News and Plans
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30 Apr
Gavin arrives at the North Pole
Adventure Alternative founder and MD, Gavin Bate REACHED THE NORTH POLE at around 03:30 GMT (21:30 local time) this morning, completing his 550km expedition to ski from Resolute Bay in the Canadian Arctic to the 1996 Magnetic North pole in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
Gavin now just has the final 28km to ski to the former weather station at Isachsen, to be picked up by support plane tomorrow. Gavin reports being exhausted, having lost a lot of weight and that his insulating gear is choked with ice from condensed perspiration and from steam from cooking stoves.
The expedition was also raising funds for the Moving Mountains Trust, a charity that Gavin founded more than a decade ago. To follow all the details and to donate to the campaign, visit www.racemetothepole.com
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06 Apr
North Pole Expedition
Adventure Alternative MD Gavin Bate is currently skiing 550km to the North Pole!
As part of the expedition he is raising money for the charity Moving Mountains. You can 'Race' Gavin to the pole by donating to the charity.
For more information and to follow the expedition visit RaceMeToThePole.com or 'Like' the Facebook page facebook.com/RaceMeToThePole . You can also see updates on twitter by following @MMTrust and via the hashtag #racemetothepole
All donations are very much appreciated, by cheque, text or by visiting MyDonate. Thank you!
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15 Mar
Adventure Alternative are awarded Eco-Certification by Sustainable Travel International
We are delighted to announce that Adventure Alternative have been awarded Eco-Certification by Sustainable Travel International as part of the Sustainable Tourism Education Programme (STEP).
You can find out more about what this means here.
http://sustainabletravel.org/project/adventure-alternative/
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22 Feb
Returning Expeditions
We have had a number of expeditions recently return from all over the world and we are getting great feedback from happy clients.
The Mount Toubkal Winter Ascent trip in Morocco went very smoothly with fantastic conditions, blue skies and crisp snow allowing the team to summit four 4000m peaks, learn and perfect winter mountaineering skills and also experience and learn about Moroccan and Berber culture and eat piles of tagine, cous-cous and fresh salads. We are looking forward to returning to Morocco soon with our Mt Toubkal Summer Ascent.
Our expedition to Mount Aconcagua also went well, with the team moving strongly and efficiently with their past experiences with us on other mountains. They got high on the mountain, close enough to photograph the path to the summit before they wisely retreated in the face of winds building to potentially dangerous levels. A great mountaineering experience was had by all in the high Andes.
Our Canadian team are just returning to their homes across the Atlantic after a very successful trip in support of the Moving Mountains Trust. They carried out wonderful work in the village of Tigithi on the slopes of Mount Kenya, contributing to the ongoing development of a new secondary school in the village and running a camp for local children. They then went on to successfully climb Mt Kenya its self before some well-deserved relaxation on Safari in the Great Rift Valley.
More adventures coming soon....
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07 Feb
Out on Expedition
We currently have quite a few trips out in the field - our guide Steve Pinfield is on Aconcagua with six members who have made their second carry to camp 1, trip leader Matt summitted Mt Toubkal yesterday with his team of seven, and the AA Kenya team is currently doing a school project for Moving Mountains with 26 Canadian YMCA members (under the excellent leadership of Eva Muronji). Meanwhile in Nepal and Kenya there are medical elective students busy doing their studies.
Coming up next is the Nepal season, so do contact us for details of our many treks to this beautiful country. And soon after that we begin again taking clients to Mt Elbrus, under the leadership of Sasha (who has now been with AA for 13 years).
Interesting trips later in the year include an amazing solar eclipse trip we want to run to Sao Tome and Principe, a 100th anniversary climb of Mt Trikora in Papua New Guinea, and a unqiue horse riding festival July trip to Menang in Nepal.
Call us for details!