mountain Archives - TRAVEL ME NOW

March 21, 2023March 21, 2023

ADVENTURE

Horizon Call of the Mountain review – a visually spectacular introduction to the PSVR2

As a technical showcase for what’s possible with PSVR2 Call of the Mountain excels, even if its world and mechanics sometimes fall short.

I’ve seen some fine views in my time on this planet. The Mavora Lakes in New Zealand, the Tokyo skyline, the reflection in my bathroom mirror of a morning… They’re all beautiful and memorable sights in their own right, but when it comes to video games, I’m pretty sure Horizon Call of the Mountain delivers some of the greatest virtual vistas I’ve ever witnessed.

For many of PSVR2’s early adopters Horizon Call of the Mountain will not only be their first experience of Sony’s new headset but perhaps VR in general, and what an experience it’ll be. There were times during Firesprite and Guerrilla Game’s collaboration where I was simply boggled by how beautiful it all was; where panoramas of distant waterfalls and snowy mountains wrapped in the wreckage of long dead machines took my breath away, and where lush forests and glittering rivers made me forget the real world beyond my headset.

Aside from maybe Kayak VR: Mirage, I don’t think I’ve ever played a VR game with visuals as gorgeous as this one. So it’s a shame then that the world and mechanics propping it all up are distinctly average. In between the ‘wow’ moments (and don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of them), I just couldn’t help but feel slightly bored.

In Call of the Mountain you play as the internal monologue of Ryas, a man so uninteresting I soon learnt to tune his voice out until it became nothing more than an

… Read the rest

Read Time: 18 Min

March 20, 2023March 20, 2023

ADVENTURE

WA mountain passes to ‘get slammed’ with snow as winter storm approaches

If you were planning to cross the Cascades mountain range in the next couple of days, the National Weather Service says, “take precaution.”

The weather service released a winter storm warning for the Cascades as 1 to 3 feet of snow is predicted to hit the mountain passes. The warning runs 4 p.m. Sunday to 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Wind gusts could reach 35 to 45 mph and cause damage to trees.

“They’re gonna kind of get slammed up there,” said Kayla Mazurkiewicz, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Seattle. “It will definitely be difficult to travel through the passes at that time.”

In Seattle, residents won’t likely see any big white flakes falling from the sky but can expect light rain showers and colder temperatures, holding in the 40s today.

Expect more of the same on Presidents Day in Seattle, Mazurkiewicz said, with more rain in the forecast and temperatures hovering in the 40s.

If you must travel, pack an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle, the weather service advises. And to stay up dated on road conditions, call 511 before heading out.

Cascade passes expected to be affected include Stevens Pass and Snoqualmie Pass as well as tourist destinations including the Crystal Mountain Ski Area, Mount Baker Ski Area and Paradise on Mount Rainier.

… Read the rest

Read Time: 2 Min

March 6, 2023March 6, 2023

ADVENTURE

4 ways to explore Table Mountain

One of Cape Town’s top attractions, Table Mountain, impresses people from all walks of life with its beauty. The great part is that there are different ways to explore the flat-topped summit and the vast Cape Floral Kingdom that decorates its slopes.

Climbing and abseiling await those who are up for the challenge, but if working up a sweat does not appeal, there are modes of transportation that offer all the excitement of mountaineering minus the physical exhaustion.

Below, you’ll find 4 ways to explore Table Mountain.

1. Hike

Picture: Getty Images

Hikers are spoilt for choice when it comes to traversing Table Mountain. Whether it is a sunrise, daytime or sunset hike, you are sure to be impressed.

There are about five official routes to take and those planning on hiking are encouraged to follow them for their safety and well-being.

Kasteelspoort: This scenic route begins in Camps Bay. Hikers can draw motivation from the ocean breeze and the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean. The hike takes between two to four hours one way depending on your fitness level.
Woodstock Caves: This is a popular trail because it is family-friendly and yes, hikers have the opportunity to pause and explore a cave. It takes about three hours at most to reach the summit. There are plenty of picnic spots to sit back and snack along the way.
Platteklip Gorge: It is a favourite route for many because it does not have a steep terrain. Rather, hikers can go around the mountain. You can expect to zig-zag on this route for about three hours before you reach the top, but you can tackle the climb in an hour.
The Pipe Track: This is an easy trail that enables hikers to explore a

… Read the rest

Read Time: 5 Min

February 19, 2023February 19, 2023

ADVENTURE

A dog lover’s pilgrimage to Dog Mountain

If Dog Mountain were just a joyful place where dogs can run around, or plop into a nice pond, it would still be pretty special – 150 dog-friendly acres in the scenic hills of northern Vermont. But there is much, much more to this story. It’s actually a real tear jerker, sweet but sad.

Dog Mountain, in St. Johnsbury, Vt.

CBS News

It began in 1994, when artist Stephen Huneck was injured falling down a flight of stairs, his injury causing him to develop a rare, often-fatal lung condition. “I was dead for, like, five minutes, not breathing,” he said in 2009, reliving the nightmare. “I was in a coma for over two months. They pretty much wrote me off.”

