Sequoia NP 27. - 28.3. 2010

Another great weekend in the snow, this time in Sequoia national park! My experience with reaching planned destinations for winter backpacking is not very positive. Since most of the trails are not marked in the winter and since the guessing directions from just looking at the map is not great either, I didn't want to set goal for this weekend, but in the end we (Justin and I ) tried to reach Alta peak, which is quite hard hike even in the summer. For all the mentioned reasons we just found a beautiful spot somewhere on the way with great views and enjoyed the weekend anyway!
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Dalsi skvely vikend ve snehu, tentokrat v narodnim parku Sequoia! Moje zkusenost s dosazenim planovanych cilu pro zimni kempovani neni zrovna pozitivni. Jelikoz vetsina cest neni v zime znacena a jelikoz hadani smeru z mapy nema taky zrovna dobre vysledky, tak jsme ani nechtela urcit cil pro tento vikend, ale nakonec jsme se (Justin a ja) pokouseli dosahnout Alta peak, coz je tezky vyslap i v lete. Kvuli zminenym duvodum jsme ale jen nasli nadherne misto na kempovani s prekrasnymi vyhledy a uzili si vykendu i tak.
FOTKY

Yosemite 13.-14.3. 2010

This weekend was organize by mountaineering meetup group. On Friday evening about 25 people were supposed to meet at camp 4 and enjoy the winter in Yosemite together. In the end not all 25 people arrived and not all camped. I drove with Martin and Jericho (one member who needed ride) and because it was snowing quite hard on Friday night we decided to get tent cabin in Curry Village and in the end we stayed there even the second night. On Saturday we all went to Dewey Point. Martin and I rented cross country skis. It was great day. The only downside was that we had to be back by 4 pm to return our equipment. In the evening we took our dinner (sausages) and wine form which we made Czech specialty - hot spicy wine and joined the group at the camp by fire. The plan for the next day was to go to Mirror lake and part snowy creek trail, but the camp group changed their decision and we didn't see them that day. Martin did something with his leg when he fell the previous day so we walked really slowly, but in the end we made it to nice lunch spot with great view and we even hiked up little bit more after the lunch. We left Yosemite relatively early, especially considering the fact that the time changed this weekend and we lost one hour! :)
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Tento vylet byl organizovany skupinou horolezcu. V patek vecer se melo sejit 25 lidi v Camp 4 a uzit si zimu v Yosemitech dohromady. Nakonec to dopadlo uplne jinak. Ne vsech 25 lidi se dostavilo a ne vsichni kempovali. Ja jsem jela s Martinem a Jericho (clen, ktery potreboval odvoz) a protoze v patek v noci docela dost snezilo, rozhodli jsme se si vzit kabinku v Curry village a nakonec jsme tam zustali i na druhou noc. V sobotu sli vsichni na Dewey point. Martin a ja jsme si pujcili bezky. Byl to super den, jedinne minus bylo, ze jsme museli byt zpet ve 4, abychom vratili lyze zpet. Vecer jsme si vzali veceri (parky) a vino, ze ktereho jsme udelali cesky svarak a sli za skupinou do kempu. Plan na druhy den byl Mirror lake s castecnym vystupem na snowy creek. Skupina z kempu ale zmenila plany a tak jsme se s nima uz nepotkali. Martin si udelal neco s nohou, kdyz predhozi den spadl a tak jsme sli velice pomalu. Nakonec jsme se ale dostali na pekne misto na obed s vyhledem a po jidle jsme dokonce i vysli o neco vyse. Z Yosemite jsme odjizdeli pomerne brzy, zvlaste kdyz vezmeme v uvahu, ze se menil cas a ukradli nam hodinu! :)
FOTKY

Sierra at Tahoe 6.3.2010

With my big trip to Tanzania and preparation for marathon I didn't push to hard to get on the slopes for downhill skiing this season, but when there was a chance to go at least for one day I didn't hesitate. I drove with Martin and Ryan and met up with Petra and Miro at Sierra at Tahoe. Great day!
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Kvuli memu velkemu vyletu do Tanzanie a priprave na maraton jsem se nejak nesnazila jet lyzovat tuto sezonu, ale kdyz se vyskytla sance alespon na jeden den na svazich tak jsem nevahala. Jela jsem s Martinem a Ryanem a potkala se s Petrou a Mirem na Sierra at Tahoe. Super den!
FOTKY

