Alpine Walks

09/12/2023

This is Lily, she was rescued by Safe Haven for Donkeys, a Sussex based Charity that has a sanctuary in the Weest Bank, Israel. Instead of sending Xmas cards this year, I have messaged all my friends to tell them I spent their card and postage money (sorry, Royal Mail) on a donkey adoption - so they've all contributed to saving a life and helping a charity that educates those who have a donkey, on how to take better care of them. MERRY XMAS!

29/11/2023

This new 'silk' WW2 map contains the Alpine Escape Route of two members of G Squadron, Long Range Desert Group. Yours, when you complete the journey on our 2024 trek. Details at https://myalpinewalks.com/trekking-holidays/wwii-freedom-trails-the-long-range-desert-group-lrdg/

18/11/2023

'Rerro', yesterday I conquered Swirrel Edge and Striding Edge

05/11/2023

The Belted Galways at Tarn Hows are the most rubbish participants at hide n seek!🤣🤣

17/09/2023

Secret Norway

03/09/2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEhFsjdIpxg&list=PPSV
12 Years ago, when I first started guiding in Italy, this short film clip, made up of trip photo's, advertised my first attempt at a website. Since then I have evolved (learning that using my surname sent many people to websites showing animals being shot. Certainly not something i was happy about!). My trips have evolved too, focusing much on client care with hut visits for lunch, instead of outdoor picnic and flask. Becoming a Personal Trainer also qualified me to run post walk stretch and relaxation sessions, after our day on the hill.
Check out Winter 2023-24 trips, in the Zugspitze region of Austria, coming soon.

To find out more about my guided holidays please have a look at my website: www.wildboaradventures.co.uk

28/08/2023

https://youtu.be/BJbeDCtuvRU?si=VpGG02pMghe_Klok
Thinking about your next trek in the Alps? How about the iconic Tour du Mont Blanc? We have trips in 2024 ready! Visit the website to find out more about this heart warming journey around western Europe's highest peak.

Taking time out to watch the sheep being driven up the mountain to the Col du Bonhomme Refuge on the French section of the Tour du Mont Blanc

27/08/2023

We are now planning our series of Winter walking holidays to the Austria Zugspite! Don't worry, it's not as hard as the picture shows (unless you want it to be!). Between January and March 2024 we will be offering easy and more challenging snowshoe holidays. Also some Avalanche Awareness Training Courses for those planning on experiencing the Alps for themselves off-piste ski-ing or snowshoe trekking. What this space for trip launches!

24/02/2023

Yippee, It's Friday! Time for baby Ibex to 'Karate chop' the nearest rock!
🏔 ❄️ 🌴

22/02/2023

It's Caption time!.......Its not a still photograph of a surfer!

21/02/2023

It's amazing how fast you can move when someone shouts, 'Avalanche'!😂😂...I am glad they were lying!

05/02/2023

Guiding the Tour du Mont Blanc, TMB - Col Du Bonhomme, 2329 metres/ 7686 feet
Early summer trekking on the TMB. It is late June, the huts are open for overnight accommodation and meals and we are on day 3 of an anticlockwise tour. So we are in the remotest southwest corner of the Mont Blanc massif, just above the Col du Bonhomme. From here it is around 1 hours walk around the mountainside to the Refuge du Col della Croix du Bonhomme - nice homemade chocolate cake and coffee. There are also some stunning views from the veranda. You can also observe the comings and goings of the shepherds with their flocks of sheep - see my video: https://youtu.be/BJbeDCtuvRU
😍 ⛰ 👣 👣🧗🏼‍♀️🏔🌤

04/02/2023

Stag near Villetta Barrea, Abruzzo National Park, Italy
My close encounter with a beautiful, friendly stag, one autumn afternoon, in the woods near Villetta Barrea/Civitella Alfedena in the Abruzzo Park. He showed no aggression and seemed to be as inquisitive as I was. If he new of the whereabouts of any of his friends, or a Marsican Brown Bear to photograph, he wasn't going to tell me. So i just said, 'good afternoon' and strolled on.
If you are looking for the Stag Rutt to watch or to listen to then I also recommend the mountainside above the village of Frattura (above Scanno) or the Valle di Rose, Footpath I1, leading from Civitella Alfedena south up towards the Monte Capraro, in September/October.
Cervo vicino a Villetta Barrea, Italia.
Il mio incontro ravvicinato con un cervo bello e simpatico, un pomeriggio d'autunno, nei boschi vicino a Villetta Barrea/Civitella Alfedena nel Parco d'Abruzzo. Che non mostrava aggressività e sembrava essere curioso quanto me. Se fosse stato a conoscenza di qualcuno dei suoi amici, o di un orso bruno marsicano da fotografare, non me lo avrebbe detto. Così ho appena detto, "buon pomeriggio" e ho passeggiato. Se siete alla ricerca del Cervo da guardare o da ascoltare allora vi consiglio anche il versante sopra il paese di Frattura (sopra Scanno) o la Valle di Rose, Sentiero I1, che da Civitella Alfedena porta a sud verso il Monte Capraro, in settembre/ottobre.

