UKC

Imagine you had a 5 week window any time during 2017, and a 5-8k budget for yourself and partner. Where would you go and what would you do?

In reply to guy127917:

I think I would try and get myself out to Baffin Island if I wasn't too crap to climb anything there.

In reply to davidbeynon:
ha punterness is definitely a consideration for me. Whats the climbing difficulty like there? I listened to a Mike Belicki podcast about it and it sounded remote/unexplored rather than hard per se. http://www.summitpost.org/baffin-island-peaks/170873

edit: looks nails

In reply to guy127917:

I picked up a guidebook for the area in the national park a few years ago, as it consists of top quality mountain porn. I think I found 1 route I could probably technically do and a couple that I might just be able to get up as a second with a plausible amount of training.

The 1 route was a rotten snow gully that is usually full of rotten snow...

IIRC The "unexplored" area belongs to the Inuit and you are supposed to ask them for permission to enter it. I have no idea how easy it is to obtain.

A more sensible option might be to take a few months out, buy a camper van and tour north America or Europe. I am told that second hand campers don't really depreciate so you can sell them on at the end of the trip without losing money.

In reply to guy127917:

Yosemite. Never been there, but I think I could spend 5 weeks there happily enough. Or US road trip.
Squamish and the Rockies (managed to spend a month happliy in the latter)
The Alps, mixing up mountains and cragging (places like Eldorado/Grimsel) - road trip following the weather.
Or a few weeks ice climbing, followed by heading south to some rock (italy/France/spain)
Or Mount Kenya and safari?
Arapiles?

In reply to nniff:

Not if the rangers found you you couldn't...

In reply to guy127917:

I had a similar question a few years ago and went to Colombia - that was an excellent trip, a good mix of climbing and other stuff. Although I think I read that some of the best mountain areas (El Cocuy) may now be closed, so worth looking into more I reckon (if it appeals)

In reply to guy127917:

Buy a van in the US and tour around. The people, rangers, rules and food might drive you mad, but the geography, geology and climbing is incredible. Yosemite, Tuolomne, Moab, Red River, Red Rocks, Squamish, Bugaboos...

In reply to andyfallsoff:
Scratch that, read the proviso here:

http://www.parquesnacionales.gov.co/portal/es/ecoturismo/region-andina/parq...

In reply to Lemony:

Ha, they've got a 'Devils' Pulpit'

He gets around!

In reply to Lemony:


That depends on when you choose to go.

In reply to guy127917:
As others have mentioned, and reinforced by being here on holiday at the moment, the USA has to be worth considering. Washington and Oregon - where I've spent the last fortnight, albeit touring rather than climbing - could fill your time easily, spectacularly and without seeing too many other people except, perhaps, at Smith rocks. Then throw in the many, varied and wonderful attractions of California, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Arizona and five weeks just wouldn't be enough. Hell, five lifetimes might not be enough.

T.

In reply to nniff:


When would this work best... late Feburary for ice in Switzerland early march for reasonable rock weather in South France or Italy? Could possibly get some ski touring in around that time as well?

In reply to Lemony:

Shame- looks like an amazing place!

In reply to guy127917:

That's sort of what I had in mind, and if you put it into the context of a US road trip, then a drive from the Alps to Spain is perfectly viable, via Provence and keeping going until it gets warm.

In reply to guy127917:

Last summer we spent 5 weeks with a camper van.

Drive to the alps and followed the Tour de France for a week, rode up Mt Ventoux, ferry to corsica, ran the GR20 in 8 days, few days cragging and beaches, ferry to Italy, Grand Paridiso NP walking and eating Italian food, Chamonix trail running for a few days. The first day of crap weather was the day we headed home. Lovely trip.


Perhaps not so much climbing as you want, but probably a lot cheaper if you avoid camp sites.

In reply to guy127917: Easy question.

I'd grab my copy of Steck and Roper's Fifty Classic Climbs of North America off my bookcase and go and have a damn good go at climbing them all.

More than a couple of 'stopper' routes in the mix but all those in the lower 48 should be doable.

In reply to Mowglee:

What are you talking about? With the exception of one 7 mile valley, there is basically no ranger intervention or rules in any of the other destinations

In reply to guy127917:

You might as well go trans-Atlantic for that sort of money, save Europe for when you're poorer.
Baffin and US road trip already mentioned, Patagonia also a possibility. You could get plenty done in 5 weeks and El Chalten/Torres del Paine aren't that far apart so both areas would be a possibility.
Plenty to do for mortals.