ADAM HAYDOCK

SERENELLO CANYON. TICINO, SWITZERLAND

September 01, 2022

Serenello canyon was my first Switzerland canyon. We came here right after the Matterhorn, and we were quite tired from the day. We were still able to get this short 2-hour canyon complete.

This canyon had some great flow, 7-8 raps directly in the water, and a lot of fun swims.

Towards the end of the canyon, you will go under a beautiful bridge, and you got some larger drops that take you back into the valley.

We found this canyon to be straightforward and easy to traverse through.

This is an excellent choice to ramp up to more difficult canyons.

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LODRINO CANYON. TICINO, SWITZERLAND

September 01, 2022

In the heart of the Ticino Riviera, the village of Lodrino has got something wicked, tucked away on the granite hillside.

In 1193 The hamlets on the granite mountainside formed the community of Monte Parli, and renamed this village, Lodrino.

Where else on the planet can you find villages over 1000 years old, hamlets, stone walkways, grapes that hang from wine gardens, and wicked canyons ?

Ticino!

Lodrino is known to be one of the most scenic canyons in all of ticino

I don't have much to gauge from as

this was my first time.

I will say that this canyon was quite impressive!

It started all with a punch and ends with a dramatic finale

You find yourself in a series of slides and small raps surrounded by some narrow corridors

The beauty continues to develop as you get deep into the canyon.

Dont underestimate this canyon, its committing and everyone is working when you are in here.

There are some large plunge pools and boggans that you can find yourself having way too much fun!

We encountered a few more groups which slowed our progress and can make this canyon quite

cold if you are not moving.

We had a little snag at the first large rappel as one of the guys we met up with got stuck at the hanging re-anchor.

all he needed was a foot loop so that was an easy fix with no incident.

We continued on to the final section and this was such a nice segment.

We rappelled through an arch and narrow corridor to the final rappel and out the swimming hole at the bottom

I recommend setting up a shuttle, but you will need 10 franks in coins (as of this writing) to be paid to the fire station at the bottom of the road that you go up.

pay attention to the weather and ensure your group is prepared for this canyon.

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MONTE BREITHORN 13,661 SWITZERLAND

August 31, 2022

Monte Breithorn 13,661 ft. Is a glaciated peak overlooking the village of zermatt in Switzerland. this was another peak that found to be quite straightforward to summit but the cloud cover made this trek quite interesting.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=19ntXINVrys9wP2EuZaQqEzghl6f8gZER

There was not a lot to see throughout the day but the elevation and effort was a good effort to prepare for the neighboring Matterhorn.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1TU34CFPdaFNx7cqftxNVi6pBqaHKn8Lg

Navigation was a white for the duration as a front moved into the area and was

snowing throughout the region.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1z1KgDfe8Eea8OedP8zAx-J4CpGoJsnSb

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IRAGNA INFERIOR, TICINO SWITZERLAND

August 31, 2022

After some incredible aquatic waterfalls, playful jumps in plunge pools, and water park quality boggans into crystal clear water,

the sentiment that dragons do fly and the shire should be just around the corner feels as real as the witch trials that the community of Iragna went through in the 17th century.

We floated under a stone bridge made of

granite from hundreds of years back to the earliest known documentation of the village in 1210.

A few more jumps later and one last boggan slide dropped us directly into the oasis grotto where the locals greet your arrival in their best form.\

houses made of stone surround this blue pool of water and

hand-crafted cobble roads connect the village of Iragna back into the world.

We leave the oasis and a bistro covered with lush vines with ripe purple and green grapes dangle from wooden structures as we sit on granite furniture made from the mountain across the valley.

It’s a weekday afternoon in Switzerland’s canyon country and the local seasonal wine of Ticino has

just started to pour.

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Oterrothron peak, 11,200ft. Switzerland Alps

August 29, 2022

Oberrothorn 11,150 ft. is one of the Peaks in the Swiss Alps that overlooks the village of Zermatt thousands of feet below. A Matterhorn warm up peak.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1BUvXQuOxu67G51PdWpNonvXdTm3BWcvT

At times, I am in a complete whiteout within the clouds and other times the clouds pass

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1inBS0VAmccyoTKJ1oPLYnmq4zbGHMjkE

At other times, I am surrounded with scenery of mountain landscapes where clouds turn ranges into islands and hide the features below.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1mlRtiPC5MscBaon2-e-YFEqVWA17UGqb

The views of the Matterhorn are vague and quite interesting as the pyramid in the sky disappears and reappears with each

passing front.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1xOJltEP9IDLM3DYEPLkSWaeO0Iu3pTLQ

Once at the peak, the clouds breeze by as little ice crystals and the alpine lakes and glaciers below.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1WhRUhXmJgjEQeNoLudfxEDAA1ekdGd09

Alpine lakes and a glacier with a river of water leaving a glacier cave.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1XmWAy76hNTazWFWXZmWOENapGOTdxoJQ

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=137m2THT3wKhLJtgU-EnbZwng9GKCOv1e

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1XdhR350L5c43872UWN6BtiA-NV46oYkt

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RUBY CREST TRAIL, NEVADA

July 25, 2022

There are just some places in Nevada that combine everything amazing about the state into a relatively small and concentrated location.

The Ruby Range is one of those places!

Above the treeline alpine, beautiful lakes, blooming flower fields, pretty dense forest patches and beautiful all around high desert country.

I would not just show up to this trail. You want to come prepared.

This is quite the serious hike especially if you walk the crest trail to completion.

Our trip started off Friday after noon, we decided to get the first 5 miles complete and make it to Farve Lake before sunset.

Before showing up, we parked a shuttle car at the end of the road as far as you can go.

Thankfully, mark was successfully able to get his jeep up the road and ran back to the highway. This proved to be the preferable action as this took 2.5 miles out of our hike. This was really nice to have when we got done.

We drove back around and started our hike up to Liberty pass and to liberty lake. The hike up to the lakes was beautiful! flowers were blooming, the sun was starting to set, and the amazing lakes provided beautiful scenery.

Hiking over to Farve Lake, we made it in time for the sunset. We got set up and camped for the night there.

We got a decently early start and packed our camping kits away. Our first mistake was not bringing enough water with us to cross the crest.

We were around 10K of elevation or more for the duration of this hike. We made it to the first saddle crossing and figured we would fill water in the "last" section where water was located.

There was no water, we each had around a liter and a half of water to make it over 12 miles to a source of water.

We were feeling the effects of elevation, direct sun, and rationing water

It got quite interesting as we continued to push and dig deeper into ourselves for motivation to continue.

Once we crossed the high crest, we followed the trail down to a meandering section that twisted around chutes, cliff bands, spur, and draws.

The sun was baking us as we continued to walk through the meanders.

The temps were reaching 90 degrees.

Just as when we ran out of water, we came up to a stream of snow melt.

We jumped into this stream, filtered water, and cooked up some lunch.

We could feel the life coming back into our bodies as we were having lunch.

two more miles to go and we slowly make it to overland lake. It was a task but we were able to cross the crest and make the lake by the afternoon.

We decided to stay at the lake for the rest of the day to rest and recover.

Another group passed through, and they continued from farve lake to the south camp site. That was quite the commitment they took on.

We got an early start the following morning and headed up overland lake pass and into the last section of the Rubies.

It was more vegetated and a bit "flatter" I could also feel the trees breathing oxygen, or at least it seems as such, as we would walk through long patches of green forest.