Friday, 23 October 2026
International edition · English
Tag
Everything about mountains on Altavia: 29 articles including news, guides, routes and features.
29 articles
Mountains seem eternal, but they move. India keeps pushing against Asia and the Himalaya gains a few millimetres every year, while ice, water and earthquakes shape it in the opposite direction.
A journey on foot following a wolf, the life of a black bear, Alaska offline and the most spectacular bivouac huts in the Alps. Banff's book competition, one of the most prestigious in mountain literature, has its category winners.
Hidesuke Taneishi and Tetsu Hashimoto were attempting the first ascent of Gangapurna West (7,140 m), next to the Annapurna massif. Their last contact was on 15 October. A helicopter and a drone made it possible to find them on the south face.
Dressing for the mountains is not about fashion, but you do not need to look like you are in costume either. Six practical combinations by type of route and time of year, item by item, with ideas on where to buy them.
Little winter snow, heatwaves from May to September and the 0 °C isotherm above 4,000 metres for 76 days: the result is the second-worst year for Swiss glaciers since measurements began.
Measurement campaigns by the Swiss glacier monitoring network document the biggest losses since records began. We explain what the numbers mean and why they matter beyond Switzerland.
In May 2025 a huge flow of ice, rock and mud almost completely destroyed the village of Blatten, in the Lötschental. A preventive evacuation avoided a far greater tragedy. We look at what happened and why it is a warning for the whole of the Alps.
The permit for the south side rose from 11,000 to 15,000 dollars, climbers must carry down their own waste and experience requirements are being discussed. We review the measures trying to bring order to the world's most famous mountain.
Not all dangerous mountains are dangerous for the same reason. Some kill with avalanches, others with altitude, unpredictable weather or because they look easier than they are. Fifteen summits and their reasons.
The Sierra Nevada de Mérida once had at least six glaciers. By 2024 the last one —Humboldt— had shrunk into a small ice field. Venezuela thus became the first country in modern times to lose all its glaciers.
When a border follows the watershed across a glacier, melting can move it. That is what has happened around the Matterhorn, where Switzerland and Italy have had to adjust their shared boundary.
At 3,000 metres every breath carries around 30% less oxygen than at sea level. Your body reacts within minutes, adapts within days… and sometimes fails. This is what happens and what to do.
Everest is the highest mountain above sea level, but if you measure from the centre of the Earth, an Ecuadorian volcano wins. The reason: our planet is not a perfect sphere.
Running on trails is not road running with a different view: technique, pace and training all change. This is how to get into trail running without getting injured and enjoy it from day one.
A glacier is a balance between the snow it gains and the ice it loses. When the books come out in the red year after year, it retreats. We explain why this is happening almost everywhere and what it means for us.
Some of nature's shows look like special effects, but they really happen and you can see them without scientific equipment. Ten phenomena, explained, with the best times and places to watch them.
With a wingspan of almost three metres and a diet made up mostly of bones, the bearded vulture is one of the most astonishing birds on the planet. After disappearing from much of Europe, it is soaring over its mountains again.
Your phone runs out of battery, the signal disappears or the GPS goes haywire in a deep valley. These are the navigation techniques that really work when technology fails.
More than a third of humanity cannot see the Milky Way from home. These are the places where the sky is still as it was centuries ago, and how to make the most of them even without a telescope.
Snow is not just scenery: it is a natural reservoir that releases water when it is needed most. When it snows less or melts earlier, rivers, forests, wildlife and the economy of entire valleys change.
It is not about wearing lots of clothes, but the right clothes, and knowing when to take them off or put them on. This is how the layering system used by mountaineers all over the world works.
Three countries, a dozen passes and Mont Blanc always on the horizon. The TMB is probably Europe's most famous trek: demanding for its total ascent, but with no technical sections on its classic route.
Choosing a route that suits you, estimating times properly, checking the forecast and knowing when to turn back. Everything you need so your first mountain outing is the start of something, not a bad memory.
It is one of Spain's most popular hikes and looks like a stroll, but the path runs beside unprotected drops, with rockfall and a return that doubles the distance. Here is how to do it right.
Sleeping in the mountains completely changes the experience of a route. We tell you which gear is essential, what you can leave at home and how to pack it so your backpack weighs no more than it needs to.
A '-5 °C' bag can leave you shivering at 2 °C if you misread the label. We explain the European temperature standard, down versus synthetic, and why your mat matters as much as your bag.
Summer storms in the mountains form quickly, but they give warning. We show you how to read the clouds, calculate the distance of lightning and get to the least exposed spot if it reaches you.
Polyester fibres above 8,000 metres, particles raining from the sky in remote Pyrenean valleys, plastic in Antarctic snow. The mountains are not safe from plastic, and part of the problem is what we wear.
Its velvety look is not decorative: it is armour against the radiation, cold and dryness of the high mountains. The natural and cultural history of the most famous flower in the Alps.
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