Hiking

So, I wanted a really warm jacket. Because sometimes layering isn’t enough. Or I'm sitting still, no fire nearby. Belaying a friend who is dogging their way up an ice climb while I stand in a sunless gully feeling my beard freeze. Sleeping in a snow cave. Chatting to friends until late. Walking around in the Arctic circle looking at the Aurora Borealis at minus 29 degrees Celsius. That sort of thing.

Daren Fawkes' most memorable trekking experience was in 2001 with his wife and two teenage sons to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. Their sons were 14 and 13 and had been on bushwalks and in Scouts so they were confident they'd be up for an adventure.

Congratulations to the winners of The Way, My Way - Ticket Giveaway! We received around 40x entries and everyone that entered sure made it hard for us to choose our top 10. Beautiful short stories of triumph, spirituality, humour, romance and family. Without further ado, here they are.

We couldn't help but share all the other gems that missed the cut by "that much" (Agent 86, Get Smart). Here are the honourable mentions!

We are proud to supply Jane with a pair of La Sportiva Jackal Mountain Running Shoes as she trains for the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon! The marathon is an Annual International High Altitude Adventure Sports Event held on May 29 from Mount Everest Base Camp, Celebrating the Historic Everest Ascent by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953.

For your chance to win one of 10x double passes to see #TheWayMyWay (in Australian cinemas on Thursday, May 16th 2024) in 25 words or less, please share your favourite and/or most important trekking experience and why by emailing [email protected] with your name, address and phone number.

For ease of understanding and to make it as widely accessible as possible, I like to think of fastpacking as: multi-day bushwalking, where you run a bit. Of course, for some people, “a bit” might be the whole way, for others it will be short sections here and there. For the most part it doesn’t matter. Unless you’re trying to set an FKT (fastest known time) on a particular route, fastpacking isn’t really a competition sport. It’s a novel way to see the world.

A descendant of the common walking stick, trekking poles have been commercially manufactured since the 1970s. I however stubbornly held off using them for some time; I was worried that they would be more of a hindrance then a help in Australian scrub.

Late last year, Sia came to the rescue of a pair of hikers on the Staircase Spur Trail to and from Mount Bogong. She came prepared for all conditions and was able to revitalise the two adventurers with "warm dry clothes, food, hot water, a sleeping bag, and a magnitude of wisdom and kindness". Check out this first hand account from one of the rescued - Rachel Fulford.

What a great day for a field trip at the Rogaine - a little rain, but generally great Rogaining weather, although the cloud came down early as we finished. We ended up with 17 participants in 5 teams of 3 or 4 (many of them were trail runners), which enabled excellent learning opportunities. There was great enthusiasm prior to starting the exercise with everyone well kitted out for the drizzling weather conditions - Merv Trease.