Walk high, walk slow. Asheville, NC Independent since 2018 The Switchback letter
The Annapurna emblem The AnnapurnaMountains · Trails · High Places
An independent mountain journal

Some of us only feel at home above the treeline.

The Annapurna is a slow journal about walking in high places — honest trail guides, portraits of the towns at the foot of great ranges, and field notes on the craft of going uphill. Written from the path, not from a press release.

4 continentswalked and rewalked 9 long readsno listicles, no fluff 5,416 mhighest pass in this issue Since 2018reader-supported

The signature walk

One route we would defend against all committees: the trail that gave this journal its name.

Treks · Nepal

The Annapurna Circuit, before you're ready

Three weeks around a massif, from rice terraces to a 5,416-meter pass, through villages that have hosted walkers for generations. Why the world's most famous teahouse trek still deserves its reputation — and how to walk it with your eyes open.

18 min readManang & MustangThorong La, 5,416 m
Read the guide

Recent trail guides

Multi-day routes we have actually walked, with the details that matter: stages, sleeps, seasons and what it should cost.

Treks · The Alps

The Tour du Mont Blanc, hut to hut

Eleven days around Western Europe's highest mountain, through three countries and a dozen mountain refuges where dinner is served at seven sharp and nobody checks their phone.

16 minFrance · Italy · Switzerland
Treks · Patagonia

The W Trek: five days under the towers of Paine

Wind that rewrites your plans, granite that rewrites your standards. A practical, honest guide to Patagonia's most celebrated walk — booking chaos included.

15 minChile
Treks · Japan

The Kumano Kodo: walking the pilgrim's road

A thousand-year-old pilgrimage through cedar forests and hot-spring villages on the Kii Peninsula — the quietest great walk we know, and the only one that ends in a bath.

14 minKii Peninsula

Mountain towns

Every great range has a town at its feet where the maps are sold and the rumors are traded. Portraits of the basecamps we keep returning to.

Field notes

The slower pieces — on altitude, patience, packing and the private reasons people keep walking uphill.

Field Notes · Essay

Learning to walk slowly: an essay on altitude

Above four thousand meters the mountain sets the pace, and your only job is to accept it. On acclimatization, humility, and the strange gift of being forced to slow down.

12 minEssay
Field Notes · Guide

What we actually carry: a packing philosophy

After thousands of trail miles, our kit keeps getting smaller. A guide to packing for a multi-day trek — not a gear list, but a way of deciding what deserves a place on your back.

13 minGuide
“Nobody remembers the summit photo. You remember the third morning, when your legs stopped complaining and the trail finally let you think.”
— from the editor's field notebook

How this journal walks

Three commitments we make to every reader, on every route.

No. 1

We walk every mile

Every route in these pages was walked by the person who wrote about it — full stages, wrong turns and all. We don't compile guides from other people's blogs.

No. 2

We pay our own way

Permits, teahouses, refuges, buses — we pay for all of it ourselves. No hosted trips, no gear placements, no tourism-board itineraries.

No. 3

We tell you the hard parts

Altitude hurts, weather ruins plans, some famous trails are overcrowded. If a route has problems, they go in the guide — right next to the reasons we walked it anyway.

The Switchback

One climb a month, in writing

A monthly letter from the trail: one route we're studying, one town worth a detour, and one lesson the mountains taught us the hard way. No spam, no selling your address, unsubscribe anytime.

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