Dirty Nights in Dolomites

All three of us, Martin, Milan and Lukáš, were pretty excited about going to Dolomites, hiking for 6 days in a mountain range that looked very beautiful on the pictures on Google Search. It looked even more impressive in reality and we had a lot of fun, as usual.

Sunday

After 9 hours of car ride and sleeping in a camp in Cortina d'Ampezzo, we started our dirty expedition from pass Falzarego and took a break after 46 seconds of walking to eat lunch. After lunch and an hour of ascent, it started snowing and got cold very quickly. Luckily, there were sheep that kept us pleasant company.

The sheep were sad when we left them with tears in our eyes, but we had no other choice but continue. In the next few hours we noticed that every mountain in Dolomites has its own shape and color. That's true for every direction you look. We have been to a lot of mountains all over the world but this is something special. It looks like a different planet.

In the evening at Rifugio Lavarella we made a joke about filming a movie in Dolomites and we decided to call it "Dirty Nights in Dolomites", but it’s a different genre than you might think. Or maybe not. This name was so catchy and eloquent, that it became very soon also the name for our expedition.

Monday

Dolomites were surprising us with different shapes every day, for example Seekofel (2 810 m) looked pretty old and wrinkly, so we had no other choice but to climb it.

The weather couldn't have been better that day.

Look, do you see the naked girl on the other mountain?

After dinner Martin and Milan did some bouldering and it couldn’t go without blood and pain.

Tuesday

After two exhausting days with heavy backpacks we made a decision to have a lighter third day, so we called it "lazy Wednesday" even though it was a Tuesday. Our first stop was the green Lago di Braies and we couldn't resist bathing in its 13-degree water. Our bodies later thanked our irrational decision with good mood and generous appreciation of ambient air temperature.

After lunch in Dobbiaco we took a bus to Rifugio Auronzo under the famous Tre Cime / Drei Zinnen. Unfortunately we took the wrong path and ended up too high in steep terrain. We were closer to Tre Cime than we would ever expected. After coming to Dreizinnenhütte we couldn't take enough pictures. This must be one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

View from Dreizinnenhütte after sunset

Wednesday

Finally time for some rock climbing on a via ferrata. We climbed a very old via ferrata build in World War 1 to Toblinger Knoten (2617 m).

In the afternoon we slept, walked around and took some more cool pictures.

The staff at Dreizinnenhütte was cool, the waitresses are very pretty there and some of them are also climbers. In the evening Milan used an external flash that was probably 20 kilometers away to make this awesome picture.

Thursday

We were ogling Paternkofel (2 744 m) for two days from the hut and now it was time to finally climb it. It was a much easier climb than what it looked like at first.

It was very hot and we sunbathed and bathed in 2400-meter altitude after lunch. We continued sunbathing later at Zsigmondy Hütte. This hut has an awesome view and the atmosphere was great with much fewer tourists than at Dreizinnenhütte. It's no wonder that we got a great idea for our next music album here.

Friday

Lukáš's ankle hurt, so he took it easy and descended to Dobbiaco, while M&M tried the famous Alpinisteig. The weather was sunny, maybe too sunny. Alpinisteig trail was worth the sunburn.

In the evening we randomly wandered through Cortina d'Ampezzo in a desperate search for an open bar. We managed to get a big applause and the attention of everyone when Lukáš broke Milan's wine glass.

Saturday

Sadly we had to leave, but we healed our souls with high quality Italian shopping. Lots of money has been spent on pasta, Proraso and medicine to heal our wounds after a tough week.

The Proraso guy and the pasta guy

A short selection of pictures is on Flickr and a full album on Google Photos. This post was mostly written by me and Martin added a few sentences.

Living with histamine intolerance

Two weeks ago I suggested histamine tolerance as a diagnose to a stranger on the internet. Yesterday he/she thanked me:

Hey I know it has been like 2 weeks since you told me about histamine intolerance (not sure if you even remember), but I just feel like I need to thank you. I am now 99% sure my problem is actually a histamine intolerance instead of a wheat intolerance!

