These days, an integral part of planning a hike is looking up route descriptions online, where you can often find relevant and up-to-date firsthand accounts. While this makes planning a trip much easier, it often makes it less adventurous. Headlines are then dominated primarily by spectacular speed records rather than first ascents of unknown mountain ranges with untouched peaks.

Yannick Walo, the speaker for the lecture “Expeditions in the 21st Century,” was a member of a 2022 Nepal expedition organized by the Academic Alpine Club of Zurich. In his lecture, he explains how to prepare for such an expedition, what a successful first ascent feels like, and what else is involved in an expedition in the 21st century.

For his expedition research, Yannick Walo consulted the large-scale Nepal maps in the map collection of the Zurich Central Library.

As part of the Berge lesen Festival, Yannick Walo’s lecture will take place on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Zurich Central Library, in the Herrmann-Escher Hall.

Further information about the event, as well as the registration link, can be found on the Zurich Central Library’s website.

Admission is free.