Trek, Walk, Climb, Family, Cycle & Discovery Holidays

Fully recommend the Northern Route for acclimatisation and 360° views of Kilimanjaro.  Our group of 10 had 100% success in summiting and found the quieter paths and camps most enjoyable. All very well…
Read more organised from start to finish with KE Adventure. The porters made the whole experience so memorable with their help, singing and willingness to assist in every way they could. A special Thanks goes to Richard our leader who was superb, full of charm and knowledge but also diligent in our safety.  Another special thank you to Joseph who smiled throughout,  another fantastic leader and full of encouragement to all the group. To summarise our trip, food is plentiful if not too much, sleeping bags from KE kept us very warm at night,  the walking pace is slow to ensure success,  summit day is challenging but worth it and easily doable with a general good level of fitness. A truly fantastic and memorable trip.
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Another well organised tour by KE! The views did not disappoint as we traverse through France, Italy and Switzerland - you notice the changing landscapes as we cross the borders. The accommodation and food were…
Read more excellent, particularly the home cooked meals at the Yeti Lodge where we had the pleasure of staying for 3 nights at Argentiere. Although there were 2 nights where we had to stay in dorms, the rooms were clean and equipped with all the facilities. Our guide Damien did an amazing job having to manage 12 people with varied fitness levels. This is a physically challenging hike with significant ascents and descents, so be prepared! I gave the walk a four star because I feel KE could've done better at the screening process, it was a bit disappointing having to walk a rather slow pace due to the varied fitness level in the group.
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Everything is well organised. The huts are more luxurious than I'd have expected. Bring good quality full waterproofs - there's always a chance of getting soaked!

For something like 30 years I have dreamed about seeing K2 with my own eyes. Having read many of the epic mountaineering stories about K2 and the other peaks surrounding Concordia and the wider Karakoram, this…
Read more region has always had a magnetic draw. Make no mistake though, just getting to Concordia for that final view up the Godwin Austin glacier to K2 feels like an expedition in its own right. There is a good reason for K2 being famed as one of the most remote 8000ers to reach! The luck of our leader Bart was on our side. His 3rd trip of the season and no cancelled flights to Skardu. I was fortunate to bag a window seat on the right hand side of the plane and had awe inspiring views of Nanga Parbat. The pilot on the outbound flight gave us a running commentary for the whole flight and described every major peak and feature we could see. The landing at Skardu itself was amazing. After a night in Skardu and some time to see the town, we made our way by Jeep to Askole. This is proper off-road driving. The Balti drivers are highly skilled and if you do your best to relax, this is an exhilarating 6 hours of driving through some dramatic country. Day 5 is when the serious walking starts and you need to be prepared for some long hot days. Most of us improvised buffs to cover our entire heads and necks and some even brought umbrellas. Shade is rare and you will need to take on plenty of fluid. When you finally mount the snout of the Boltaro this is when the ground underfoot changes drastically. The only possibly training for this would be to spend 6 to 7 hours a day walking across the overburden piles of a welsh slate mine. You are effectively walking over undulating dunes of shattered rock, sitting over ice, for hour after hour. This is also when the Balti guides (like our wonderful Kareem) come into their own. The route is never that clear but somehow after hours of zig zagging through this nightly tumbling glacier you reach your next camp. Often with a wonderful lunch prepared half way by the excellent porters. It is an arduous journey to Concordia and you need to be lucky with the weather. We met few other groups on our trek, which by the way really adds to the experience of it being a remote journey, but those that we did weren't always so lucky with the weather. For our first 10 days we had stunning views and blue skies. The other advantage of going later in the season (September) was that we literally had most of the camp sites to ourselves.There are stories of them being quite crowded in July and August. The downside, if there was any, is that by this late in the season, the climbing expeditions from K2 and Broad Peak have packed up and gone home - which brings us to the 'rest day' at Concordia. This is where you have an option on the trek to either spend this day resting at Concordia to enjoy the truly magnificent situation OR trek to K2 and Broad Peak base camps. So here's the facts - if you take the latter option, it will be hard! You have about 12 hours of light if you set off at first light. You will spend at least 2 hours getting through the glacier at Concordia to pick up the route alongside the Godwin Austin. Here the ground underfoot probably becomes the most difficult of the trek. And once you finally get to the base camps, what is actually there? As I said before if you're late in the season they will be vacant and no more than rocks and stones and maybe a signpost to mark the camp. So ask yourself whether you want to do 12 hours hard walking to get just that bit closer to K2 and Broad Peak? Some felt it was worth it as when else can you 'bag' and 8000er base camp? So the 'rest day' is a bit of a misnomer. Once you're at Concordia most will feel the pull to the base camps so there isn't really an option to rest. And remember, the next few days you will be descending the Boltaro in half the time you ascended it so be prepared for some long tough days. KE have some options here to make the trips to the base camps more viable - they could extend the time at Concordia by 1 or 2 days, making the overall trip length 20 or 21 days. And a word on the trip grading. Having done Grade 8 trips elsewhere, the overall trip in my view should be graded as a 9 and if the base camp option is taken then it should be a 10 overall. This is a true adventure trek and cannot be compared to the base camp treks of Everest and Annapurna. It is highly rewarding and I had the bonus of usefully losing about 8 kilos in weight (not through illness but effort!). Finally, your luck will have truly held if you get Bart Jordans as you trip leader - what a guy, the consummate professional (and he can sing!!).
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