I think it was a placebo for the first few days of the wheat free diet, then I got really ill again. Since starting a low histamine diet, my symptons have reduced drastically. I've had a (mainly) runny nose and other issues for actually over 5 years now and they've gradually got worse. So if I really do have a histamine intolerance, you have done what maybe 20 doctors, a grand of my own money, 3 operations and lots of depression couldn't... I can't believe it was never suggested to me before!

I do still need to get it confirmed by a doctor maybe but...If I ever meet you irl, I'd like to shake your hand. THANKS

Almost everyone suffering from histamine intolerance has the same story as this one. They have been to many doctors in 5-10 years, it cost them a lot of money, but nothing really changed and things got often worse. Then they found their diagnose and now they feel reborn.

My story is similar. When I was a kid, I was competing in orienteering (running in the forest with a map). I ran around 1500 km a year – mostly in the forest in the mountains. In 1999, I was a national champion twice. Then, in April 2000, we had a first round of qualification for the school championship. This was a very small competition in my hometown, the first round of the national championship. I ran but suddenly couldn't breathe. I finished 3rd and barely qualified to the next round. I was a national champion who came 3rd among kids that didn't even train!

In the next 2 years I visited maybe 10 doctors all over Slovakia. Everything was negative, I didn't have asthma and I was the healthiest person. One doctor even suggested that the problem was only in my head. Now after 12 years I finally know the cause.

Training and competing was very painful, so I stopped completely soon after that. I also had other problems later, one of the worst was insomnia and again, many doctors couldn't help me and I was the healthiest person.

Last year, I went to a doctor and got a medicine and since then it went downhill very fast. The pills I was taking made the intolerance worse and I got a different and stronger pill every few months. In the end I was in constant pain and could sleep 3-4 hours a day. In the meantime, my friend Katka suggested the diagnose to me. Now it's half a year since I started my diet and my stomach is almost fully recovered from all the damage done by the pills.

For the last 2 months I'm feeling like I'm reborn. I have better sleep and I'm no longer tired all the time. I don't get painful migraines in the middle of the day. I have more energy, better focus and I actually feel a bit smarter. It feels like they day suddenly has 40 hours. I have so much energy and time that sometimes I don't know what to do.

I'm glad I finally figured it all out. The real life starts now.

Potatoes

I found the following story written by a 8-year old lying on the street.

Vegetables are scary. My friend was killed by a falling bag of potatoes. This is a scientific proof that 20 kg of potatoes per day can kill a person. So I think veganism and vegetarianism is bad, because they eat too much vegetables.

Lukáš, 8 years old

Škandinávia - Expedícia Loptoši 2011

Cestopis z minuloročného skvelého výletu do Škandinávie. Väčšinu napísala Veronika, Lukáš dopísal tri vety a trochu to scenzúroval. Druhým okom odporúčam pozerať fotky. Absencia veľkých písmen je ževraj zámer.

11.8. štvrtok: prílet. prvé video-pokrstenie švédskej zeme slovenskými omrvinkami. všade samé blonďaté švédky, ani jedna nahá. výborné pytt i panna u lukáša.

12.8. piatok: anna, roman a veronika objavujú štokholm, lukáš pracuje. prvá švédska káva. prvá neprijatá sms. obed s lukášom, predtým prehliadka jeho kancelárie. prvýkrát počujeme o kauze "lukášova loptička". poobede anna, roman a veronika pokračujú v štokholme, prvá jazda kompou, prvé ušetrené švédske koruny za neprehliadku vikingskej lode. pizza na večeru. večerný štokholm je prázdny, lukášovi kamaráti sú fajn, ale stojí to za tie drahé drinky? zase celý deň blonďaté švédky.

13.8. sobota: lukáš a roman idú na letisko po auto. anna s veronikou zatiaľ naučia aleciu piť demänovku. okolo 13:00 odchod smer härjedalen, zastávka na nákup potravín a sáčkov. obed v najväčšej ikei na svete, ktorá bola preplnená chutnými švédkami a blonďatými köttbullar. potom už fakt odchod smer härjedalen. miesto na nocľah na parkovisku v divočine. obrezaný prst, ale demänovka zachránila náladu.

