Category: Europe

Gear Review

In Trips, Europe, Alps

Most of the stuff is just as usual. I’ll comment on those new or somehow relevant items.

Shoes

Inov8 Terroc 330

Maybe the most comfortable shoes I’ve worn on the trail, surely the lightest and probably the less durable. The Terrocs performed well and were very gentle on my feet but barely made it to trip end. The shoe body was still ok but the soles suffered; one of them got a crack under the ball of the foot that turned into an alpine glacier crevasse exposing the midsole which eventually also cracked.

Villages

In Trips, Europe, Alps

Going through villages is something that happens almost everyday on the GR 5; usually, more than once a day so it’s a key part of the experience. With recreation being such a big part of the scene in the Alps, it’s taken over a lot of the rural environment and some locations have more lodges and restaurants than farms and sheds. I tried to not spend much time in the urban but still feel a quick overview of what can be expected might be of interest. North to south:

Information

In Trips, Europe, Alps

Is there anything I can write about the Alps that’s not already been said? Probably not except my own take at one of the most spectacular, long distance traverses along the western arm of one the most spectacular mountain ranges. A bit of blah, blah, blah too…

Preparations

In Trips, Europe, Alps

The word alpine comes obviously from the Alps even though it’s evolved into a kind of generic term for everything alpine. But strictly speaking an alpine something should take place in some alps. There are actually a few mountain groups in the world named alps but it all began where the European plains rise several thousand meters to become a world of rocky, ice-covered big walls that define the line between north and south; east and west, too.

Nordkalottleden

Baugevatnet, arctic Norway

Where	Lapland
When	August/September
Distance	800 km / 500 miles
Length	24 days

Hiking beyond the arctic circle may sound like a very extreme thing to do. I’d had pictured a world of summer under freezing temps and windswept barrens.

There’s such conditions north of the circle but Lapland has a weather of its own thanks to the Gulf Stream. There’s human activity up there. There’s even hiking trails.

Planning for this route wasn’t easy. At the time, there was little information, either on the net or in print, and only little bits could be found in English or any other language I could understand. In the following pages, I’ll try to fill that gap from the (necessarily limited) perspective of a one time hiker. Don’t expect a deep knowledge from the area here but I’ll try to stick to the facts as I perceived them and not make assumptions. Or say so when I do.

Slide Show

In Trips, Europe, Lapland

Telling stories with words is easy. Without them it’s a different language. This is about Nordkalottleden.

Ultralight in the arctic

In Ultralight, Trips, Europe, Lapland

Handy scale in Alesjaure

At nearly max weight for the trip with 11 days worth of food

One of the issues with ultralight or lightweight hiking is overcoming the fear of being unprepared for the conditions. It’s something you learn with practice but that fear comes back when you face a new set of conditions. This is particularly true when you’re about to travel to an isolated place with potentially severe weather.

Gear Performance Analysis

In Trips, Europe, Lapland

Shelter / Pack / Sleep system / Clothing / Shoes

Nordkalottleden was a bit off the typical 3 season conditions of a temperate climate and I had to make a few adjustments to my gear list to reflect that. There was also quite a bit of uncertainty as I was not so sure about what to expect so it was a bit of a challenge to gather a gear list I could trust and was still reasonably lightweight.

As usual, gear and technique are one in this discussion. It’s not possible to understand one without the other so this will not be a fancy presentation of cool looking equipment but a hands-on essay on how my gear and me got together in the arctic fells.

Logistics

In Trips, Europe, Lapland

Access / Ressuply / Huts / Maps / Transport

Planning for this route wasn’t easy. There’s little information, either on the net or in print, and only little bits can be found in english. In the following lines, I’ll try to fill that gap from the (necessaryly limited) perspective of a one time hiker. Don’t expect a deep knowledge from the area. I’ll just try to provide all that info I couldn’t find easily, if at all, and I know now.

Information

In Trips, Europe, Lapland

Terrain / Hiking / Trails / Signalling / Infrastructures / Weather / Obstacles / Season

The Lapland highlands

Terrain

Tundra

The northernmost tip of the route goes through the arctic tundra. Actually, I think it is not yet technically tundra as the terrain Nordkalottleden goes through is still forested and as far as I know the tundra is tree-less by definition but on this rolling hill landscape trees are small and the route often takes the high areas on the hills where trees are absent.

Afterthoughts

In Trips, Europe, Lapland

Expectations vs. Reality / About hiking in Lapland / People / Pace / Would I do it again?

Beyond the gear, the terrain or resupply logistics, there are memories not so straightforward to talk about which are yet a good part of the experience.

Tornetrask with a low “roof”

First Impressions

In Trips, Europe, Lapland

The blurred letters say “Nordkalottleden”

“What the hell am I doing here?… I want to go home…”

It eventually happens in most trips. There comes a moment when your morale weakens and you start wondering if it’s worth it. Usually, you soon decide it is, after all.

Idea

In Trips, Europe, Lapland

I started planning for this trail back in 2005 to eventually put the idea back. In part, due to the lack of information in a language I could understand, oddly enough in this information era where everything is supposed to be available on the internet.

Description

In Trips, Europe, Pyrenees

The Pyrenees stretch between Atlantic and Mediterranean. While the mountains create quite a weather of their own, the influence of the two seas clearly shows. The western Pyrenees are wetter and greener and since the atlantic weather systems usually approach from the northwest, the northern side is also damper than the south.

Pyrenean High Route

Camp below the Gran Astazu walls

Where	Pyrenees
When	July/August
Distance	800 km / 500 miles
Length	29 days

The Pyrenees are a magnificent range and it’s been amazing to cover their length through all the varied landscapes and environments within. I could see the range develop and fade away, it was like traversing its life story more than its length.

The High Route is as wild as it gets. 29 days, a good ratio of glory vs. misery and a great feeling about the long distance hiking coming home

Background

In Trips, Europe, Pyrenees

If you don’t know about the Pyrenees but you do about the Alps, I can use that for an intro into the former. Compared to the Alps, the Pyrenees are not as high, not as wide, not that much in the middle of urban Europe but still high, rugged and, in a way, still wild. The Pyrenees are usually the destination of choice for those visitors who want to try something different from the Alps, who are tired of the overcrowded, overurbanised world of the Alps or who simply want to backpack without having to worry about crossing glaciers.

Plan

In Trips, Europe, Pyrenees

After four years in a row visiting North America, this summer the hiking’s coming home. It’ll be not a little bit less exciting while I’ll be tackling a solo traverse of the Pyrenees, sea to sea over the Haute Randonnée Pyrenéenne, the wildest and most rugged of the three routes that cover the distance from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. 4 weeks and a strong will to finish but above all a stronger will to have a good time so no marathons here… I’ll try my best but the goal is in the trip itself, not on the finish line.

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