hiking & trekking
Introducing the Highlander Olympus trek in Greece
Peter joins the Highlander Adventure team on Greece’s highest peak to scout the new Highlander Olympus trek launching next year Trekking may not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of a visit to Greece. Ancient ruins steeped in mythology, island-hopping across the Aegean or feasting on the country’s delectable cuisine will all likely register first. Enter Mt. Olympus, the highest and most storied of all Greek mountains. The massif is home to a network of hiking trails and mountain huts to support trekkers on the slopes of the fabled “throne of the gods”. Legend has it that Zeus, the king of the gods in Greek mythology, lived atop the country’s highest point on the domed 2,902m (9,521ft) sub-peak of Stefani, otherwise known as Thronos Dios (Throne of Zeus). Atlas & Bo...
The seven second summits: a tougher challenge
The seven second summits are considered to be a much harder mountaineering challenge than the more popular seven summits Previously, I’ve written about my dream of climbing the seven summits and laid out a realistic if not deeply challenging and expensive program of how to achieve that goal. This week I look at the seven second summits; the second-highest mountains on each continent. The highest summits are a dream of mine, but I draw the line at the second-highest – they’re simply too scary for an amateur enthusiast like me! Introducing the seven second summits Alpinism author Jon Krakauer wrote in Into Thin Air (one of my favourite mountaineering books) that it would be a bigger challenge to climb the second-highest peak of each continent instead of the highest. An ob...
Winter hiking: 6 tips to get you started
Winter hiking without experience is taxing at best and lethal at worst. We share some tips to help you prepare properly Winter hiking is a polarising sport: some love it, others hate it. Too often, people have bad experiences not because they’re inherently resistant to cold, but because they’re under-prepared. They make not just basic mistakes like packing the wrong gear but also arrive mentally unprepared. It’s important to understand that winter hiking can be unnervingly different to its summertime equivalent: simple movement suddenly becomes difficult and skills you thought you’d mastered prove unreliable. Using your body efficiently needs more practice than you might suspect. Winter navigation can also be wildly different. When you can see nothing but the ground in front of you, i...
Coast to Coast Walk tips: all you need to know
We’ve collated all our Coast to Coast Walk tips in a detailed Q&A-style guide to help you along this classic English journey I recently hiked England’s Coast to Coast Walk which crosses northern England from St Bees Head in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire. As the route practically passes my home in Richmond, I decided to walk the footpath twice and experience the celebrated trail in both directions. My journey took me from Richmond to Robin Hood’s Bay and back, and then from Richmond to St Bees and back again. In the process, I covered over 600km (373mi) and ascended 17,760m (58,270ft) – the equivalent of climbing Everest twice. [embedded content] One of the great things about the Coast to Coast Walk is that it does not need to be completed in one go. I met walkers who were hi...
Coast to Coast kit list: what’s in my backpack
Our Coast to Coast kit list includes everything you’ll need for this classic long-distance journey across northern England I recently returned from hiking England’s Coast to Coast Walk. The 302km (188mi) unofficial footpath traverses England from St Bees Head in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire. To help other trekkers get the balance right, I’ve put together my usual post-trip kit list of everything I packed. Where possible, I’ve linked to the gear I carried for reference. [embedded content] Coast to Coast kit list As I live on the trail, I chose to walk from my home in Richmond to Robin Hood’s Bay and back (seven days), and then from Richmond to St Bees and back again (13 days). By the time I got home, I had completed the trail twice, so have a fair idea of the kit requi...
Coast to Coast: walking across England twice
I finally got around to hiking England’s Coast to Coast Walk. Only, as the trail practically runs past my house, I did things a little differently Feeling restless after months under lockdown, and loosely inspired by Laurie Lee’s As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, I decided to walk across England… twice. In Lee’s memoir, he walks out from his Cotswolds home and embarks on an epic foot journey that takes him across southern England to Spain where he spends a year tramping from the north to the south coast. In my case, travel restrictions meant I wouldn’t be heading for Spain, so I picked up the Coast to Coast trail that practically runs past my house. Determined to make a sizeable journey by foot alone, I walked the route twice. England’s Coast to Coast Walk Distance: 302km (188mi)...