Vancouver - Olympic Games 13.2. - 21.2. 2010

I always wanted to see Olympic Games so when I found out that I have one week of holidays the same time as the first week of Olympic Games in Vancouver the decision for my holiday destination was easy! On top of that my friend Iva lives there so I had another excuse to go and visit her. I was wondering how busy and crazy it can get in Olympic city, but it wasn't too bad. I went to see Ice hockey (Czech republic against Slovakia), Alpine skiing, Figure skating training and two victory ceremonies. The atmosphere in Ice hockey was amazing, I had great tickets and I sat just a couple of meters from our Czech players and the ice. At the Figure skating I saw our skater Brezina and our dance couple and my favorite Evgeni Plushenko. The trip to see Alpine skiing was mainly to get out to Whistler and feel the atmosphere at such a race since none of Czech athletes are very good. The victory ceremonies had great atmosphere especially since both times I went there was and Canadian athlete who won gold medal! And of course checked out the Olympic flame and just walked around the city. The weather was great and I had great time.
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Vzdy jsem se chtela podivat na olympiadu a tak kdyz jsem zjistila, ze mam tyden prazdnin ve stejnou dobu jako prvni tyden Olympijskych her ve Vancouveru tak rozhodnuti o mych prazdninach bylo jednoduche! Navic moje kamaradka Iva tam bydli a tak jsem mela alespon dalsi vymluvu k jeji navsteve! Zajimalo me, jak divoke to bude v Olympijskem meste, ale nebylo to az tak hrozne. Byla jsem se podivat na ledni hokej (Ceska republika proti Slovensku), Alpske lyzovani, krasobruslarsky trening a dvoje vyhlasovani vytezu. Atmosfera na hokeji byla uzasna, zvlaste kdyz jsem mela dobre listky a sedela jsem jen par metru od ceske stridacky a ledu. Na krasobruslarskem treningu jsem videla nase krasobruslare Brezinu a tanecni par a meho oblibence Evgenije Plushenka. Vylet na Alpske lyzovani bylo hlavne abych se podivala do Whistleru a pocitila atmosferu na takovem zavode, zadny Cesky zavodnik totiz neni velice dobry. Vyhlasovani vitezu melo uzasnou atmosferu take, hlavne protoze jsem mela stesti a v obou pripadech jsem tam byla, kdyz Kanadsky zavodnik vyhral zlatou medaily! Samozrejme jsem se sla podivat na olympijsky ohen a prosla mestem. Pocasi bylo uzasne a ja jsem si to velice uzila!
FOTKY

Yosemite - Badger Pass - Glacier point

One day, browsing Facebook I saw on Honza's page photos from his cross country skiing trip from Badger pass to Glacier point and that day I decided that I need to do the same trip! Jeff and I left on Saturday early morning - 3 am for Yosemite, around 9 am we were starting our 10.5 mile trip to Glacier point. Jeff hadn't been on cross country skies before, so it took him a while to get the rhythm and also his skies didn't have much wax on them so it was really hard work for him. We made it to the Glacier point around 4 pm, found a place for camping with a beautiful view and after dinner and melting snow we went to bed - I think around 8 pm! The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day. After breakfast and necessary photo taking we left around 10 pm for our way back. The journey back felt much more easier and we arrived back to Badger pass around 2 pm.
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Jeden den jsem si prohlizela Facebook a na Honzove strance jsem nasla fotky z jeho vyletu na bezkach z Badger pass na Glacier point a ten den jsem se rozhodla, ze musim podniknout stejny vylet! Jeff a ja jsme vyjeli v sobotu brzy rano - 3 do Yosemit, kolem 9 rano jsme zacinali nas 17 kim vyjezd na Glacier point. Jeff predtim nikdy na bezkach nebyl a tak mu chvili trvalo ze se dostal do rytmu a take jeho lyze nebyly poradne navoskovane, a tak cesta pro nej byla docela namahava. Kolem 4 odpoledne jsme dojeli na Glacier point, nasli jsme misto na stanovani s nadhernym vyhledem a po veceri a rozpousteni snehu jsme sli spat - myslim kolem 8 vecer! Nasledujici rano jsme se probudili do nadherneho dne! Po snidani a nezbytnem foceni jsme vyrazili kolem 10 zpet. Cesta zpet nebyla az tak namahava a zpet jsme prijeli na Badge pass kolem 2 hodiny odpoledni.
FOTKY

Africa - Tanzania 19. 12. 09 - 5.1.10

I always wanted to go to Africa to see animals in Safari and for a while I also wished to hike up Kilimanjaro, so the choice for my last holiday was quite easy - Tanzania!
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Vzdy jsem se chtela podivat do Afriky na zvirata v safari a uz nejakou chvili jsme si take prala vyjit Kilimanjaro, tak ze vyber me posledni dovolene byl lehky - Tanzanie!
FOTKY

