helicopters but I didn't see any those two weeks.

The huts on the TMB are big and full every night in season. It's a very popular route. You don't do it for the solitude either.

[Beaver]

Road tripping 950 miles one way with a 10 month old. Am I going to die?

Pfft. I did Rossland to Cabo with a 2yo and 3 month old.

[riser4]

Attachment 419388

Homemade insulated black out shades FTW!

That's pretty darn cool. I assume you put one of the middle row seats back in for the baby?

[riser4]

I have a Sienna. Does that help?

Oh. Ya, nevermind. Sienna FTW!

[mcphee]

That's pretty darn cool. I assume you put one of the middle row seats back in for the baby?

I’m not putting a middle seat in. We’ll leave the table (doubles as a leveler for incline in the bench) at home and put the car seat where my backpack is.

[dan_pdx]

Has anyone been to Petra? I'm going to be in Jerusalem next month, and there are tour operators doing day trips to Petra with an alpine start / late return. Looks like you only get 3-4 hours on site, is it worth it? I'd be willing to spend a night, but it seems like the 2-day tours also only spend 3-4 hours at Petra, the rest of the time is spent at a tourist Bedouin camp.

[Ørion]

Has anyone been to Petra? I'm going to be in Jerusalem next month, and there are tour operators doing day trips to Petra with an alpine start / late return. Looks like you only get 3-4 hours on site, is it worth it? I'd be willing to spend a night, but it seems like the 2-day tours also only spend 3-4 hours at Petra, the rest of the time is spent at a tourist Bedouin camp.

Holy hell, was going to respond with specifics but just realised that I was in Petra almost two decades ago.

Can't talk to logistics now, obviously, but Petra itself is completely worth it. No guide, just wandered around slackjawed until we were tired. Four hours there would be tight but doable.

The approach to the main temple is pretty dang flat but some of the side trips require a lot of vert. If you go with a public tourist group, you're going to be pretty limited by the least fittest person in the group.

One of the more memorable things we did there was a hiking tour (with guides) of the slot canyons that feed into the Dead Sea from the Jordanian side. Included some high jumping into pools and culminated with a 100(ish) ft waterfall rappel.

We spent a night in a camp in Wadi Rum but, to be honest, I don't remember much about the actual camp itself other than that it turned out I positively hated mutton cooked in camel's milk. Climbing to top of one of the shorter formations and watching the sun set over the brutally spartan and beautiful landscape is a core memory though.

Jordanian shawarma street food is unlike anything you can find in the USA. After eating one with good toum (garlic sauce) and shrak (chewy flatbread, thin like a crepe), pita-based shawarma you can find here just doesn't cut it.

Oh, and the ice cream! Booza has mastic in it which gives it this wonderful chewy texture, almost like taffy that melts in your mouth. Absolutely addicting.

[climberevan]

Ms CE, who's been everywhere, won't shut up about Petra to anyone who asks. Go.

[MakersTeleMark]

Here's some beats for your journey:

[dan_pdx]

Thanks very much guys! We booked a one-day trip to Petra, I'll be there in a couple of weeks and will report back. Orion, that canyoneering sounds awesome, but we won't be able to fit it in on this trip...we'll have to save it for next time. We will probably find some time for an Ein Gedi hike though, that should give us some similar views, minus the 100-foot rappel in a waterfall.

[Ørion]

Thanks very much guys! We booked a one-day trip to Petra, I'll be there in a couple of weeks and will report back. Orion, that canyoneering sounds awesome, but we won't be able to fit it in on this trip...we'll have to save it for next time. We will probably find some time for an Ein Gedi hike though, that should give us some similar views, minus the 100-foot rappel in a waterfall.

You'll love it either way. Bring stretch waist pants, the food is delicious!

Oh, and if you take a dip in the Dead Sea, don't even consider shaving for several days before hand. As it is you're going to instantly discover every micro-abrasion, cut, and hangnail you've had in the past month. The warning goes doubly so for the fairer sex.