03/02/2023

The Mighty Grenz Glacier, nickname, 'The Man Eater'! Charming, huh? I took this picture on a trek to the top of the Grenz. To reach it, travel to Zermatt, then take the Gornergrat cog railway, alighting at Rotenboden Station (2815 metres). From here there is a pleasant 'plateau' walk, following a signposted and well defined footpath, running east, below the Gornergrat summit, for 3.5km. From here, some bolted ladders will allow you to descend onto the side of the Gornergrat Glacier. Cross the metal footbridge, onto the glacier (do i need to say you need to be properly equipped and experienced to be here as from now on you are for the most part, trekking on a Glacier. Coloured poles, in the shape of tripods, standing about 6 foot high, mark a sort of safe route to follow across the Gornergrat to solid mountain rock. From here, you can walk up to the Monte Rosa Hut (https://www.sac-cas.ch/en/huts-and-tours/sac-route-portal/monte-rosa-huette-sac-2147000182/) for overnight accommodation and meals in this relatively new environmentally friendly version of the original structure. From the Glacier you are climbing 383 Metres. The whole journey is just over 7km from Rotenboden, but i would allow at least 4 hours for photography, descending ladders, nav-ing the glacier and the walk up to the hut...and don't for get acclimatization, if you've just arrived in country form a lower altitude. The next day you can leave the hut and drop onto the Grenz Glacier to start the climb up to the Italian border - you will need to be roped up as it gets a bit 'technical' with a crevasse field starting at around 3300 metres. I hope in the next couple of posts to show you some video footage of this part of the journey. I hope you've enjoyed this.
😍🇨🇭

01/02/2023

Alpine Life
Hello! There i was, minding my own business, sorting through all this grass, when all of a sudden someone shouts, 'Cheese'!

31/01/2023

Alpine life on the Tour du Mont Blanc, the TMB - the Shrew, part 2 of 2
The continuing adventures of the Shrew, who i met descending from the Refuge Nant Borrant, on the French section of the TMB.

31/01/2023

Guiding some clients from the USA and Canada just below the 'Lac des Cheserys', Aiguilles Rouge, above the Chamonix Valley. This section of the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) quite often allows you to see nature up close - in this case Alpine Cloughs. These 'acrobats' are quite often seen around the Refuges as the glide in to clear up sandwiches and other snacks left by us humans.

30/01/2023

Alpine life on the Tour du Mont Blanc, the TMB - the Shrew, part 1 of 2
One of the smallest animal encounters I've made on the TMB.
On the 'Roman road' next to the Gorges, in the shadow of the Reserve Naturelle Contamines-Montjoie, we came across a shrew, making his way across the track...

24/01/2023

On the narrow climb above the VAL GENOVA NATURE PARK, LOMBARDIA, on route to the RIFUGIO MANDRONE for lunch. The view is looking south at the VEDRETTA DELLA LOBBIA GLACIER outflow. The mountains to its left are CROZZON DA FOLGORIDA, 3081 metres and slightly in front PUNTA DELL' ORCO 3069 metres, part of the ADAMELLO RANGE of Alpine Mountains.
This view is part of one of our new adventures, trekking the Brenta Dolomites, Pressanella Alps and the Adamello Alps from to Tirano
https://myalpinewalks.com/walking-holidays-alps/brenta-dolomites-to-tirano/
👣 🌲
❤

23/01/2023

"This is the self preservation society..."😂😂🤣Michael Caine is still 'flying' around the alps, with half a dozen gold bars in the boot!!!🤣Strange things to see, trekking in the Alps!