14.8. nedeľa: prvý brutálny lukášov budíček. bude aj horšie. pobalenie, odchod, príchod käringsjön. zbalenie sa na 2 dni, cesta 8km cez brutálne začučoriedkovaný les k útulni pri jazere. suicidálne exhibicionistické hlodavce. prvé zhliadnutie 3 nahých blonďatých švédok pri jazere. ešte o nich budeme počuť. tvrdí chlapi sa kúpu v jazere a sušia vo vetre.

15.8. pondelok: náročný 2 km trek k chate. pláž. anna, roman a lukáš sa člnkujú aj keď prší, veronika sa lieči v chatke. samí nemci, žiadne blonďaté švédky. prší celé poobedie aj celú noc. ale vraj bude aj horšie.

16.8. utorok: anna a veronika idú najkratšou cesotu k autu (10 km), chalani si to dávajú okľukou po neznačenej trase cez bažiny (12 km), ženská výprava je rýchlejšia o 5 minút. dosušenie vecí, obed, odchod smer trondheim. po ceste samé vodopády, ale len jeden je ten naj. lukáš neodfotil sobov. prvý zavretý kemp. nocovanie v kempe v zátoke. dve blonďaté nórky, ktoré ale išli skoro spať. sprcha, pranie, sušenie.

17.8. streda: odchod smer letisko, nákupné centrum, obed na pumpe. kolov príchod. cesta smer kristiansund. prší. lukáš stále tvrdí, že bude aj horšie. všade samé vodopády. nocľah v apartmáne v pivnici, predtým západ slnka nad morom. žiadna kosatka nás nezožrala - skrátka, mali sme šťastie. sprcha s podlahovým kúrením. puding.

18.8. štvrtok: atlanterhavsveien-nórska stavba storočia. tunely, mosty, kompy. geiranger a trollstigen. anna, roman a veronika sa okúpali vo fjorde, lukáš a kolo v jazere. málo blonďatých nórok, veľa turistov. super kemp pri rieke, znova puding - asi budeme rozmaznaní.

19.8. piatok: kostol v lome, občerstvenie v rodinnom penzióne. vyloženie lukáša a kola na ceste k chate glitterheim v daždi, vetre a zime. konečne je horšie. samé kravy a zblbnuté gps. plná turistická chata, hľadanie miesta na spanie a nakoniec nocľah v kempe.

20.8. sobota: lukáš a kolo vyrážajú 6:40, zdolávajú vrch glittertinden (2465 m) bez mačiek a cepínov a oddychujú na memurubu od 16:37. anna, roman a veronika vyrážajú 12:30 z gjendelsheimu, zdolávajú bessegen (tiež bez mačiek a cepínov) a oddychujú na memurubu od 20:50. po ceste míňali samé pekné blonďaté nórky. opäť žiadna nebola nahá. izbu s nami zdieľa o.i. aj nór, ktorého známi vychvaľovali slovenské hory. v noci teplo a chrápajúci turisti - najdrahší a najhorší nocľah.

21.8. nedeľa: lukáš, roman a veronika si užívajú ranné kúpanie v ľadovcovom jazere gjende, teplota vody 8C. lukáš a kolo idú do gjendesheimu cez bessegen za 4:10, roman s veronikou popri jazere za 3:15. aj taký je život. obed na parkovisku za stupňujúceho sa dažďa. cesta do osla. nočné oslo je živšie ako nočný štokholm. opera hotel. rådhusgata a kruhový objazd. opera hotel. rådhusgata a kruhový objazd. opera hotel. parking. prístav. svalovica. smäd. piesok pred palácom. smäd. fontána. svalovica. hudba na námestí. anna, roman a veronika nocujú na letisku.

22.8. pondelok: anna, roman a veronika šťastne prileteli do viedne. čakanie na odvoz v hnusnom teple (ach, kde sú tie ľadovcové jazerá?!). zase doma.
kolo a lukáš zostali v nórsku. ráno strašne teplo, minimálne 18 stupňov. ide sa loziť smer hauktjern. ale najprv kúpiť lezeckého sprievodcu. lukáš číta inštrukcie po nórsky. asi rozumel, lebo sme trafili. skala mokrá, ale lozenie dobré. super lokácia nad jazerom. smer glaskogen.