Virgin peaks: the world’s unclimbed mountains
The world’s unclimbed mountains are the last great challenges in mountaineering. We look at the most coveted of these unconquered summits In early 2021, Nimsdai Purja and his team of Nepali climbers became the first to reach the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, in winter. K2 was the final 8,000m peak awaiting a winter ascent after Nanga Parbat – Pakistan’s “Killer Mountain” – was scaled in 2016. Some have claimed that overcoming K2 in winter was one of the last great challenges in mountaineering. Although this overlooks the world’s unclimbed mountains – peaks that have yet to be overcome at all, at any time of the year. As such, we look at the most coveted of these unconquered summits. Nimdai Purja Nimdai Purja climbed K2 in winter for the first time Where are the unclimb...
How to prevent and treat blisters when hiking
Don’t let blisters ruin your time in the outdoors. Our guide on how to prevent blisters and treat them will keep your feet trail happy Whether you’re an experienced trekker or a newcomer to the trails, you will invariably suffer from one of the most common hiking injuries. Therefore, we’ve put together a simple guide on how to prevent and treat blisters when hiking. How to prevent blisters When it comes to blisters, prevention is always better than a cure. Knowing how to prevent blisters will save you from those painful footsteps later on. What causes blisters? Blisters are actually part of the body’s healing process and develop to protect damaged skin and help it recover. They can be caused by allergies, skin conditions, burns or even insect stings and spider bites. But the most common ca...
Altitude sickness symptoms and how to avoid them
Being young, fit and healthy doesn’t mean you won’t suffer from altitude sickness symptoms. Here’s how to identify, treat and prevent them effectively Gracie is a student at Johns Hopkins, which offers one of the best medical training programs in the world. She is slim, fit and active. She doesn’t smoke, rarely drinks and always watches what she eats. She should have been the last person in our group to get altitude sickness symptoms and yet there she was, wide-eyed and pale-faced at breakfast after a restless night of nausea at the foot of Cotopaxi Volcano (3,500m). Experienced climbers know that altitude sickness doesn’t discriminate. The young, fit and healthy can suffer just as easily as the old, soft and pasty, which is why everyone should be aware of the symptoms before attempti...
100 greatest hikes in the Lake District National Park
From the shores of England’s deepest lake to the summit of its highest peak, we share the greatest hikes in the Lake District National Park England’s Lake District is home to some of the nation’s most picturesque panoramas. The park’s craggy ridges, hidden tarns and glistening lakes have enticed walkers ever since the first ‘Lake Poets’ of Wordsworth and Coleridge put pen to paper in the 19th century. The Lake District is the UK’s most visited national park with over 15 million annual visitors. It is also home to the Wainwright Fells, 214 hills and mountains described in Alfred Wainwright’s classic seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells (1955-66). The UNESCO-listed park is also home to England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike at 978m (3,209ft), and the ...
How to use a compass and map: a simple guide
This guide on how to use a compass and map should be enough to get you started and give you the confidence to use the skills for yourself in the hills As a schoolboy, I was lucky to learn how to use a compass and map. I then spent the best part of two decades putting these basic skills to use throughout the British countryside, without ever really having them tested. It wasn’t until a white-out on top of Scotland’s Ben Nevis during a winter mountaineering course that I really learnt how critical these skills are. Luckily for us (or rather thanks to the course’s well-planned itinerary), we had spent the previous day refreshing our navigation skills in a less hostile environment. Atop the stony plateau of Britain’s highest mountain, amid terrible weather, unable...
How to choose a sleeping bag: a buying guide
Our comprehensive guide on how to choose a sleeping bag will ensure a cosy night’s sleep whatever the temperature Whether you’re a weekend warrior making a dash for the hills or preparing for a multi-day trek through the Himalayas, choosing the right sleeping bag can make or break a camping trip. It could be the difference between waking up fully recharged and ready for another day on the trail, or utterly exhausted and set to pack it in and head home to the comfort of your own bed. With this in mind, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to choose a sleeping bag. How to choose a sleeping bag We’ve broken down our guide into the following subsections. Where will you use your sleeping bag? The first question to ask is ‘where will I use my sleeping bag?’ I have two sleeping bags. O...
