into-thin-air's Videos

This is my favourite little hike, walk out of Gosforth on the Wasdale road, after walking up Leagate (The big hill leaving the village) take the 1st left up Guards Lonning. Follow the Lonning passing Guards End and Tween Guards, the Lonning then turns into a grassy track, keep following this, go through to gates, the second one onto the open fell and cross the small beck on the footbridge. Here the track gets a bit faint, but if you keep the dry stone wall to your left you can’t go wrong. Soon another wall appears coming in from the right as you start to go downhill. You soon pick up a stony track and you follow this until you meet the Wasdale Head road, turn right onto this and follow it for about 150 yards. You will then see a turn off to the left, take this and pass Leathwaite and The Gap. It then joins the road from Gosforth to Wasdale on the top of Berry Brow and from here it is only another 150 yards into the village of Nether Wasdale.
Choice of two Pubs, The Strands and the Screes :-)

As my “Trek-Mates” were following a different route and there was now only myself and one of the porter/guides (Shambhu) I was no longer constrained so we arose early, a cup of black coffee and were trekking before 7, first stop was back at Dhugla for breakfast, then Pheriche for tea, Pangboche for lunch, Debouche for more tea and finally Lausassa for our overnight stay.
Then the next day trekked back down to Namche Bazaar for our breakfast, and then to Benkar and The Waterfall Lodge.
Then after a leisurely breakfast we continued on down towards Lukla. It is only a ½ days trekking from Benkar to Lukla
I was awake before Shambhu knocked so got up and had a coffee before we walked down to the airport. At 06.45 the first plane to land was Agni Air and we had to run to get on board ½ an hour later we were once more back in Kathmandu

As this is quite a long days trekking I was up before 6am, cup of black coffee and Tej (Cook/Guide) were trekking by 06.30. The trail undulates steadily up, mainly on top of the Khumbu Glacier, often with excellent views ahead of the Upper Khumba valley. After about 2 hours we arrived at Gorak Shep and took breakfast before continuing on to EBC. The trail is quite good, undulating on and off the glacier and eventually along a sharp ridge to the left of the glacier before it drops steeply down into Base camp.
One myth that can be dispelled is that when you trek to EBC that you don’t see Everest, well you get a good view of Everest poking its head over Lhotse and Nuptse from the sharp ridge before dropping off it.
Base Camp its self was very quiet and I only saw a few Nepali’s getting things ready for the coming season, we had a good wander around and took lots of photos of The Khumba icefall before returning the same way as we came, stopping at Gorak Shep for a late lunch and getting back to Lobuje around 4pm

Another Very short days trekking but with no alternatives, Very Steeply up at first onto the edge of the Khumbu Glacier – Here you come across scores of memorial cairns commemorating climbers and Sherpa’s that have died on the mountains.
The path then slowly climbs along the left hand side of the glacier to Lobuje, a large cluster of teahouses with several options for accommodation.
I had decided to stay two nights here and trek to EBC in the day between (On my previous visit I had been up Kala Patter, so didn’t feel the urge to go up again, but instead trek to EBC which was something I hadn’t done) - this was mainly to save sleeping at Gorak Shep which is around 5200m and therefore now conducive with a good night’s sleep, this also saved me packing my rucksack including the now dreaded job of battling my down sleeping bag into its compression bag ;-)

A Very short days trekking from Pheriche to Dhugla, but as we had pushed on a bit the day before we thought it made good sense just to trek a short day to stay well within the AMS height gain guidelines.
The path is again a good one, at first you trek up through the valley with some awesome mountains towering above you, then at a small summer yak headers settlement the path swings 90 degrees right and you start to climb towards the Khumbu Glacier, just before reaching the terminal moraine you swing left and cross a small stream and enter Dhugla which is just a small cluster of lodges.

The path from Debouche first contours around through mire forest before you again cross the Dhud Kosi, this used to be on a very famous little suspension bridge which is the subject of many paintings (I am sure you will have seen these fir sale in Thamel) Although the old bridge is still there, there is now a new metal box bridge above it, more practical if now quite as photogenic.
After crossing the bridge you slowly climb up and through Pangboche (If you aren’t pre-acclimatised this is a good place to split the day), then through Shomme where there are more lodges and restaurants, soon after here the trail splits and we took the left-hand fork, up and over a small shoulder and into Pheriche.

