Nepal and India have made to the list of the National Geographic Adventure magazine's "Best New Trips '09."
“Nepal: Everest for Everyone” and “India: The Amazing Megafauna Race” boast the first and second best adventure spots in the magazine’s Asia list.
Everest for Everyone
Mount Rainier, training ground for Ed Viesturs and Jim Whittaker, is traditionally Americans’ go-to peak for big-mountain prep. But there’s no better high-altitude test site than the Himalaya. Summit Climb’s inaugural Everest View Glacier School teaches mountaineering basics in the shadow of Everest itself. After trekking into the Khumbu Valley, spending nights at traditional teahouses, and following a portion of the route to Everest Base Camp, novices learn glacier rope techniques, crevasse rescue, ice climbing, and snow camping. The team then launches an assault on 19,800-foot Lobuche East in Everest National Park—with views from the summit of Lhotse, Makalu, Ama Dablam, and Everest. "I can guarantee they’ll be thinking, What would it be like to go up there?" says 20-year mountaineering veteran Dan Mazur. An Adventurer of the Year in 2006 (he sacrificed his own Everest summit bid to help save the life of Australian climber Lincoln Hall), Mazur leads the trip’s team of 30 Sherpa instructors. Climbers return home with the skills and altitude experience to attempt one of the easier 8,000-meter peaks like Cho Oyu the following year. And then, who knows, Everest could be next.
Outfitter: Summit Climb; summitclimb.com
Price: $2,450
Length: 22 days
Departs: April, May, October
Mount Rainier, training ground for Ed Viesturs and Jim Whittaker, is traditionally Americans’ go-to peak for big-mountain prep. But there’s no better high-altitude test site than the Himalaya. Summit Climb’s inaugural Everest View Glacier School teaches mountaineering basics in the shadow of Everest itself. After trekking into the Khumbu Valley, spending nights at traditional teahouses, and following a portion of the route to Everest Base Camp, novices learn glacier rope techniques, crevasse rescue, ice climbing, and snow camping. The team then launches an assault on 19,800-foot Lobuche East in Everest National Park—with views from the summit of Lhotse, Makalu, Ama Dablam, and Everest. "I can guarantee they’ll be thinking, What would it be like to go up there?" says 20-year mountaineering veteran Dan Mazur. An Adventurer of the Year in 2006 (he sacrificed his own Everest summit bid to help save the life of Australian climber Lincoln Hall), Mazur leads the trip’s team of 30 Sherpa instructors. Climbers return home with the skills and altitude experience to attempt one of the easier 8,000-meter peaks like Cho Oyu the following year. And then, who knows, Everest could be next.
Outfitter: Summit Climb; summitclimb.com
Price: $2,450
Length: 22 days
Departs: April, May, October
The Amazing Megafauna Race
Most guides in India take the path of least resistance, visiting big
(and often ecologically threatened) national parks where the logistics
are straightforward. But not Wild Planet Adventures. If India’s largest
rhino population migrates to a region so remote it requires an extra
flight, WPA charters a plane. If finding those rhinos means riding
elephants into Himalayan foothills, WPA hires mahouts. "We’re known for
creative logistics to get clients to animals at the right times and the
right places," says company president Josh Cohen. To that end, WPA is
constantly modifying itineraries based on the most up-to-date animal
sightings, forming partnerships with local wildlife experts, and
spearheading animal conservation efforts. The payoff is a dizzyingly
exotic safari, beginning in Siana with a camelback excursion among one
of India’s largest leopard populations (bonus sightings include Indian
striped hyenas, chinkara gazelles, jungle cats, and blue bull
antelopes). The journey continues into Assam, on the border of Bhutan,
for rhino tracking and a unique riverboat safari in Nameri National
Park. On the river, animal encounters are guaranteed: Thirsty tigers,
elephants, clouded leopards, Indian bison, pangolins (giant anteaters),
civet cats, and capped langurs (tree-dwelling primates) congregate at
water’s edge.
Outfitter: Wild Planet Adventures; wildplanetadventures.com
Price: $4,500
Length: 13 days
Departs: November–May
Outfitter: Wild Planet Adventures; wildplanetadventures.com
Price: $4,500
Length: 13 days
Departs: November–May
Other countries in the Asian list are Taiwan, Indonesia and Russia. The magazine had listed 25 places from Africa, Latin America, Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East, and Points South (Southern Islands, Fiji and New Zealand).
In another list by Yahoo! Travel, the view of Nepal's Annapurna mountain range from Sarankot, gets a No. 14 spot in "The 20 Best Views in the World" list compiled by travel writer Andrew Harper.
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