21/01/2023

20/01/2023

Mules above Introdacqua, Abruzzo, Central Italy. In the autumn, i was trekking the slopes above the village of Introdacqua, on my way to the Parco D'Abruzzo, when i came across some mules who were bringing logs down from the forest to the roadhead. Most houses in the Abruzzo region have a wood burning stove, so timber is still an important industry here in these quiet mountains...possibly Italy's best kept secret, because in this region lives the Marsican Brown Bear, the Wolf, Deer, Fox and may others...sssshhhh😉

19/01/2023

Looking for 'Lard'!🤣Motivating members of a London based British Military Fitness group on one of our 'Weekend Adventure Breaks' - this route is early summer on the way up to Rifugio Pedrotti from Madonna Di Campiglio, in the Brenta Dolomites.
For 2023 we have a new challenge - a weekend break climbing 2,000m to the Rifugio Luigi Brioschi, above Lake Lecco/Como. Get your group or club ready for : https://myalpinewalks.com/weekend-breaks-grigna-settentrionale-lake-como-italy/

19/01/2023

Accidently, guiding a flock of sheep from the end of Val Ferret towards the Rifugio Elena, below the Grand Col Ferret. At 2537 metres the Grand Col Ferret is the crossing point from Italy to Switzerland on the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB). 👣 🌲 ❤️

18/01/2023

Dolomites summer - descending the rock steps (a short scramble section on a walking route, with bolted cable and iron ladders to make it easy) on the way to Madonna di Campiglio, Brenta Dolomites. Why not come join us this summer? ❤️

17/01/2023

The view at Rifugio Pedrotti, in the heart of the Brenta Dolomite. This mountain hut sits at the top of the Bocca di Brenta Pass (2547 metres) on the main route from the Trento Valley to the mountain resort of Madonna di Campiglio 👣

17/01/2023

Marmots!!! My favourite fluffy friends outside their burrows enjoying the sun and a lush feed, on all that Alpine grass...mmmmmm. These guys are sunning themselves in the Brenta Dolomites, right next to our route. But you can find them anywhere in the Alps and Dolomites, above the tree line (generally 1900 metres and around 2500 metres. In winter they hibernate, so ski quietly as to not disturb!😂
👣

12/01/2023

Why I love trekking the TMB, the Tour du Mont Blanc. The chance to unwind...after reaching the Col du Bonhomme Refuge and checking in, we were able to sit outside with drinks and watch the 'drive' of a flock of sheep, from the valley, up to our plateau (2500 metres). This movement of livestock, from the valley floor up onto the higher mountain is called Transhumance, (Transhumanza in Italian). It's a centuries old process where mountain families and communities moved their animals up the mountainside in spring, following the retreating snow, in search of fresh pasture. This allowed the grass in the valley floor to rejuvenate and be cut, several times, so that the feed could be stored, for the animals needs in the winter. The flocks would stay as high as possible during the summer, with the shepherds, who would milk them and send down the milk and cheese they would produce, to be sold at market. In the autumn, the flocks would descend keeping ahead of the snow, until they reached the valley farm

08/01/2023

https://magazin.alpenverein.de/artikel/avalanche-transceiver-test-2022_056975e6-ba9d-4ba1-8d1d-423581ad1e5c?fbclid=IwAR2RsQrdiXM6Kzg-nOJO5zJ8gexH8nW6-zJ1c8hjcLaTGXBaEvEhBLEsjPg

Useful comparison article if you haven't already purchased an Avalanche Transceiver for this season.

Since the last DAV Safety Research test in 2017/18, a few new devices came onto the market, others were revised with software updates, and some also disappeared. In order to find out to what extent the individual models differ and what advantages and disadvantages each individual device offers, the....

24/12/2022

Staying Warm & Dry in Winter - HANDS.
A look at the different layers and types of gloves and mitts you should be carrying to keep your hands warm and dry whilst undertaking any task during your day out in the mountains.

23/12/2022

Staying Dry and Warm in Winter - Layer 6, Waterproofs
What to wear and when to wear it. Waterproofs should ONLY be worn when it's raining, in order to keep moisture build up to a minimum. This still applies to breathable waterproofs, no matter what brand they are!

22/12/2022

Staying Dry & Warm in Winter - Layer 5 - WARM layering when stopping, whilst out in the mountains.
Building on dry base layer, moisture wicking thin fleeces and windproof, we now focus on keeping warm when stopping for breaks and lunch.

