Month February 2026
The first time I stood on a pair of skis I was so young I can’t even remember it anymore. During the next 25-ish years I went skiing or snowboarding at least one week every winter. Nowadays I live in a tropical country so I don’t get much chance, but every once in a while I get a strong itch to hit the slopes. The only way to cure it is to go on vacation to a ski resort. At the beginning of this winter I started feeling that itch again. As I was planning were to go, the question … Read the rest
With a gentle humming the lift chair pulls me upwards towards a sky that's not quite black. The hills below me are lit up at intervals by spotlights that cast cones of an eerie pinkish glow across the landscape. Bare ground covered in withered leaves, dotted here and there by patches of snow. Naked trees with their brown spindly branches, like insectoid fingers stretching towards the darkened sky. Off to the right, across an inky chasm, is a string of lights, presumably illuminating an unseen slope; row of trees silhouetted against their brightness, the light diffusing through the tree tops forming the vague outline of a hill. Beyond that, as far as I can see, nothing but a void. With these surroundings it's strange to think that in just a few minutes, I'll be riding my snowboard down the slope that's somewhere beyond that forested peak in front of me.
A couple of years ago I hiked all five peaks of Five Finger Mountain (五指山). At the end of that hike I came to the conclusion that the ring finger and little finger peaks are only worth hiking if you have the explicit goal of doing all five fingers, but can skip them otherwise. A few weeks ago I went back to Five Finger Mountain to hike what I consider to be the optimal route. Here you can see a map of my route, click it for more details.
It starts by going through the very narrow gorge called … Read the rest