RW Blog

Oct 25

National Geographic names Ryder-Walker Alpine Adventures as One of the Top 10 Best Hiking and Trekking Outfitters on the Planet.

October 25, 2007--Telluride, Colo. National Geographic Adventure Magazine named the Telluride, Colorado-based tour operator and guide service, Ryder-Walker Alpine Adventures, as one of the Top 10 Best Hiking and Trekking Outfitters on the Planet, in their November 2007 feature, “Best Outfitters on Earth.” According to National Geographic Adventure Magazine, "Trekking's... read more →

Aug 01

A Brief History of the Swiss National Day

August 1 is a major holiday in Switzerland. Known as the Fête nationale Suisse in French, the Nationalfeiertag in German, the Festa nazionale Svizzera in Italian and the Fiasta naziunala Svizra in Romanish, August 1st is THE BIG DAY that that Swiss people set aside to celebrate their independence. It... read more →

Jan 19

First Impressions: A preliminary review of the Icebreaker midweight long underwear top.

January can be cold at our headquarters in Telluride, Colorado. The mercury slept at –4 at my place on Tuesday morning, and one of our guides mentioned that her thermometer read –16 on the same day. Therefore, we jumped with excitement when our friends at Paragon Ski and Sport asked... read more →

Dec 13

Friend and colleague earns title, “Chef of the Year for 2007”

Our friends at the Waldhotel Fletschhorn in Saas Fee, Switzerland just informed us that their Head Chef, Markus Neff, is now officially known as the best chef in Switzerland, according to the influential French restaurant guide Gault Millau. Neff recently received 18 out of 20 possible points, thereby earning him... read more →

Dec 05

Warmth in Winter – Tomato Fondue

In recent years the definition of a "fondue" has grown very broad indeed. Traditionally a cheese based dish ("fondu" itself means melted in French), the dish can now be hot oil or broth cooked meats as well as any of a number of small semi-liquid dollops of you-name-it that one... read more →

Nov 29

Do It Yourself: How To Service Leki Trekking Poles

Servicing Trekking Poles We recently discovered that water (from a rainy season as an example) can seep inside trekking poles and will sometimes never dry. The water will work its corrosive magic on the inside of the poles and the adjustment barrels will become challenging to unlock and lock. The... read more →

Oct 13

I would like to hike the Alps: When is the perfect time to go?

A woman recently asked me to recommend the absolute ideal 4 weeks to hike the Alps during mid-June to mid-October. I almost told her that the ideal week would be the one that includes free airline tickets. I knew though, that she would still want to know WHEN the... read more →