Saturday Dec 19th - Wednesday Dec 23rd
The travel to Tanzania was our first adventure. Even the original itinerary was crazy: San Francisco - Charlotte - Washington DC - Addis Abbaba - Kilimanjaro, but it got even crazier. The day we left there was big snowstorm on the east coast, so we got stucked over night in Charlotte. The next day we managed to fly to Washington DC and spent one night on the airport there. The next morning we should be rebooked on flight to Ethiopia, but we were told we are not in the system! We got stand by ticket, but luckily got on the plane. This plane was about 6 hours late so we also missed plane to Kilimanjaro! Since there is only one flight per day, we had to stay over night in Addis Abbaba too. After 5 days of travel we arrived finaly to Tanzania on Wednesday! The Zara agency took us to our hotel, where we got ready for our next day Kilimanjaro trip.


Sobota 19. Prosince - Streda 23. ProsinceCesta do Tanzanie bylo nase prvni dobrodruzstvi. I puvodni plan byl sileny: San Francisco - Charlotte - Washington DC - Addis Abeba - Kilimanjaro, ale nakonec to dopadlo jeste sileneji. V den, kdy jsem odletali byla velka snehova bourka na vychodnim pobrezi, tak ze jsme zustali uviznuti v Charlotte. Dalsi den se nam podarilo odleted do Washington DC, kde jsme stravili noc na letisti. Nasledujici rano jsme meli mit presunutou letenku na let do Etiopie, ale bylo nam receno, ze nejsme v systemu! Cekali jsme tak, jestli bude v letadle misto a nastesti jsme se do nej nakonec dostali. Letadlo melo ale asi 6 hodin zpozdeni a tak nam uletelo letadlo do Kilimanjara. Protoze z Addis Abeba leti jen jedno letadlo denne do Kilimanjara, museli jsme zustat pres noc taky v Addis Abeba. Po peti dnech cestovni jsme nakonec ve stredu doleteli do Kilimanjara. Zara cestovni agentura, nas vzala do hotelu, kde jsme se pripravili na nas vystup na Kilimanjaro, ktery mel zacit druhy den.

Thursday Dec 24th - Wednesday Dec 30thWe started our 7-day Kilimanjaro hike on Christmas Eve. We decided for the longer version to be able to aclimatize to high altitude. Despite this I still had a problem with the elevation and had to take altitude sickness pill before summit day. In our group were two more people - Matthias from Germany/Dubai and Jonathan from Chicago. Jonathan was underprepared, Mathias had extra equipment, so they formed nice couple in the end :) We chose this time for hiking up Kili because it was supposed to be beginning of dry season - we had rain every single day.... starting from about 10 -11 am, so we learned to get up early, so we walk as little as we have to in the rain. The temperature wasn't too cold, just wet, only the summit day was pretty chilly and we had to move not to get too cold. We had with us (4 people) 1 guide, 2 assistant guides, 1 cook, 1 assistant cook and 12 porters - little bit excesive, but we didn't have choice. They were carrying our tents, equipment, food, dining tent, special toilet, and who know what else :)


Ctvrtek 24. Prosince - Streda 30. Prosince
Zacali jsme nas 7 denni vystup na Kilimanjaro na Stedry den. Rozhodli jsme se pro delsi verzi vystupu, abychom meli cas se aklimatizovat. I tak jsem ale mela problem s vysokou nadmorskou vyskou a musela jsem si vzit specialni prasek pred vystupem na uplny vrchol. V nasi skupine byli dva dalsi lide - Mathias z Nemecka/Dubai a Jonathan z Chicaga. Jonatan prijel nepripraveny, Mathias mel zase extra vybaveni a tak nakonec vytvorili dokonaly par :) Vybrali jsme si toto obdobi na vystup Kilimanjara, protoze ted mel byt zacatek sucheho obdobi - prselo nam ale kazdy den..... zacalo kolem 10 -11 rano, a tak jsme se brzo poucili a vstavali brzo, abychom sli co nejmene za deste. Zima velka nebyla, jen vlhko a jen v den dobyvani vrcholu bylo chladno a tak jsem se museli pohybovat, abychom moc neprochladli. Meli jsme sebou (4 lide) 1 pruvodce, 2 pomocne pruvodce, 1 kuchare, 1 pomocneho kuchare a 12 nosicu - trochu prehnane, ale nemeli jsme na vyber. Ti nesli nase stany, vybaveni, jidlo, stan na jezeni, specialni zacho, a kdo vi co jeste :)


