KE Adventure

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Kamchatka - Land of Ice and Fire

A Volcano trekking holiday at the end of the world
Climb 4 contrasting volcanoes
Superb views from Plosky Tolbachik
Fantastic wildlife spotting
`Explore More` - the finest adventure holidays on the planet

Twice as big as the UK and with a population of just half a million people, the Kamchatka peninsula is one of the world's most important wilderness areas. Its wealth of magnificent wildlife - wolf, bear and eagle - is matched only by the splendour of its volcanic landscape. As our introduction to this part of the world, we head south from Petropavlovsk to make ascents of Gorely (with its 11 craters) and nearby Mutnovsky. This is spectacular trekking amongst hot springs, geysers and lakes of boiling mud. Returning to Petropavlovsk, we have an excursion by boat on Avacha Bay (or optional helicopter ride) and then make an ascent of Avachinsky (2748m / 9016ft). Next, we head north to explore amongst the Klyuchevskaya chain of volcanoes, where we will hike across pristine tundra and also make the tough ascent to the top of the active Plosky Tolbachik (3085m / 10,121ft), where the views include the striking, conical Klyuchevskoy, the biggest active volcano in Asia. With outlandish scenery, as well as great cultural and historical interest, Kamchatka is a revelation.

This trip was included in National Geographic's Best 25 Trips 2009

This trip is one of our ‘Explore More' range of outstanding adventure holidays which we are running in conjunction with our friends at Allibert and Hauser (France and Germany's leading adventure travel operators). The trips we have chosen for this range are undoubtedly some of the finest adventures on the planet. They are also ‘specialist' and will appeal to those who have ‘been there, done that' in many parts of the world and are now looking for something new. The cosmopolitan nature of the groups will be an important part of the Explore More experience!

Trip Guide

During the course of this trip, there are 8 days of hiking across some of the wildest and most exciting terrain on the planet. On 6 of these days, we will be walking for between 5 and 8 hours, usually on paths and reasonably well-marked trails, but also on loose volcanic scree and open tundra. There are also 2 longer days, when we climb the volcanoes - Avachinsky and Plosky Tolbachik. Each of these climbs involves a considerable amount of ascent, on scree and on low angle snow or frozen ground and on both days we can expect to be out for at least 12 hours including stops. The moderately high altitudes reached during these climbs will have a slightly adverse effect on your performance. The trip also includes a couple of longish days of overland travel.