15/12/2022

Keeping Warm & Dry in Winter - Windproof
The most effective way to reduce windchill and continue to maximise the wicking, or removal of moisture is with a Polyester or Pertex material. In simple terms the weave of these materials is such that moisture droplets can pass out through the fabric, but it's woven tightly enough to provide a barrier to wind.
But why don't i just wear my 'Breathable Waterproof'? - and these days that tends to mean a Well, simply put, the 'breathable lining' that is within the 3 layers of material found in most waterproofs fit for year round use, take longer to 'draw moisture' from inside the jacket or trousers to the outside. And that's because they have 3 layers - an inner to act as 'wear' protection for the middle breathable membrane and an outside 'Teflon' hardened and waterproof treated layer, to stop water droplets getting in. The the process of 'wicking the moisture away' is therefore slower and you are more likely to get a build up of perspiration inside the jacket or trousers.
So to stay DRY and therefore WARM (no windchill- when wind is blowing against moisture next to your skin, causing rapid cooling, feeling cold and perhaps even entering a pre hypothermic state) wear a thin, breathable WINDROOF TOP.
Even a cheap windproof is a worthwhile investment as part of your 'armoury' to stay Dry and Warm, resulting in a more comfortable and enjoyable mountain journey!

13/12/2022

Keeping Warm & Dry in winter - 2nd Layer (Polyester/elastane mixes)

Summary of 2nd & 3rd driest layers of clothing to wear over your base layer (see previous posts)

I tend to favour the combination of 2 thin fleeces. A front zip and a pullover half zip. The combination is great for warm retention with the option of varying ventilation, should it be needed. Below is a summary of the fleeces demonstrated, the material combinations, prices and websites where you can find out more about them.

Jackets/Pullovers tested:

Rab Conduit (92% polyester, 8% Elastane) costs around £58.00
Columbia (90% Polyester, 10% Elastane) £35-90.00
Rab Flux (94% Polyester, 6% Elastane) cost around £38.00

Additionally, i would also recommend any of the following:
in the United Kingdom -Mountain Equipment's fleece -Lumiko Fleece, Zip T price around £65.00.
From Switzerland, Mammut's Jacket - Eiswand Advanced ML Hooded Jacket, costs around £180.00
Or from Canada, Arc'teryx's Delta LT Fleece.

Keep watching to get more tips on the other layers to wear to stay warm and dry outside this winter.

Duncan Boar
UIMLA Trekking Guide

❄️

11/12/2022

STAYING WARM & DRY IN WINTER - this may suprise you!
When I talk about staying dry, I don't mean from rainfall or snow: gortex, drylite, e-vent, any of those outer 'shells' will keep rain and snow out. I'm talking about MOISTURE control - Sweat! And more importantly, the best way to stop its build up, making you feel uncomfortable on the move and freezing cold when you stop.
Most base layers, in the UK at least, seem to predominantly polyester at the cheap end of the scale, up to merino wool at the expensive end of the spectrum. Although they are breathable they are not great at retaining warmth AND allowing moisture to move from the body to the outside of the garment (a process commonly known as 'wicking').
But what does work far more effectively (AND in tandem with certain other layers - see posts to follow) is the design of the old, out of fashion (if it was ever in!) string vest. Now, the old string vests were made of cotton, not great for moisture dissapation, but nowadays, advances in fabric technology has helped developed Polymide (a strong fabric, made from natural materials. This, in a 'string' design, creates lots of individual warm air pockets, retaining heat but allowing moisture to pass to the outside of the fabric rather than being absorbed. It's better than Wool, when you're on the move, because although wool is warm, it's not half as efficient at shifting moisture away and tends to 'retain' it.
So if you want to stay drier on the move, why not look at what Scandinavians use!
Save the Merino tops and leggings (Icebreaker or Smartwool offer really good lightweight base layers) to wear on a winter stroll OR to change into after you've arrived at your mountain hut or winter camp. And try a more breathable base layer mesh whilst undertaking a more physically arduous journey. I tested Brynje and Aclima meshed tops, long John's and hats in polyester and a merino/polyester mix. Keep following over the next week as I discuss layered clothing from base to outer, that provides the best combinations of staying warm and dry.

09/12/2022

Knight of the Round (picnic) Table...the picnic table did come with snacks...but I eat them all, sorry (not🤣🤣)