Kategorian ‘Matkatoimisto Aventura’ arkistot

keskiviikko 28. tammikuun 2015 12:14

Tulevat opastetut matkat // Upcoming guided trips

Samulin kanssa vuorille! Vuoden 2015 opastetuille matkoille kannattaa ilmoittautua hyvissä ajoin! Ota yhteyttä info@aventura.fi tai samuli@samulimansikka.com!

Mt. Everest Basecamp & Island Peak, Nepal // Aventura 9.4. – 1.5.2015, info
Mongolian kiertomatka // Aventura 17 – 28.8.2015, info
Mt. Khuiten, Mongolia // Aventura 26.8. – 9.9.2015, info
Annapurna Circuit, Nepal // Aventura 24.9. – 11.10.2015, info
Annapurna Basecamp, Nepal // Aventura 10 – 23.10.2015, info
Mera Peak, Nepal // Aventura 23.10. – 15.11.2015, info
Manaslu Circuit, Nepal // Aventura 14.11. – 6.12.2015, info
Aconcagua, Argentiina // Aventura 27.1. – 16.2.2016, info

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sunnuntai 7. joulukuun 2014 13:04

Greetings from Helsinki (Newsletter Dec 7th 2014)

Wow, what a busy couple weeks it’s been since I from my recent Nepal-season got back to Finland! I am soon again to leave to new adventures which I don’t mind to be honest! November-December are not ideally a pleasant time of the year here for outdoor activities nor for not much else either.

So what I’ve been up to? Well, last week I was featured on Prisma Studio talk show on Finnish TV channel 1. This is a talk show focused on scientific themes and subjects and this time taking a look at dangers outdoors. Pleasure to participate!
Last weekend we had the Helsinki Adventure Night here in my hometown. Of course the program was very interesting but also it was fun to meet so many of the Helsinki outdoor people! Go through Kim Öhman’s photos here to get a view of this excellent annual event!
Highlight for sure was Ueli Steck’s presentation but also I greatly enjoyed the ’Valley uprising’ movie on Yosemite climbing from early years to present. I later on had a change to interview Ueli on Sunday at Kiipeilyareena’s event. What a pleasant chat and one of my personal highlights of the year!
This week I did an interview with Finnish newspaper Iltasanomat’s ’After Dark’ web-TV-broadcast which should be aired in near-future. Thanks to pro-snowboarders Eero Ettala and Lauri Heiskari for the invitation!

Away from all this I have been working on all my upcoming trips of which first one is leading a trip on Aconcagua! This is through Finnish Aventura Tour Operator and we have a small group of lovely people participating. Many of them have been on my trips before and I am sure we will be having a lot of fun on the trip! Of course I must let you be noted that I will be taking some time off prior to this and will be spending some time in Australia before flying to Argentina! So look forward to some tropical pictures on my Instagram!

I will be back in Finland in mid-January to take part in the annual Helsinki travel fair! Come over for a chat at Aventura’s stand! I’ve got several presentations scheduled looking at Aventura’s selection of World treks. January 19th we’ll also be doing an event at Ravintola Dubrovnik in Helsinki! This time you’ll have a change to get a look of what climbing K2 last summer was like?

We still have spots available for Kilimanjaro trek and Serengeti safari in late-January through early February!
I will be leading Aventura’s Mt. Everest Basecamp & Island Peak trek in April! You can only do the basecamp trek or do the climb as well. Up to you!
Enquiries and reservations for these through Aventura!

So follow my travels through Instagram and Twitter! Take care!

uelisteck_kiipeilyareena

sunnuntai 16. marraskuun 2014 14:15

Cholatse

Greetings from Helsinki! I have just returned from my annual autumn season in Nepal! I first led Aventura Tour Operator’s trip on Annapurna Circuit which I might say is my favorite trek in Nepal. We were again blessed with excellent weather throughout the whole trip!
The circuit was followed by our trek to Annapurna South Basecamp, which being lush and green is very different from the Tibet-like landscape of the Circuit. At the beginning we were poured on by a massive rainfall caused by tropical storm ’Hudhud’. We later heard there had been terrible accidents high up on Annapurna Circuit where the amount was brought down as masses of snow. Some might say we were lucky that we did not get this on our Annapurna Circuit trek but there is more to it:

1) It is crucial to time the treks right! It has become a norm that as Bay of Bengal warms up, it brings cyclones in Nepal in mid-October. We do our Annapurna Circuit starting in late-Sep which seems to be good time for the trek weather-wise.

