Scotland - something new
Our guide is Mike Pescod who has guided for us on Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and in the Caucasus. So learn the skills needed and pick his brains to find out more about your chosen summit. Find out more about Mike and our Scottish courses at http://www.ewpnet.com/scotland.htm.
East Africa
The Tanzanian elections held in November 2000 left Zanzibar, home of the defeated opposition party, in turmoil. Claims of election rigging, clashes, street demonstrations and deaths hit the normally busy Christmas trade. At no stage where foreign tourists affected and now life has returned to normal. We are now in a position to report fairly favourably on the situation and is back to normal as far as the tourist business goes. We, and our agents in Zanzibar, are monitoring the situation carefully and there is no sign of a return to the problems of the last few months.
News from the Rwenzori in Uganda is also quite promising for the future. The Ugandan army are fairly confident that they have the situation under control. In the last few months a large contingent of the guerilla / bandits who were terrorising the area broke out of the Rwenzori to try to make their way back south to the Rwandan border. The National Parks still have not officially opened the park but unofficial groups have visited the park with an Army escort. We hope that we will be able to start taking groups to the Rwenzori in the next year or so.
Caucasus and Elbrus The security around Mineralnye Vody airport will no doubt be as high as ever this summer - so there will extra check points and passport checks along the way to Baksan. So far the Kabardino Balkarian Republic (where Elbrus is located) has had no problems We are continually monitoring the situation but at present do not forsee our programmes there being hindered. Hopefully this will now be our tenth consecutive year to run a full set of summer programmes!
Georgia
Central Asia So for 2001 we are planning our popular visits to the Fann Mountains which includes city tours of Samarkand and Bukhara; Peak Lenin is ever popular as one of the world's easiest 7000m peaks, The Tien Shan (Celestial Mountain) trek is tougher than the Fann but takes in some magnificent mountains in a politically very stable area, also our latest Virgin Summit Expedition destination is Eastern Sunrise 6346m and Kurumdy 6613m in the Eastern Trans Alai - on the borders of China.
Eastern Russia
Further east, travel to Kamchatka, the land of volcanos, has become slightly cheaper and as a result a trip to this geologically exceptional area has become much more practical.
Often people wishing to climb Mount Kenya, Elbrus or join one of our Pamir expeditions have asked us about the possibility of organising training trips for them. We will now be offering Scottish training programmes. We will offer three weekends in the year where anybody interested in joining in is most welcome. If you wish to use or guide / instructor at other times we will also be able to make arrangements for you for a course to meet your needs.
Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya continue to be popular destinations. The weather patterns have again been unusual. In January and February - the best, driest season normally end up with snow down to the Saddle on Kilimanjaro.
Chechen activities yet again have brought the Caucasus to the news. Recently two car bombs were set off, one in Mineralnye Vody market and another in Yessentuki (Stavropolski Krai, Russia). A further car bomb went off in the Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia while police were trying to get it to a safe place - two officers were killed.
Sadly the situation here is not stable yet and as a result we are not running any scheduled trips this summer in the southern Caucasus. Areas of the Caucasus such as the Mount Kazbek region are less affected - please contact us for further information if you are interested in visiting the area. Meanwhile the situation in Svanetia - the most beautiful part of Georgia - is slowly improving and we hope maybe in a year or so to be able to run trips here.
The areas we visit in Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan and Kyrgizstan are all fairly stable and can be visited with little to fear. We have to monitor carefully the occasional attempt by mujahadin based in Afghanistan to pass through these territories in order to destabilise their governments. This caused problems last year as they kidnapped a group of American climbers in the Aksu region. To date the areas where we operate have not been affected by their activities.
As Tuva is gradually being discovered more people are visiting this little known gem on the borders of Russia and Mongolia. Wild mountains and a rich culture combine to make for a fascination trip either trekking in the Sayan Mountains or making an ascent of Mount Mongun Taiga. All our trips here visit Kyzyl, the capital of the Tuvan republic. It is the cradle of the Turkic language and its culture is strongly related to Mongolian. Tuvans have persisted in speaking their own language of Turkic origin even while the Mongols, the Manchu's and other groups ruled them. Even now after decades of domination by the Soviets they still remember their sacred traditions from their main religions: Buddhism and Shaman. If possible we will include an opportunity to hear the world famous throat singers of Tuva.