Most trekkers head for Tengboche after Namche Bazaar but to me Debouche offers a better alternative as it is slightly lower and isn’t plagued with the same amount of large groups that usually opt to stay in Tengboche. It is about a20 minutes downhill trek from Tengboche and has a couple of nice lodges.
The path from Namche Bazaar is excellent; first you contour around a shoulder, which affords you excellent views of Ama Dablam and the Upper Khumbu with occasional glimpses of Everest poking its head above the lesser peeks. Then you drop down to cross the Dhud Kosi before the steep pull up through forest to Tengboche and then down, again through forest to Debouche.
Several teahouses and lodges in small villages en-route so no problems with tea, lunch and snack breaks.

The “Rest” part of my Acclimatisation and Rest day in Namche Bazaar was an early morning hike to “The Panorama Hotel” which afforded us with our first really good view of Everest, but this little walk also helps aid the acclimatisation process as The Panorama Hotel is higher than Debouche which we were planning to trek to the following day.
The Rest part of the day was spent in the bakeries eating all sorts of delicacies that we had missed during the early part of the trek, Chocolate Cake and Good Fresh Coffee being the more memorable items.

Trek Day 2 of our EBC trek was another wonderful days trekking, soon after Ghat I stopped off at Benkar and visited The Waterfall Lodge, I had stayed here in 1998 From Benkar it is only a short walk to Monjo where you enter Sagarmatha National Park, you have to show your TIMS permit and either show or buy your National Park entrance ticket. after entering the park you drop right down to the banks of the Dhud Kosi then criss-cross it several times passing through several small villages before reaching Jorsale the last village before the steep pull up to Namche Bazaar where there is another TIMS / National Park Permit Checkpoint.
After leaving Jorsale you cross the Dhud Kosi a further two times, the last time being on a long high suspension bridge and then it is steeply up through forest to Namche Bazaar. There is a Porters Resting place and the foundations of an old teahouse, from here you get your first glimpse of Everest. On entering lower Namche Bazaar there is yet another TIMS Permit Checkpoint.

This was the 11th day of our Arun Valley Trek (But I have renamed it The Everest Base Camp as by far the majority of trekkers that will view these clips will be trekking EBC) from Paiya to Ghat (2500M)
The first thing we noticed after joining the main Jiri – EBC path was the amount of trekkers – On the Arun Valley section we didn’t meet another trekker for the first 5 days (Two Americans heading the other way) – Definitely not the case now !!
The trail is wide and plenty of villages, all with lodges and teahouses, so lots of choices for both food and accommodation – The route is on the east side of the Dhud Kosi but high above the river, undulating up and down as it crosses the many tributaries.
We split the distance between Paiya and Namche Bazaar more or less in half by opting to stay at Ghat, a great days trekking on good paths which at first undulate high above the Dhud Kosi as you pass beneath Lukla then drop down after the path comes in from Lukla.

Day 10 of the Arun Valley Trek from Pangom to Paiya (2730M) was the final days trekking before joining the main route from Jiri – Downhill at first and then up and over Kari La (3145m) – There is a small teahouse on the top of the pass where we took lunch – Then downhill, quite steeply in the end to where the Arun Valley path joins the route from Jiri just before Paiya.
Paiya is a nice village overlooking a small tributary of the Dhud Kosi. We chose “The Beehive Lodge” which can only be described as delightful – Here I took my first proper hot shower since leaving Kathmandu (100NPR and worth every rupee) – OK – I Really needed it ;-)

Day 9 of the Arun Valley Trek from the little lodge overlooking The Imukhu Khola to Pangom (3850M) was yet another wonderful days trekking, very steeply up at first, narrow path through forest but sometime exposed so some care is needed, the trail then levels off and widens and we soon arrived in Shibuche (lunch stop where simple accommodation is also available).From Shibuche the route is again steep for a while then levels off a little before reaching the summit of Pangkoma La (3173m) then it’s a fairly short walk down to Pangom where we chose “The Himalayan Trekkers Lodge”, a superb lodge offering all facilities, nice dining room with fire, good food from the first menu we saw on the trek and bucket shower available.

Day 8 of the Arun Valley Trek Boskam Gompa to a little lodge overlooking The Imukhu Khola (Aprox 1850M) was a fairly log days trekking. Starting off with a stiff pull up to the upper Stupa before levelling off a little, stopping at a little hamlet for tea before pushing on up and over Surkie La (3085m). The decent from Surkie La is vertigo inducing on steep stone stairs before levelling out a little before reaching the village of Najingdingma (Late Lunch) and then steeply down again to where the high and impressive suspension bridge crosses the Imukhu Khola. There is one solitary simple lodge just beyond the bridge and this was our overnight accommodation.
An Excellent days trekking

Day 7 of the Arun Valley Trek Bung to Boskam Gompa (Aprox 2500M) is only a ½ days trekking, it starts off with a fairly steep pull out of Bung and then slightly more gently but always up to the small hamlet of Boskam Gompa.
Just over half way there is a government school, so I stopped off here to give the teachers some pens that I had brought with me to hand out to the poorer students.
There is only one lodge at Boskam Gompa but it is fairly new and offers good facilities and it is right next door to The Gompa, so as we arrived at 11.30, we had our lunch and then went to explore the Gompa which was being renovated, there was a chap from Bhutan there painting the Idols, he was very talented and his next commission was in southern India !!
Overall an entertaining day !!