23.8. utorok: ráno najprv pozrieť jazerá. modrá obloha, bezvetrie a jazerá ako zrkadlo. nádhera. do årjäng zase loziť. väčšina ciest je trad a my nemáme vybavenie. lozíme 2 hodiny. do årjängu na koláč, máme moc času. 5-tisícové mestečko pozreté za polhodinu, nudíme sa. vyhadzujem kola na autobus do oslo a už len 5 hodín autom do štokholmu. bolo to skvelých 11 dní.

Ode to Ski Touring

After a few stressful weeks I needed a vacation in April. The first plan was to go skiing above Arctic Circle but in the end it was Stubaier Alpen in Tyrol in Austria with Martin.

Everything looked perfect on Saturday. The weather and snow conditions were great and I knew that we'll have a lot of fun with Martin. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Amberger Hütte, he got a fever and a stomach ache. Luckily, he was feeling much better on Sunday after 12 hours of sleep. The weather that day was awesome. When I reached Kuhscheibe (3189 metres), I could enjoy an endless view and the air was still. This doesn't happen very often. It was one of the best views I had in my life.

The next day was the same, except that this time I was the one with health problems and Martin had to go to the top of the southern top of Windacher Daunkogel (3301 metres) alone. But at least I got a new profile picture.

All in all, the trip was exactly what I needed. We got great views, skied on awesome snow and had a lot of fun. And we also learned a lesson that you can burn you lips within 3 hours on a glacier in April.

I realized that ski touring is better than hiking, because not only the ascent but also the descent is fun. Which is why I'm planning to spend most of my vacation in winter in the future. See you in the mountains!
The photo album from the trip is on Google Photos and selected pictures are on Flickr.

Extreme Ironing in Oregon

I happened to be at a conference in Boston in June and it was a great opportunity to go hiking with Kolo afterwards, since he's living in Boston. We decided to go to Oregon and Washington on the west coast. I also met again CouchSurfers Adam, Grady and Jesse, who crashed at my place two years ago.

Adam and Jesse surprised us by picking us up at the airport. Later that day I also met Grady but he wasn't joining us for our trip, since he was off to Alaska. We played frisbee for a while and then prepared for the trip.

The next day we hiked the Eagle Creek trail, which is situated in a steep canyon. The topic of the day was extreme ironing. We had a lot of ideas for this extreme sport, but none of them turned out to be new. Apart from that we had some nice views, there was water everywhere and a huge waterfall at the end. Only Adam had the courage to swim in the creek, the rest of us just washed ourselves. Cool water, cool trip.

Later, when we tried to get some water at a camping place, we met the owner who didn't like what we were doing. He said that our license place was on file, but I heard "on fire". How could possibly our license plate be on file or on fire? Both didn't make sense, so we let it go. Before we found a spot for our camp, we saw Mt. Adams (12,281 ft; 3,743 m) in its entire beauty.

Our main goal was to climb Mt. Adams. The weather this year was crazy. The mountains received a lot of snow in May and June, so the avalanche danger was a bit high. The lady at the ranger station in Trout Lake warned us but we decided to give it a shot. We parked our car at Morrison Creek (4700 ft, 1400 m), since we couldn't continue to Cold Springs due to snow. On our way up we met two snowboarders on their way back from the summit. They said that the route is safe and there is no avalanche danger. Around 7pm we arrived to South Butte and decided to build a camp. The wind started to blow really strong, so we had to build windshields around our tents and also put the tents deep in the snow. We didn't have enough water, because we didn't find the spring at Cold Springs and it took long to melt snow with only one stove. The melted water tasted like sulphur, since we were on a volcano.

We decided to attack the moutain at 2:30 in the morning, so that we could walk on frozen snow. Even though it was quite cold and I had 1kg of snow to melt inside my sleeping bag, it was still hot inside and I didn't manage to sleep. The weather was almost perfect. Clear sky, -1 degree, but the wind was still very strong. We finally left the base camp at 2:45 with our headlamps on.

