{"id":30456,"date":"2023-12-31T16:37:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T14:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/?page_id=30456"},"modified":"2025-02-19T12:47:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T10:47:58","slug":"highlights-2023","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/summary-2\/highlights-2020-2024\/highlights-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I packed a lot into 2023, particularly in the first half of the year. I was in Barcelona over winter 2022\/2023 and spent the first month there. We flew to Iceland for a short trip in January and then not long afterwards I headed back to Germany. I didn&#8217;t stay for long though and in March I was off in Norway ski touring in Tromso with Johannes and co. It was a great trip and it was followed closely by a ski touring trip with the ski club in Switzerland. Then it was the Giro Sardinia in April, the Tour de K\u00e4rnten in May followed by some time in Slovenia before I headed back by train to Austria and rode the Tour Transalp. The second half of the year was a bit more relaxed with a very nice trip to Sweden to go kayaking with Ari and Anais becoming a favourite trip for the year. It was back to New Zealand at the end of the year with a great trip with Pip, Craig and Rachel over the Christmas break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-query is-layout-flow wp-block-query-is-layout-flow\"><ul class=\"wp-block-post-template is-layout-flow wp-block-post-template-is-layout-flow\"><li class=\"wp-block-post post-29837 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-climbing category-new-zealand category-pack-rafting category-tramping tag-highlight tag-highlight2023 entry has-media\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2024\/01\/southern-adventures-dec-2023\/\" target=\"_self\" >Southern adventures Dec 2023<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<figure class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-featured-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2024\/01\/southern-adventures-dec-2023\/\" target=\"_self\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" src=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/nggallery_import\/Mt-Brewster-and-terminal-lake-Doof-trip-South-Dec-2023-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Southern adventures Dec 2023\" style=\"object-fit:cover;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/nggallery_import\/Mt-Brewster-and-terminal-lake-Doof-trip-South-Dec-2023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/nggallery_import\/Mt-Brewster-and-terminal-lake-Doof-trip-South-Dec-2023-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/nggallery_import\/Mt-Brewster-and-terminal-lake-Doof-trip-South-Dec-2023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/nggallery_import\/Mt-Brewster-and-terminal-lake-Doof-trip-South-Dec-2023-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/nggallery_import\/Mt-Brewster-and-terminal-lake-Doof-trip-South-Dec-2023-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/nggallery_import\/Mt-Brewster-and-terminal-lake-Doof-trip-South-Dec-2023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">Craig, Rachel, Pip and I headed off for some adventures South of Christchurch after Christmas. &nbsp; 27th Dec &nbsp; We started with a BBQ at Holly\u2019s with Jane A, Pip, Rachel and Craig and of course the hosts. &nbsp; 28th Dec &nbsp; Craig and I went for a short climb at Britten Crags in the&hellip; <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2024-01-09T00:13:00+02:00\">January 9, 2024<\/time><\/div>\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-29906 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-hiking category-spain tag-highlight2023 entry has-media\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2023\/11\/a-weekend-in-montserrat\/\" target=\"_self\" >A weekend in Montserrat<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<figure class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-featured-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2023\/11\/a-weekend-in-montserrat\/\" target=\"_self\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1641\" src=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/View-of-Refugi-dAgulles-Vicenc-Barbe-Weekend-in-Montserrat-Nov-2023-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A weekend in Montserrat\" style=\"object-fit:cover;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/View-of-Refugi-dAgulles-Vicenc-Barbe-Weekend-in-Montserrat-Nov-2023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/View-of-Refugi-dAgulles-Vicenc-Barbe-Weekend-in-Montserrat-Nov-2023-800x513.jpg 800w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/View-of-Refugi-dAgulles-Vicenc-Barbe-Weekend-in-Montserrat-Nov-2023-2048x1313.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/View-of-Refugi-dAgulles-Vicenc-Barbe-Weekend-in-Montserrat-Nov-2023-150x96.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/View-of-Refugi-dAgulles-Vicenc-Barbe-Weekend-in-Montserrat-Nov-2023-768x492.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/View-of-Refugi-dAgulles-Vicenc-Barbe-Weekend-in-Montserrat-Nov-2023-1536x985.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">Actually we had planned to spend a weekend in Andorra at an unstaffed hut in the mountains but for various reasons we changed our plans and went to Montserrat instead. This was a good choice. &nbsp; On Saturday morning Mireia, Marina, and Svitlana came over to Ari&#8217;s flat for breakfast. I made pancakes and after&hellip; <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-11-26T09:08:00+02:00\">November 26, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-29689 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-kayaking category-sweden tag-highlight tag-highlight2023 entry has-media\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2023\/09\/kayaking-dalar\/\" target=\"_self\" >Kayaking Dalar&ouml;<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<figure class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-featured-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2023\/09\/kayaking-dalar\/\" target=\"_self\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1444\" src=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/Floating-with-a-tailwind-Kayaking-Sweden-Sept-2023-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Kayaking Dalar&ouml;\" style=\"object-fit:cover;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/Floating-with-a-tailwind-Kayaking-Sweden-Sept-2023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/Floating-with-a-tailwind-Kayaking-Sweden-Sept-2023-800x451.jpg 800w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/Floating-with-a-tailwind-Kayaking-Sweden-Sept-2023-2048x1155.