2) Many of the victims were independent trekkers and did not know there was weather coming in. This also is a reminder that Nepal is a poor country and they do not have established meteorological capabilities neither do these regions have a sound network to announce warnings. More so many of the trekkers apparently were not aware that if you suddenly get a meter of snow in mountainous region, it might not be favorable for safe trekking. For many groups it might have been beneficial having a professional guide leading the trip.

Anyway, our Annapurna Basecamp trek was safe and successful and we got to enjoy the Himalayas with an amazing group of people in fairly good weather.

Our big climb of the year was Altitude Junkies’ expedition on Cholatse! In fact, I first wanted to climb this peak in 2005 but after Ama Dablam decided to travel to Thailand instead! Ama Dablam has become an amazingly popular mountain since (well, it was even back then) and we were looking for a more quiet peak which would offer us similar technical climbing in stunning setting. We indeed were the only team on the mountain and thus got amazingly pristine feel on the whole trip. During our climb we were forced to receive transmissions from Ama Dablam which made us feel good about our selected peak. Ama Dablam had a bad season with several severe accidents and I think many of them were due to it being so overcrowded and the fixed ropes getting too much wear.

Cholatse proved to be quite a climb! The SW-ridge was far more exposed than anticipated and the climb a lot longer in all.
Our group did excellent on the route following what our staff (who did amazing job) had fixed. From our Camp 2 (6200m.) we climbed alpine style on some of the most exposed ridges I have ever climbed not to mention guided.
Thanks to good weather (and professional weather FX’s) we summited a full week early after which we helicoptered out direct from basecamp. Find Phil’s dispatches here!

I have just added fresh pics (with captions) on our Facebook page so please enjoy browsing through!

My next trip is on Aconcagua starting right after Christmas! That is through Finnish Aventura Tour Operator (vielä ehdit mukaan!). I will be traveling there from Australia where I will be enjoying my annual portion of tropical beaches! Please follow my travels through Instagram!

That is it for now! Best wishes to everyone!

Samuli

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torstai 9. lokakuun 2014 8:51

Nepal Season is on! (Newsletter Oct 9th 2014)

Greetings from sunny Pokhara where I am writing this at Maya Pub, one of my favorite restaurants for a snack and a drink!

Our group of 18 flew out of Jomsom earlier today after having finished Aventura’s Annapurna Circuit trek! Got stunning weather throughout the whole trip and thus amazing views over the chain of Annapurnas as well as all the other peaks such as Chulus, Putrun Himal, Kanguru Himal etc.
I do think Annapurna Circuit is the best trek in Nepal if you’re f.ex. coming here for the first time! It’s all about it being unbelievably varied and of course stunningly beautiful! Teahouses are of good quality as well! Some call it crowded but I strongly disagree!
Also we got to see a lot of wildlife such as langur-monkeys and quite a fair number of blue sheep! I would also like to especially thank Tashi R. Ghale who alongside with being an amazing teahouse-keeper is a award-winning photographer! Please visit his website!
We already have bookings for Aventura’s next year’s trip so you better sign-up soon to make sure to fit in!

I might although add that Manaslu Circuit might come close or even better when it comes to pure authenticity! We still have spots available for Aventura’s upcoming Manaslu Circuit starting on Nov 15th so email info@aventura.fi or me at samuli@samulimansikka.com!!
Manaslu Circuit you start at Arughat which at 500 meters of altitude is a tropic! Here you have good changes of seeing a lot of wildlife and an amazing number of birds. I’ve f.ex. heard of red panda sightings! At Larkya La pass (5200m) you are in high mountains which adds to this trek being amazingly varied. Sign-up quickly to join us in November! Details here!

My next trip up is Aventura’s Annapurna Basecamp which takes you to mountain’s South basecamp. This is a very good trek if you are interested in both culture of the Nepali mountain people as well as beautiful nature! This also is an excellent trek for birders me being one!
Follow the trip on my Instagram as I aim to update on daily basis!

Our climb of the season is Altitude Junkies’ expedition to Cholatse which I am assisting to lead alongside with Phil Crampton! You still have time to sign-up for this so email me at samuli@samulimansikka.com or info@altitudejunkies.com for details! Find the program here!

Aventura’s Aconcagua trip starting on December 26th is on for bookings! Join me for this trip to get the best possible time of the year for a successful and fun climb on the ”World’s highest trek”!

So that much for my Nepal season so far! Follow on Twitter and Instagram.

Best wishes,
Samuli

Ps. Pictured is a Tibetan lama named Kongma at Milarepa cave near Manang

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keskiviikko 24. syyskuun 2014 10:30

Nepalin syyskausi alkaa!

Terveisiä kaikille seuraajille! Altitude Junkies on parhaillaan Manaslun huippuyrityksessä! Seuraa uutisia kotisivuilla täällä!

