Trekking

Eighteen days in the Khumbu taking the high circuit rather than the base camp highway.

The high route across Poland's only alpine terrain — chains, ladders, and the top of the country at 2,499 m.

One hundred and seventy kilometres around the roof of the Alps, through three countries, sleeping in mountain huts.

Two weeks around the Annapurnas, from subtropical valleys to a 5,400 m pass and down into desert.

Ten days around a compact range of 6,000 m peaks, crossing eight passes above 4,600 m.

Three weeks from Yosemite to the summit of Mount Whitney, over eight passes and mostly above the treeline.

Four days on the original stone road, reaching the Sun Gate at dawn before the buses.

Fourteen days between the two great alpine towns, under eighteen of the twenty highest peaks in the Alps.

Europe's hardest waymarked trail — fifteen days of granite scrambling down the island's mountain backbone.

Four days across open grass ridges in Poland's emptiest corner — walkable in summer, snowshoed in February.

Five days across Iceland's interior, from steaming coloured hills to the pass between two glaciers.

Four days through Fiordland to Milford Sound, on a track with fifty walkers a day and no more.

Seven days on the high ridge from Kamikochi to Tsurugi, sleeping in mountain huts that serve rice at altitude.

Six days across a volcanic plateau with no villages, no huts worth the name, and brown bears that live there.

Nine days south through the Dolomites, from Lago di Braies to Belluno, sleeping in rifugi.

Four days over the great notch between Yari and Hotaka — chains, ladders and a knife-edge with a thousand metres either side.

Three days on an island where it rains most days, to a cedar that was already ancient when Rome fell.

Sixteen days around Manaslu in a restricted zone — the Annapurna Circuit as it was thirty years ago.

Forty kilometres and 3,776 vertical metres from a beach in Shizuoka to the summit — the whole mountain, from zero.

Six days across the Tasmanian highlands, from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair.

Eight days in Europe's last true wilderness — no trails, no huts, no bridges, no phone signal.

Four days over three passes above a thousand metres, from the temple town of Koyasan down to the Kumano shrines.

Five days over Japan's second and fourth highest peaks, on a range far emptier than the north.

The unmarked high route from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, done in sections or all forty-five days of it.

Five days through sandstone towers and red desert, sleeping under more stars than seems plausible.

Two days on a volcanic island off Hokkaido's northern tip — 1,721 metres of ascent starting at the sea.

Nine days in Ladakh through Buddhist villages and over a 5,200 m pass, with the Karakoram on the skyline.

Ten days along Turkey's southwest coast, over headlands and through ruins nobody guards.

Sixteen days from Fort William to the northwest corner of Britain, mostly pathless and often wet.

Three days on the Polish–Czech watershed over Śnieżka, sleeping in some of the oldest mountain huts in Europe.

The Queen of the Beskids — a lone 1,725 m massif with its own weather and a scrambling route up the north face.