His wife, Gwen, also recalled at the time, “I said to myself I’m going to be positive. I’m going to believe he’s going to get better.”

And he did. Stephen had to learn how to walk again, and he credited his dogs: “My dogs really took care of me. We would go for short walks in the woods, and they really stayed right with me.”

First Dog Chapel Opens In Vermont — A 2001 photo of Gwen and Stephen Huneck in their Dog Chapel.

Jordan Silverman/Getty Images

His dogs became the subjects of the now-famous woodcuts he was finally strong enough to make. His black lab, Sally, was featured in a series of bestselling children’s books he wrote and illustrated. And then came his vision: “I remember the moment perfectly where I had this idea pop into my mind: build a chapel for dogs, and for people,” he said.

He built it himself, with this sign out front:

There are carved dogs everywhere in the chapel, even a dog angel on top of the steeple. The chapel opened in 2000, and

… Read the rest

Read Time: 8 Min

February 15, 2023February 15, 2023

ADVENTURE

Eagle Mountain City places decoys to show deer where to cross highway

EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — If you’re driving down Cory B. Wride Memorial Highway in Eagle Mountain and turn your head to the side, you might see two deer standing in a field.

Their names are “Jane” and “Jill.” They’re fake deer, but there’s a very real reason they’re here, said Todd Black, Wildlife Biologist and Environmental Planner with Eagle Mountain City.

“I love mule deer,” said Black. “It goes ‘the lord, my family, and mule deer.’”

“Lots of deer across North America get whacked on the roads every year,” he said. “Thousands, if not millions of dollars of damage to vehicles, and heaven forbid somebody loses their life over that.”

Over the past year, UDOT built fencing along a stretch of SR-73, leaving an opening where deer could cross altogether. Black had the idea to put the deer decoys in a few months ago to clearly direct deer to cross the highway in the same spot.

“It worked,” Black said. “Those tracks came right over to these deer, and we had some feed out here, and once they got here they kind of navigated out and figured where to go.”

Now, Eagle mountain is putting in new technology so that drivers will know exactly where to slow down. Tim Hazlehurst, President of Crosstek Electrified Barriers, is installing Utah’s first wildlife-radar detection system. Through thermal imaging scanning a wide area, warning lights will automatically go off at both ends of the highway near the crossing

“The warnings only on when animals are actually crossing,” said Hazlehurst. “We finally get better driver response, drivers slowing down, paying attention, and we don’t get as many wildlife-vehicle collisions.”

The winter migration is officially over now; Black took the deer decoys into hibernation Wednesday afternoon. He’ll place them on the other

… Read the rest

Read Time: 3 Min

January 26, 2023January 26, 2023

ADVENTURE

Mountain Gear’s gift to Spokane is the Banff Film Festival

Many shops closed their doors permanently in 2020. However, Mountain Gear, the late, lamented Spokane outfitter, which sold outdoor products such as tents and kayaks, opted to shut down in January 2020, before the pandemic, after a healthy 37-year run .

“It was just our time to close,” Mountain Gear owner Paul Fish said. “It all happened right before the whole world went to hell.”

However, the store still lives on through the Banff Mountain Film Festival, which returns Friday to the Bing Crosby Theater.

Fish isn’t sure of the first year he booked the Banff Festival for Spokane but he recalls why he was attracted to the outdoor adventure films.

“It was about marketing for Mountain Gear,” Fish said . “Instead of paying advertising to market the store, I brought in the films so people paid us. It made so much sense and it became this amazing tradition that has outlived the store. We’ve been doing the festival for more than 30 years and people love it and I get it. The films are fun.”

Part of the appeal is that many of the activities screened are possible for average adventurists.

“What you see in these films can actually be done by the regular person,” Fish said. “It’s not like the Warren Miller films in which you watch those movies and you think, ‘Wow, if I try that, I’m going to die!’ When I watch those films, I watch people ski off a cliff, which I’ll never do. However, I remember watching one of the Banff films about paragliding and I learned how to paraglide. I have seen mountain climbing films and I’m no Tommy Cannon but I can climb like these people. Hopefully those who come out for the film will be as inspired as I’ve been.”

… Read the rest

Read Time: 7 Min

January 21, 2023January 21, 2023

ADVENTURE

Elk, mountain lion damage, parental rights among new Unicameral bills

Rural farmers’ and ranchers’ concern about damage from elk and mountain lions is reflected in a bill introduced Friday by state Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon.

Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard joined Brewer in sponsoring Legislative Bill 456, which would let counties take action to control populations of both species and allow for compensation claims for damage they cause.

Counties could hire a “wildlife services agent” charged with controlling “wild or feral elk and mountain lion populations” if part of the cost is provided by a federal agency, the bill says.

Such an agent could “take any action necessary to control wild or feral elk and mountain lion populations” if they’re “causing significant damage within the county.”

LB 456 would require the state to pay for property damage from elk or mountain lions “equal to the cost to replace the damaged property.” The owner “shall be made whole for damages sustained.”

