This is a sequel to last year’s Outdoor TODO list 2011.

Planned tours

2011 I hiked more than ever but it looks like I might easily top this in 2012. Thanks to some lucky circumstances I was able to take 17 days of vacation into 2012. My current plan to get rid of them is to take 40 at the end of the year and leave cold Germany in November for New Zealand to walk the southern half of the Te Araroa.

Unlike last year, holidays create a lot of 4-day weekends this year. I don’t have any specific plans yet. But from the top of my head I would like to do at least one multi-day trip to Hoher Tauern and one to Karwendel. And I would like to finally ascend Half Dome.

Additionally, I registered for a marathon in April (Dreiburgenland Marathon) and I’m thinking about adding two more (Karlsruhe & Munich).

Gear

Currently I’m pretty happy with my gear. I might upgrade my Laser Competition if I do the Te Araroa. So no urgent plans to go shopping and I will keep my resolution from 2011: get rid of at least one old piece of equipment, before buying a new piece.

Tuesday, November 1 was a public holiday, had a decent weather forecast and I couldn’t come up with a better plan. So I decided to hike from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to the summit of Zugspitze. Read more »

From last Sunday to Tuesday I walked a short section of the Pennine Way. If (like me) you haven’t heard of it:

The Pennine Way National Trail, 268 miles of chasing the Pennine Mountain tops along the rugged backbone of England, from the Peak District through the Yorkshire Dales and over Hadrian’s Wall to the Cheviots. Amongst the finest upland walking in England.

We didn’t start right on the Pennine Way but took the bus to Barnard Castle instead, because the only thing that is worse than English weather is her majesty’s public transport system. The walk itself was nice. Very well marked and easy to follow. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that we were mostly walking through farmland and it never really felt like getting away from civilization. Given the location this is hardly a surprise but worth mentioning.

Yesterday we went walking along Hadrian’s Wall with great weather. We passed Sycamore Gap (aka the Robin Hood Tree), Vercovicium and a few very nice cliffs that surely have a name, too, but I can’t find it. Afterwards we enjoyed a nice burger in The Twice Brewed Inn just a few hundred meters away from Hadrian’s Wall.

View 2011-08-19 11:05 in a larger map

I had planned a two-day hike in the Hoher Tauern region. The weather forecast on Friday was bad, but I packed some of my gear anyway. On Saturday it looked a little better so I quickly got up, packed the remaining bits and pieces, filled a large thermos cup with coffee and hit the road at 7:30. Read more »

Right now I have more tours to write about than time to do the writing. Therefore this time only a short report about two tours, three and one week ago. Read more »

This is part VI and the last part of my TGO challenge report. Read more »

I promise there will be some non-TGO content soon but for now this is part V of my report on the 2011 TGO challenge. Read more »

This is part IV of my report on the 2011 TGO challenge. Read more »

This is part III of my report on the 2011 TGO challenge. Read more »

This is part II of my report on walking the TGO challenge 2011. If you want to start at the beginning, read about
my first two days of my TGO challenge. Read more »