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/Floating-with-a-tailwind-Kayaking-Sweden-Sept-2023-150x85.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/Floating-with-a-tailwind-Kayaking-Sweden-Sept-2023-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/Floating-with-a-tailwind-Kayaking-Sweden-Sept-2023-1536x866.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">I flew to Stockholm and met Ari and Ana\u00efs and with a McDonald\u2019s burger (due to the lack of alternatives) and some cold fries we drove into the night. Our destination was South of Stockholm, the island of Dalar\u00f6 connected to the mainland by a little bridge. We spent Friday exploring a bit and celebrating&hellip; <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-09-24T08:11:11+02:00\">September 24, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-29430 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-cycling category-italy category-lago-di-garda category-racing category-road-cycling category-tour-transalp tag-highlight tag-highlight2023 tag-racing tag-racinghighlight entry has-media\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2023\/06\/tour-transalp-2023-7-valle-dei-laghi-to-arco\/\" target=\"_self\" >Tour Transalp 2023&ndash;7&ndash; Valle dei Laghi to Arco<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<figure class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-featured-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2023\/06\/tour-transalp-2023-7-valle-dei-laghi-to-arco\/\" target=\"_self\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/At-the-finish-line-in-Arco-Tour-Transalp-2023-640x400.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Tour Transalp 2023&ndash;7&ndash; Valle dei Laghi to Arco\" style=\"object-fit:cover;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/At-the-finish-line-in-Arco-Tour-Transalp-2023-640x400.jpg 640w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/At-the-finish-line-in-Arco-Tour-Transalp-2023-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/At-the-finish-line-in-Arco-Tour-Transalp-2023-1024x641.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/At-the-finish-line-in-Arco-Tour-Transalp-2023-150x94.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/At-the-finish-line-in-Arco-Tour-Transalp-2023-768x480.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/At-the-finish-line-in-Arco-Tour-Transalp-2023-1536x961.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/At-the-finish-line-in-Arco-Tour-Transalp-2023-2048x1281.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/At-the-finish-line-in-Arco-Tour-Transalp-2023-1010x632.jpg 1010w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">It was the last stage of the Tour Transalp 2023. The day began sunny and windy as we left the start line next to the little lake at Valle dei Laghi. My legs were definitely feeling tired and the rest of me too and I held back and let most of B block race ahead&hellip; <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-06-24T16:49:00+02:00\">June 24, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-29184 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-climbing category-italy category-sardinia tag-highlight tag-highlight2023 entry has-media\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2023\/05\/signorina-fantasia-pedra-lunga\/\" target=\"_self\" >Signorina Fantasia, Pedra Longa<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<figure class=\"alignwide wp-block-post-featured-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/2023\/05\/signorina-fantasia-pedra-lunga\/\" target=\"_self\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/View-of-Pedra-Lunga-from-the-air-Holidays-in-Sardinia-May-2023-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Signorina Fantasia, Pedra Longa\" style=\"object-fit:cover;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/View-of-Pedra-Lunga-from-the-air-Holidays-in-Sardinia-May-2023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/View-of-Pedra-Lunga-from-the-air-Holidays-in-Sardinia-May-2023-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/View-of-Pedra-Lunga-from-the-air-Holidays-in-Sardinia-May-2023-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/View-of-Pedra-Lunga-from-the-air-Holidays-in-Sardinia-May-2023-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/View-of-Pedra-Lunga-from-the-air-Holidays-in-Sardinia-May-2023-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/nggallery_import\/View-of-Pedra-Lunga-from-the-air-Holidays-in-Sardinia-May-2023-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">Continuing our climbing holiday in Sardinia we decided to try the multipitch climb named Signorina Fantasia. We\u2019d scoped out the climb a couple of days earlier having climbed around the base of the cliffs just above the sea. We\u2019d checked a few blog posts and youtube videos and it all seemed pretty good. It\u2019s a&hellip; <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-05-05T21:46:00+02:00\">May 5, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I packed a lot into 2023, particularly in the first half of the year. I was in Barcelona over winter 2022\/2023 and spent the first month there. We flew to Iceland for a short trip in January and then not long afterwards I headed back to Germany. I didn&#8217;t stay for long though and in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29654,"parent":31242,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30456","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30456"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31237,"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30456\/revisions\/31237"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cris.lovell-smith.com\/trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}