Category Archives: trails + tents

A Cloudy Col des Chamois Attempt

27 Jun 17
Heidi Kumm
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After weeks [years?] of talking about a trek up the Grand Muveran it finally started to look like it would happen. Gemma + I set aside a day, stared at a map + chatted up a friend…then we checked the weather. After a solid 10 days of blazing sunshine, we were headed into a long weekend of thunderstorms. The dicey weather combined with late-season snow vetoed our plan to snag a Grand Muveran summit.

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Summit Selfies: Les Chaux

14 Jun 17
Heidi Kumm
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There’s a peak near here that I’ve fallen in love with. Legit love. Probably? Like the sort of love you have for fluffy kittens you can’t keep for yourself so you’re going to love them even more, on principle. Whatever sort of love that is…that’s how I feel about Les Chaux. It’s basically perfect in every way I want it to be + it’s the gateway to one of my favorite trails in all of Switzerland. Maybe I need to explore more to find a better trail…but until I find that, this is my favoritest trail evers. #fact

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Les Gorges: Into the Valley

06 Jun 17
Heidi Kumm
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When you tell someone you’re headed to the Swiss Alps for the summer the general assumption is that you’re going for the mountain peaks. That’s not untrue, but the Alps offer up more than summits! I first found the gorges [aptly named “Les Gorges”] on a rainy day last time I was here…they’re kind of a perfect rainy day hike. However, they’ve become one of my favorite hikes near the chalet, even on the sunny days! Let me tell you why…

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Iceland; By the Dollars

09 May 17
Heidi Kumm
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We did minimal planning prior to hopping on a plane to Iceland. From time to time we’d talk about sitting down to plan. Every once in a while I’d scroll through a list of “5 must visit” or “8 best” list looking at photos + cocking an eyebrow at the Icelandic words. About a month before we showed up at the airport we decided we at least needed to find a place to sleep. A few Google searches + a colorful pros/cons list later we had our camper van booked. We also made reservations at a hotel in Reykjavik for our final nights in Iceland.

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Iceland; One Stop at a Time

08 May 17
Heidi Kumm
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I spent a week in Iceland this spring, almost on accident. When I was searching for flights to Switzerland last fall I realized it was cheaper to fly through Iceland on Iceland Air than directly to mainland Europe. The airline’s website didn’t have to do much prompting to get me to book a “stayover” for the full 7 days. Once my flight was booked I spent a few months talking Robb into coming along to explore the island. Eventually, he gave in.

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Closing Out the Season

24 Apr 17
Heidi Kumm
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The one place it is perfectly acceptable to sit on the floor near a trash can is in an airport. Or that’s what I tell myself. For some silly reason 90% of the available outlets are always on those pillars surrounded by trash + recycling bins. From an architectural stand point, I guess that makes sense. From a self-respect + dignity stand point, not so much. Lucky for the batteries of my electronics, I’m not exactly overflowing with either self-respect of dignity!

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Trail Fail: How NOT To Yurt Trip

28 Mar 17
Heidi Kumm
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Trail Fail: How NOT To Yurt, Cabin or Hut Trip

There are a bajillion + a half blog posts, articles + flashy insta-stories out there telling you how to properly, safely + comfortably go on a yurt trip. So, for the sake of trying something new, let’s talk about all the things you can do wrong while venturing out to a remote mountain yurt or cabin. The fact we just recently did all of the following things [over the course of four trips, the only reason we’re still alive] has nothing to do with my motivation to overshare this list. Probably. Not.

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Girls’ Weekend; Colorado-Style

02 Mar 17
Heidi Kumm
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Girls’ Weekend; Colorado-Style at the Columbine Cabins

I live a pretty cyclical life — my summers are spent roaming the country + world while my winters are spent working my leggings off in a resort town. This lifestyle isn’t exactly conducive to a small, close-knit group of friends due to constant movement + a crazy work schedule. Instead, it gives me the opportunity to meet all sorts of awesome people that float through my life from time to time. Every once in a while a handful of these cool kids get the same days off work. This happened last month [after a lot of co-worker bribery]. To celebrate we headed into the backwoods of Northern Colorado for our version of “girl’s weekend”.

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Snow Tubing at Loveland Pass

20 Feb 17
Heidi Kumm
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Snow Tubing at Loveland Pass

The best life lessons are learned in the wilderness, right?!

Such as “if it makes your heart flutter, do it” + “just huck yourself over the edge + hope for the best”.

These are the life lessons you’ll come upon when you lug a snow tube along the ridge of the Continental Divide trail on Loveland Pass. The guys were up there the week before with pristine conditions — fluffy snow + full coverage. We were not so lucky this time around. Instead of being greeted with a mountain cloaked in fresh snow we were staring down at a rocky, bare slope with patches of snow. This was our launching point. We had two choices — huck our bodies over the edge + hope we’d manage to stay atop our tube or turn back.

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Escaping to Columbine Cabins

07 Feb 17
Heidi Kumm
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Escaping Reality: A Weekend at the Columbine Cabins

There are many ways to escape cell service. The most logical one is to just shut off your phone. But, what fun is that? A much more exciting way to escape cell service is to run off into the wilderness + pretend adult responsibilities don’t exist for a full 48 hours. That’s the way we did it…

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