Day 6 of the Arun Valley Trek Sanam to Bung starts off with a long steady drop passing through the large village of Guidel before descending more steeply to cross The Hongu Khola (Aprox 1500M) before the short uphill ascent to the large Rai village of Bung (1700M) – We were fortunate to arrive on the day of the weekly market, selling everything from “Fresh” Meat to Chinese made batteries – So an interesting late afternoon as well as a beautiful days trekking

Day 5 of the Arun Valley Trek from Guranse to Sanam (2650M) starts off with the final pull up to Salpa La (3349M) and then steeply down through forest to the tiny village of Whaka (Orkobue) where there is a simple teahouse (Lunch stop) – Then the path undulates before a small pull up to the beautiful village of Sanam – We stayed in the lodge next to the Gompa and then as the lodge keeper holds the Gompa key we managed to visit it !!

Day 4 of the Arun Valley Trek from Salpa Phedi to Guranse (2920M) is just about all uphill, at first on stone steps, then the climb eases off a little as you pass through Jaubari (Lunch stop), you then eventually reach the ridge and the trail undulates through forest to the village of Guranse. There is one basic lodge to the right of the trail well below the main village, then another (Yet unfinished) about 10 minutes walk further and a third older one in the village its self – We opted to stay in the latter.

Day 3 of the Arun Valley Trek from Dobani to Salpa Phedi (1700M) is a short but uphill day mainly following the river. Half way you pass through Tallow Phedi which translates as “Very bottom of the hill” – This is an ideal lunch stop before proceeding on and up to Salpa Phedi which translates as “Bottom of the hill”

Day 2 of the Arun Valley Trek from Marduna to Dobani Starting off with a little uphill over a ridge near Charlissay then dropping down to the banks of the Chikhuwa Khola and following this up to Dobani at 975M

Day 1 of the Arun Valley Trek from Tumlingtar to Marduna, Starting off gently by following the Mighty Arun Khola, then crossing on a long suspension bridge before a steep uphill pull to our nights accommodation in the simple Sagarmatha lodge

To start The Arun Valley Trek we opted for the 2 day overland journey, Kathmandu to Tumlingtar via Hille – This is the video of the journey

Trekking in Upper Mustang (Pat 2)

Just a short video clip from this years Service of Remembrance on the summit of Great Gable – People always ask me how many attended – I never have any idea but this is a 360 pan so if you can count them drop me a line
Thanks
Rob

Chollerford to Wallsend – Fifth and Sixth day with Suitable overnight accommodation for Thirsty walkers at The Big lamp Brewery

Trekking with Rob Steele
In Association with www.pro-tector.co.uk

Milecastle Inn to – Chollerford - Fourth day

Trekking with Rob Steele
In Association with www.pro-tector.co.uk

Hadrian’s Wall Walk, Part Two- Walton to Milecastle Inn– Third day

Trekking with Rob Steele
In Association with www.pro-tector.co.uk

Part One Bowness on Solway to Wallton – First and Second day

Trekking with Rob Steele
In Association with www.pro-tector.co.uk

Hadrian’s Wall Walk, Bowness on Solway to Wallsend, August 2010
Part One - Bowness on Solway to Walltown – First two days

Trekking with Rob Steele
In Association with www.pro-tector.co.uk

Only 100km away from Kathmandu lies the small village of Simbanjyang on the old Tribuvan Raj Path. This was once the only road into Kathmandu, but has since been bypassed and is now the ideal route for a two day, 2.000m downhill mountain bike ride.

This is truly “Mountain Biking for Softies" as the 60k route is almost all downhill.

Trekking in Langtang, Part Four, Langtang to Lama Hotel with a change of weather, Easily doable in one day.

Trekking in Langtang, Part Five - Lama Hotel to Syaphru Besi on The High route via Sherpagon and Khangjim (Higlhy recommended !!)

Trekking in Langtang, Part Three - Lama Hotel to Langtang, Two short days trekking with an overnight stop at Ghoratabela

Trekking in Langtang, Part Two - Singh Gompa to Lama Hotel, Two days trekking with an overnight stop at Pahare.

