June 12th to July 12th, 2023, I was working remotely for a month on Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, off West Africa. It includes Mount Teide (a 3,718 m high dormant volcano) and the nature preserves Anaga (in the East) and Teno (in the West). The subtropical island has dramatically different landscapes depending … Continue Reading
14 April to 14 May 2023 I was working remotely for a month on Madeira, a Portuguese island off the northwest coast of Africa. It’s a stunning subtropical place with great mountains and beautiful nature. I did five hikes there (total distance: 55 km). Here are some photos. Hikes Name Dist. Gain Route on Strava … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT 11-17 March 2023, I went on a 6-day ski tour and freeride week in Switzerland with the Dutch mountaineering club NKBV. We were based in the Heidelberger Hütte (2.262 m), just over the Swiss border near the Austrian town of Ischgl. Everyday the group of 16 participants + 3 Dutch instructors was divided … Continue Reading
This how-to post consists of two parts. This first part contains general information on how to prepare for a nature trek. The second part is a checklist called a TrekDoc (with sample data) that you can fill out in preparation for your own trek. IntroductionGoal of your trekWhere to goWhen to goTrekking routeFitnessWeightWater & foodSleepingWashing … Continue Reading
This is my follow-up post of Part 1: How to prepare for a nature trek. It’s about my TrekDoc: a checklist that you can fill out before you leave on your nature trek and that you can share with the trek participants and the people who stay at home. It serves multiple purposes: It’s a … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT 13-18 March 2022, I did a 6-day hut-to-hut skitour in the area around the Wildstrübel in southwest Switzerland. It was a custom skitour from the Dutch organisation toerskien.org that was postponed 2 years because of Covid. Joining me were Jasper, Roos, Harmen, Frank and Italian mountain guide Francesco Vaudo. It turned out to … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT 8-13 August 2021, I did a 6-day 76 km trek with Leon Reteig and Vince Linssen in Femundsmarka National Park in Norway. Together with eight connected nature areas (some in Sweden), Femundsmarka is part of Gränslandet (‘Border Land’) which is one of the largest continuous areas of wilderness in southern Scandinavia (2.100 km2). … Continue Reading
Here are some of the fish I caught over the years: … Continue Reading
TREK REPORT 19-26 September 2020 I did a C1 mountaineering course with the Dutch Alpine club NKBV in the Ötztaler Alps in Austria. Our base was the Ötztaler Naturcamping in Huben and from there we made six day-trips in the Sölden area with our experienced guide, Bergführer Alexander Giacomelli from Alpinesport-Center. We practiced rope techniques, … Continue Reading
Last month I made some blowguns and paper darts with my nephews Luca and Renzo (8 and 7 years old) in Hoofddorp. We had good fun and I decided to make a little how-to video on how to make these things. (The video is in Dutch but has English subtitles). Materials About 1 m PVC … Continue Reading