Dec 24: Machame gate (1490 m/4890 ft) - Machame camp (2980 m/9780 ft) - 18 km/11 m
Dec 25: Machame camp (2980 m/9780 ft) - Shira camp (3840m/12 600 ft) - 9 km/5.6 m
Dec 26: Shira camp (3840m/12 600 ft) - Lava Tower (4630m/15 190 ft)-Barranco camp (3950 m/12 960 ft) - 15 km/9.3 m
Dec 27: Barranco camp (3950m)- Kanga Camp (4200 m/13780 ft) - 7 km/4.3m
Dec 28: Karanga Camp (4200 m/13780 ft) - Barafu camp (4550m/14930 m) - 13 km/8.1 m
Dec 29: Barafu camp (4550m/14930 ft)-Uhuru Peak (5895m/19340 ft)-Mweka (3100m/10170 ft) - 7 km/4.3 m up and 23 km/14.3 m down
Dec 30: Mweka (3100m/10170 ft) - Mweka Gate (1980 m/6500 ft) - 15 km/9.3 m


Thursday Dec 31th - Sunday Jan 3rd
Since we arrived two days later than we supposed to, we didn't have time to drive to Serengeti NP. As we were told it wasn't famous big migration time anyway, so what we saw in the other parks was pretty much the same as we would there. We visited Tarangire NP, Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara NP. All the places were amazing and we were quite lucky to see many animals very close - elephants, giraffs, zebras, lions, hyenas, etc. We travelled just two of us in a car with opened roof and one driver who was also our guide and he stopped whenewer we wanted to take any photos. The last day we went for little walk around the area, which was nice to get feel for the place not only from the car.

Ctvrtek 31. Prosince - Nedele 3. Ledna
Jelikoz jsme prijeli o dva dny pozdeji nez jsme meli, nemeli jsme cas zajet do Serengeti NP. Ale bylo nam receno, ze ted neni doba prosluleho velkeho pohybu zvere, a tak co jsme videli v ostatnich parcich bychom videli i tam. Navstivili jsme Tarangire NP, Ngorongor Crater a Lake Manyara NP. Vsechny mista byly uzasne a my jsme meli taky velke stesti, ze jsme videli hodne zvirat z velke blizkosti - slony, zirafy, zebry, lvi, hyeny, atd. Cestovali jsme jen my dva v aute s oteviraci strechou a jednim ridicem, ktery byl zaroven nas pruvodce a zastavil nam kdykoliv jsme chteli neco vyfotit. Posledni den jsme sli na kratkou prochazku po okoli, coz nam pomohlo pocitit atmosferu okoli ne jen z auta.


Sunday Jan 3rd - Monday Jan 4th
One of our biggest adventures was our flights back. When somebody rebooked our tickets on the way to Africa he or she managed to "exchanged" our tickets for the flights back. Nobody was able to figure out for what.....! Thanks to long pressing dialogs and nice people in Ethiopian Airlines we flew from Kili to Addis Abbaba and to Washington practically without any ticket (have to be said that from Addis to Washington in business class, so not so bad for such a long flight!). In Wasthington US airways managed to find our lost tickets and since our reservation for the last flight actually didn't disappeared, we could finish our flight as planned!

Nedele 3. Ledna - Pondeli 4. Ledna
Jeden z nasich nevetsich dobrodruzstvi byl let zpet. Kdyz nam nekdo prebukoval nasee listky na ceste do Afriky, podarilo se "vymenit" nase listky na cestu zpet. Ale nikdo nebyl schopen zjistit za co...! Diky dlouhemu presvedcovani a hodnym lidem v Ethiopskych aerolinkach jsme leteli z Kilimanjara do Addis Ababa a do Washintonu prakticky bez listku (z Addis do Washingtonu v prvni tride, a to nebylo vubec spatne na takovy dlouhy let!). Ve Washintonu se US Ariways podarilo najit nase listky a nastesti i kdyz jsme ztratili listky na nas posledni let, tak reservace na mista zustaly a tak jsme mohli dokoncit cestu domu podle planu!

Vanocni vecere - Christmas dinner 13. 12. 2009

This year I am going to be in Africa at Christmas, so I had my early Christmas dinner with friends a little bit earlier. We had traditional Czech fried carp, potato salad, Christmas cookies, gift exchange, and watched Czech Cindarella and Russian "Mrazik" :) I had great time!
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Tento rok budu v Africe pres Vanoce a tak jsem usporadala Ceskou vanocni veceri s kamarady o neco drive. Meli jsme tradicniho smazeneho kapra, bramborovy salat, vanocni cukrovi, vymenu darku a divali jsme se na Tri orisky pro popelku a Mrazika! :) Byl to super vecer!
FOTKY