MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Looking for some inspiration for a hut-to-hut Alpine walk for later this summer, probably September time. Not fussed too much about country though would be good if accessible by rail. Duration up to a week of walking, and crucially not too technical - no via ferrata. My wife and I are pretty experienced walking all across Scotland so not too concerned with fitness but we generally avoid scrambling and don't want to carry any specialist equipment like helmets, harnesses, etc.
Considered the Karwendel High Trail in Austria but maybe a bit more technically difficult than we were thinking. There are so many options though, so recommendations would be great!
Slovenia. the peaks are lower, less technical and the huts are great ranging from WW1 artillery spotter bunkers to almost hotels. great network of paths well waymarked and the maps show the technical difficulty of the paths
I've done a lot of walking in european mountains and this was the best trip ever.
Karwendel terrain can be tricky and some bits of path have wire protection
The GR30 in the Auvergne looks interesting - you can get the TGV to Clermont-Ferrand, then local buses
Ticino in Switzerland has some great options....
Start research here:
https://www.ticino.ch/en/explore/excursions/hike/huts.html
Not really my area of expertise, but I rode the Tour of Mont Blanc last year and chatted with many walkers en route.
The full 170km loop seemed to be taking most of them 9-10 days, but many of them were doing 4 or 5 day sections of it.
Anyway, it's very scenic, easy to navigate and non-technical.
I researched and plotted a ~10 day route along the GR54 which takes in Bourg d'Oisan, Alp D'Huez etc.
Looked spectacular and I regret not doing it at the time. One or two .baggable' peaks along the way that might only require a modicum of scrambling as well (Aguile du Midi if memory serves me correctly).
Thanks one and all, plenty to get stuck into.Â
Kara****en ridge between Austria and Slovenia is also lovely. Several long distance paths in that area
Austria has ~1000 huts and lots of multiday or long distance paths joining them up. The choice is mind boggling
Tour des Ecrins? Way quieter and wilder than the TMB.
Traverse of the Belledonne?
Would you fancy some guiding by an english but fully qualified and legal to be working in France accompagnateur en montagne to help discover for example the local culture, the local food and wine, the landscapes, the history, the geology? If so feel free to get in touch!!
Tour des Ecrins
Is this the GR54? That's the one I was looking at.
I would have appreciated someone local at the time to handle the Refuge bookings for me, I could handle the initial request to book a bed and usually understand the reply, but there was always a worrying amount of supplementary chat in French that I didn't understand, never knew if I was missing something important! 😂
I can imagine the scenario! It's a fantastic trip. Truly authentic with a different feel to the northern alps. And yet also not completley southern alps. You will experience a change in vegetation and climate: the romanche valley in the north and the Valdaugemar in the south as well as the influence of the Durance over to the east. Way more varied than the TMB in so many ways.
September can be tricky with huts, some are winding up for the season. I can recommend the gr58 tour de queyras and the additional tour de viso loop. Second half of September would maybe mean winter rooms in the huts but a fantastic adventure, and stunning scenery. Nobody about etc.
The bottom of the gr5 and the variant to menton is beautiful.
One of the advantages of the Ecrin is the weather is generally better. @13floormonk Aiguille Du Midi is in mont blanc massif, I can only think of Aiguille Dibona in the Ecrin, but I don't think VWW will be going up that.
Tour of the Grand Combin, a circular route around the massif, on the Swiss - Italian border that takes in the Grand St Bernard pass and abbey. Access from Aosta or Martigny, either with good links to Geneva.Â
Also makes a really good bikepacking ride over 3-4 days.Â
@13floormonk Aiguille Du Midi is in mont blanc massif, I can only think of Aiguille Dibona in the Ecrin
D'oh! Aiguille de Venosc! Not sure where I got Aiguille Du Midi from...
Great peak that...bit of a bushwhack in the forest and easy to waste time....
Really? The GR54 crosses the Col du Vallon, I assumed you could follow the ridge up and down from there...
Edit: sorry, I've only ever researched it online, I have no place talking routes 😂
Have now stumbled across GR57, the Cerces massif and Mt Thabor which is ticking quite a lot of boxes. That's my evenings for the rest of this week down a rabbit hole of maps, timetables, etc!
You can go up from the col du Vallon and back down the same way: you're right in that it's fairly obvious. The 'classic' is to do the traverse and come down that way. All off the beaten path, certainly not on offical marked trails.
Not sure how many people doing the GR bother with it...they often have enough on their plate!