The Nebraska Game

… Read the rest

Read Time: 6 Min

January 20, 2023January 20, 2023

ADVENTURE

The Holy Mountain

pico iyer — The Holy Mountain Author photo: Derek Shapton

“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.”

Only 20 hours after lockdown was declared in California, in March 2020, my mother was rushed into the hospital in an ambulance. She was losing blood, fast. The phone had rung in our little apartment in Western Japan, and the ambulance driver had asked me if I really wanted to send my 88-year-old loved one to the ICU. A hospital, in those early days of the pandemic, felt more dangerous than anywhere. As my mother’s only close living relative, I had to say yes, and then I secured a seat on the next flight back. Minutes later, a friend sent an email: No visitors were allowed in hospitals. I was as close to my mother in Japan as I would be up the road in Santa Barbara.

What could I do? I hastened across the park in my quiet neighborhood and down a flight of barely noticeable steps to the local Shinto shrine. I threw coins in a wooden box and clapped my hands to summon the gods. I prayed for them to protect my mother, and the whole uncertain world. Then, walking back through the bright spring sunshine, I began to think of Koyasan, the mystical mountain three hours away at whose top stand 117 Buddhist temples and 200,000 graves, guarded by centuries-old cedars.

I’d traveled to the holy mountain twice with the Dalai Lama, my friend for 48 years now. Amid the rusting maples and deep silences, I’d heard him remind us that “death is part of our life.” We prepare for job interviews, a driving test, even a first date. Might it not be useful to ready ourselves for the one non-negotiable fact

… Read the rest

Read Time: 8 Min

January 18, 2023January 18, 2023

HOTEL

Area ski resorts working night and day to make snow due to warmer temperatures

VERNON, N.J. — The warmer weather may be nice to step out in, but for ski resorts in our area it means extra work to keep slopes open.

There is an incredible view of the slopes on a downhill run at the Mountain Creek Ski Resort in Vernon. CBS2’s cameras showed just how thick the snow is.

Due to the warmer temperatures, the area has had no snow, so it takes a lot of work to keep the mountain packed.

Crews work night and day to pump out snow from machines to make it look like normal.

“We’ve been making snow the past four nights this week and it’s a complicated system and requires highly trained people. We’re pumping snow throughout system of pipes, along with air, and that’s creating snow on trails,” Mountain Creek general manager Evan Kovach said.

The ski resort has about 700 machines. Each takes water from a lake on top of the hill and pumps through a compressor where the snow comes out.

“We had some warm temperatures in the past couple of weeks, but because of what the men and women who work here do on the mountain, they keep things in great shape for guests,” Kovach said.

He said machine-made snow is more resilient than natural snow, and that they make it every chance they get.

But to do so costs resorts money. Places like Mountain Creek fare better because slopes sit at a high elevation, so it gets colder there.

“I feel very bad for the people who put hard work to keep this place contrary to whatever the climate gives us,” said Veronica Gheti of Fort Lee.

“Any day here is good,” another skier said.

On a weekday, when the resort sees smaller crowds, skiers love the warm temperatures. They

… Read the rest

Read Time: 4 Min

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023

HOTEL

Planned Resort Boasts Tents Suspended in the Air Surrounded by Gorgeous Mountains

Floating Retreat – By Ardh Architect (via SWNS)

In the UAE’s Sharjah Mountains, a concept resort spans a vast mountain gully with floating tents hanging in the air.

The ultimate in mountain “glamping,” the so-called Floating Retreat is the brainchild of Dubai-based design studio Ardh Architect, who were tasked to investigate a new kind of hospitality that blended environmental awareness and appreciation for nature with modern comfort.

The images, while striking, create a whorl of questions, not least of which involve safety.

The idea that the pods are actual tents creates the confusion. Essentially the ten luxury hotel rooms designed with state-of-the-art fabric walls, sit docked to a large bridge spanning the gully between two mountain peaks.

Visitors check in at a reception desk at the bottom of the mountain before presumably taking an elevator to the bridge level. Once inside, the tent/room can be raised and lowered according to the guests’ desires.

MORE LEISURE NEWS: World’s Biggest Treehouse Resort Opening Near U.S. National Park is Gorgeous –LOOK

“The Floating Retreat project has several key values at its core,” writes Ardh. “One of the main goals of the project is to re-energize the local community through tourism, by providing a space for people to connect with the natural beauty of the region and to learn about its rich culture and heritage.”

Concept images show people along the deck connected to a series of harnesses to prevent them from falling off the railingless edge.

The tents are designed with privacy in mind and can be positioned in various configurations to prevent overlap or proximity to other tents. The side fabric of the tents is made of a blur fabric, while the front of the tent

… Read the rest

Read Time: 4 Min

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

TRAVEL ME NOW

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Tag: mountain

ADVENTURE

ADVENTURE

ADVENTURE

1. Hike

ADVENTURE

ADVENTURE

ADVENTURE

ADVENTURE

ADVENTURE

HOTEL

HOTEL

Tag: mountain

Related Posts

Related Posts

1. Hike

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

People are also reading…

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts

Related Posts