Oma Nepalin trekkikauteni on aluillaan ja lähtö ensimmäiselle patikalle torstaina 25.9.! Aloitan kauden Aventuran Annapurna Circuitilla, mikä lienee suosikkini Nepalin vaellusten joukossa. Helpot, lyhyet päivämatkat hyvillä poluilla, erinomaiset majatalot ja tietenkin huikeat ja monipuoliset maisemat! Ajankohta on vaellukselle ehdottomasti paras sekä maisemien, sääolojen, että kulttuurin puolesta. Syys-lokakuun vaihteessa on viljankoruuaika ja pääsemme tapaamaan paikallisia peltotöissään.

Annapurna Circuitin jälkeen patikoidaan Annapurnan eteläiseen perusleiriin massiivin vehreällä puolella. Gurung- ja Magar-kylistä ja viljelysmailta erämaiseen Annapurnan laakson kanjoniin… Kulttuuria ja luontoa sopivassa suhteessa! Paikkoja on jäljellä ja ehdit vielä hyvin mukaan 11 – 24.10. matkalle! Meilaa samuli@samulimansikka.com tai suoraan toimistolle info@aventura.fi! Matkaohjelma täällä!

Aventuran Annapurna-trekkien jälkeen johdan Altitude Junkiesin kiipeilymatkan Everestin kansallispuistossa sijaitsevalle Cholatselle! 6440-metrinen vuori on erinomainen vaihtoehto laakson toisella puolella sijaitsevalle ruuhkaisemmalle Ama Dablamille! Teknistä kiipeilyä, halutessasi kädestä pitäen opastettuna yhdelle Nepalin hienoimmista vuorista! Sopivasti korkeutta ja haastetta, mutta opastettuna erinomaiset mahdolisuudet onnistuneeseen ja turvalliseen nousuun. Soveltuu esim. Alpeilla kiivenneille ensimmäiseksi matkaksi Himalajalle! Lisätiedot samuli@samulimansikka.com tai info@altitudejunkies.com ja matkaohjelma!

Nepalin tämän hetken ehdottomasti ”kuumin” vaellus on maailman 8. korkeimman vuoren ympäri vievä Manaslu Circuit, jonne matkaamme 15.11. alkaen!
Alue on pysynyt hyvin autenttisena huonojen tieyhteyksien ja hankalan saavutettavuuden vuoksi. Nyt polunalkuun on parannetun tien ansiosta helpompi päästä ja siis edelleen syvemmälle Manaslun erityissuojelualueelle.
Patikka alkaa Arughatista vain 500 metrin korkeudesta ja vie sakeiden sademetsin halki pikkuhiljaa ylävuoristomaisemiin ja lopulta Larkya La -solan (5200m.) yli. Rauhallisuudesta johtuen eläimistö on runsasta ja alueella on langur-apinoiden ja runsaan linnuston ohella mahdollista bongata mm. pikkupanda.
Matka soveltuu ennen kaikkea aiemmin Nepalissa trekanneelle, joka haluaa pitkän, rauhallisen ja autenttisen kokemuksen maan kauneimmassa osassa.
Tutustu ohjelmaan Aventuran sivuilla ja ilmoittaudu pian info@aventura.fi!

Nyt kannattaa myös ilmoittautua vuodenvaihteen ja alkuvuoden 2015 matkoille! Johdan Aventuran matkan Etelä-Amerikan korkeimmalle vuorelle Aconcagualle 26.12. alkaen ja voin taata, että matkassamme saat parhaat mahdolliset edellytykset saavuttaa Himalajan ulkopuolisen maailman korkeimman vuoren huippu. Paras ajankohta, paras paikallisoperaattori ja oppaat, sekä parhaat mahdolliset puitteet perusleirissä ja vuorella. Kysy lisää samuli@samulimansikka.com ja ilmoittaudu info@aventura.fi!

Tammikuun lopulla kiivetään Kilimanjarolle! Samulin matkassa voit keskittyä itse vaellukseen ja rentoutua, samalla maksimoiden huiputuksen todennäköisyyden (100 % kraaterinreunalle ja 97 % Uhuru Peakille)!
Ainutlaatuinen vuorivaellus ja maailman ehdoton trekkiklassikko! Kahden viikon kokonaismatka-ajalla saat halutessasi liitettyä myös lyhyen safarin ja Sansibarin tai vaikkapa Afrikan hienoimman luonnonpuiston, Serengetin! Kysy lisää Kilimanjaron vaelluksesta samuli@samulimansikka.com ja ilmoittaudu info@aventura.fi! Matkaohjelma!

Seuraa syksyn matkoja Instagramissa ja Twitterissä!

Terveisin,

Samuli

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