It was pretty tough. We couldn't stop for more than 2 minutes, because the windchill was so strong. I hoped that the situation would improve with sunrise, but it didn't. Jesse took a lot of pictures and his gloves weren't that good, so his hands were cold. At that time the wind was so strong that it almost blew me off from the path. Since I had experience with frostbites, I decided to descend with him and help him in the camp. We all high-fived, since we reached 10000 feet (3000 m) and Kolo with Adam continued climbing. Luckily, Jesse's situation turned out not to be serious. Kolo and Adam managed to get to the false summit (11,500 feet; 3,510 m). We all slept in the base camp for a while, until it became hot inside the tents. We descended back to our car and it started snowing right after I put on suncream and felt really hot. Even though we didn't manage to summit, we had a lot of fun, stunning views and we all learned something new.

The plan for the next few days was to climb Mt. Hood (11,249 feet, 3,428.7 m). Jesse and Adam didn't have time to join us, so Kolo and I rented a car and headed to the Mt. Hood area. Weather was pretty bad. It was raining and when we reached 5000 feet, rain changed to snow. The parking lot at Timberline Lodge was covered with 15 cm of new wet snow. It didn't look good for us. New snow means avalanche danger, so the next day we only did a short hike in the safe part. I didn't feel good at all, so I just hiked to 8000 feet and Kolo continued higher. Again, we didn't manage to summit but at least we took some great pictures.

All in all, it was a great week, apart from the donut incident at the aiport. I really like this part of USA and I hope I will return some day. And I would like to thank Jesse and Adam again.

Photos are on Google Photos and Flickr.

Asia trip, part 2: Taiwan and Hong Kong

After the World Finals I didn't go back to Sweden, but headed to Taiwan instead. My brother Palo lives there with his girlfriend Angel. We also went to Hong Kong but we will get to that.

It was way below zero when I left Harbin, but 3 hours later I was in Taipei with 25 degrees. My expensive hairstyle was ruined immediately by high humidity. Palo, Angel and her mom picked me up at the airport and we headed out to a restaurant for a proper Chinese New Year's lunch. Angel's two little sisters joined us there. They were 16 and 18, but my guess would be exactly opposite. The older one looked younger. The food was great and after 2 hours of eating I was pretty stuffed. It turned out that I was the only one who still got place for an ice cream. This lunch was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

Slovak people living in Taipei have a gathering every 2 months and I came on the right day. It was nice but we left before the end, because we had to wake up early the next day. We took an early train to Hualien, which is in the central part of Taiwan Island. If it weren't for the subtropic weather, I could imagine living there. Comparing to Taipei it was not so crowded and not at all busy. We didn't meet any tourists while we were there. The road less traveled is usually the best and this was not an exception.

We also visited Taroko National Park with Angel's friends. The park has high mountains, some around 3800 metres. We stayed here for 2 days and at this point I started to like the Taiwanese food. Moreover, I think I found the one. After 24 years I found my favourite food. It's called "Cheap, Delicious and A Lot" and they have it everywhere. You pay only 1 euro for a great food. Hmm, I'm getting hungry now, I'll be right back.

After we returned to Taipei, I was tired and didn't eat as much as usual. I blame the weather for this. As soon as the temperature decreased below 20 degrees, everything was back to normal. We also went to Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world. It was pretty impressive. Do you know that it takes only 10 seconds to fall down from the top? The next day we went to a big night market and I got my hair cut. Every day we ate dinner at a night market, because it really doesn't pay off to cook your own dinner.

It was time to leave Taiwan and fly to Hong Kong. By the way, I flew 6 times during my whole trip and 5 times my check-in baggage weighed 19.6 - 19.8 kilos. The only time it weighed more than allowed was when I used my right hand to weigh my baggage while packing. If you need to weigh 20 kg, just ask me or, even better, my left hand.

The Hong Kong part was not as good as the Taiwan part. Taipei is crowded but that's nothing compared to Hong Kong. Before I bought tickets to Hong Kong, I asked Angel what she wants to do there. Her answer was "eating, shopping, eating, shopping, eating, shopping". And that's what we did most of the time. We also visited the zoo and the 12th tallest building in the world. New year means new clothes and the day before Chinese New Year we saw the whole Hong Kong nation shopping.

After two weeks in Asia, it was finally time to fly back to Sweden. My flight was early, so I didn't sleep much but at least I got an upgrade to business class! I slept well in the plane and the food was great. Somehow I managed to fly exactly on the day of Chinese New Year, so I also got a New Year gift. Thank you, DragonAir!

Photos are on Google Photos and Flickr.