Trekking in Langtang, Part one including the drive in from Kathmandu to Dunche then trekking from there to Singh Gompa

Short winter walk in Wasdale, Buckbarrow and Greendale Tarn, 3 hours and about 1000ft of accent – Easy.

Three short winter walks near to Gosforth, West Cumbria, to shed those Christmas Mince Pies ;-)

Leaving the car near the head of the lake then walking around the top and about 1/3 of the way down the west shore before striking up, First small summit was “Castle Crag” (The site of an ancient first) before crossing over Lady’s Seat, Birks Crags, Hanging Stones and then skirting Low Raise and achieving our first “Wainwright” High Raise (804m)
From High Raise we headed south to Kidsty Pike (780m) our second “Wainwright”, then west to Rampsgill Head (792m) our third “Wainwright” closely followed by The Knott (739m) our fourth “Wainwright”, before the pull up onto our highest summit of the day, High Street at 828m and our fifth “Wainwright” of the day, From here it was mainly downhill to our final summit of Mardale III Bell (760m), our sixth and final “Wainwright” of the walk,
We came off the fell down Nan Beal pass which took us nicely back to our car back near the head of Haweswater.

Voted as Britain’s Best View
Photos taken by myself in February 2009 – Thanks for looking, I Hope you Enjoy ;-)
Rob

Another Great walk in Lakeland, Haystacks and the High Style Ridge from Honister pass to Buttermere Village

Approximately 10 miles, 3.500 feet of accent and taking in Fleetwith, Green Crag, Hay Stacks, High Crag, High Stile, Red Pike and Starling Dodd and returning to Buttermere via Scale Force

This delightful full day walk starts of on the Cold Fell road, then you walk up thought he forest on an old miners track to Iron Crag, then Caw Fell, Haycock, Scoat Fell, Steeple, Pillar, Looking Stead and down Black Sail Pass to Wasdale Head, aprox 14 miles with 3.600 feet of accent

Wrynose Pass- Crinkle Crags – Bow Fell – Esk Pike – Great End – Broad Crag – Scafell Pike – Lingmell – Wasdale Head. 12 Miles – 4.300 feet of accent, 3.300 of decent and 10 hours walking !!

This is a fantastic “Little” walk and a Great introduction to Fell Walking in Lakeland, Starting out point, Irton Road Station on The Ravenglass and Eskdale Steam Railway (The La’l Ratty) at Eskdale (Limited car parking) then walking over Muncaster Fell on “The Old Road” to Ravenglass, via the Roman Bathhouse and then returning to Eskdale on The La’l Ratty

This video is of the trek from Kagbeni to Jharkot, Jharkot is one of those rare Unspoilt Himalayan Tibetan villages and shouldn't be missed when trekking in the Annapurna region, then we trekked up to Muktinath to visit the Fire on the Water Temple, a joint Hindu and Buddhist site and an Important Pilgrimage site, and finally back down to Kagbeni, again via Jharkot.

This video is of our walk into Kagbeni, Setting out from Pokhara and taking the local bus to Beni where we caught a jeep up to Tiplyang, Then trekked up as far as Ghasa where as time was short we were forced into catching a jeep up to Jomsom before continuing by foot to kagbeni, The starting point of the Upper Mustang trek

Classic Route to the summit of Great Gable, setting out from Wasdale Head via Styhead Pass as far as Kern Knotts, then picking up the front climbers traverse to take in napes Needle and The Sphinx Rock from The Dress Circle, before proceeding on to Beck Head to pick up the path to the summit, then returning via Styhead Tarn before heading down to Wasdale Head.

Every year there is a Service of Remembrance on the Summit of Great Gable, up to 1.000 people attend, Why not come along yourself next year ?

March 2008 and a 10 day trek starting at Kagbeni and going to Lo Manthang via Tsarang, Then back to kagbeni via Dhi and Tangge.
Slides showing the varied scenery, architecture and life in a Forgotten Tibetan Kingdom where the first Full western expedition didn't go until 1963 !!

March 2008 and a 10 day trek starting at Kagbeni and going to Lo Manthang via Tsarang, Then back to kagbeni via Dhi and Tangge.
Slides showing the varied scenery, architecture and life in a Forgotten Tibetan Kingdom where the first Full western expedition didn't go until 1963 !!

Scafell Pike is Britain's highest Mountain, There are many routes up, The most popular routes start in either Wasdale, Borrowdale or Eskdale.
Although I was born in Wasdale, my own personal favourite way is form Eskdale, Colloquially known as "The Long Walk In" and this is that is depicted on this clip.
I hope that you enjoy it
Happy Travels
Rob