Mountain Adventure Holidays
How can 'fast packing' skills help you on your next walking holiday? What is fastpacking?
Well it's an interesting term! Is it how quickly you can pack your bag to leave the house on holiday? Or how fast you can stuff all your kit back into your rucksack in the morning to leave the hut (while your guide waits patiently outside)?
Almost a year ago, I embarked on an adventure and entered the world of trail running.
Tour Memories - from a Forgetful Traveller
Only Eight Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Eight to go!
I’ve been on many Tracks and Trails tours, this one was both unfamiliar and familiar - The Hallingdal Track in Norway.
Unfamiliar because the terrain, vastness and challenges were not like other trips; familiar because Lindsay, our tour guide, worked tirelessly to make it happen smoothly. No only was the countryside varied but the accommodation was too (one of the reasons why I love T&T); ranging from our first night in a top notch swanky hotel to sharing a country park with reindeer, muskox, wolves (howling) and school kids (behaving!).
After the festive cheer and indulgence, winter can be a tough time of year to remain active. Shorter days and cold weather can test our resolve for getting outdoors and exercising, even if we reap the rewards of this effort when the spring arrives.
Here are our 10 reasons why taking up a new winter activity or booking a winter holiday is a good idea and could be the perfect antidote to any hint of the winter blues.
A guide to choosing a suitable headtorch for running or hiking, to help light up those dark nights and see you safely through from dusk until dawn.
Whether you’re heading out for an evening run, got caught out as the sun set on a hike, or just finding your way to the campsite facilities, a decent headtorch will make all the difference. Advances in lighting capacity and battery technology now offer us a dazzling range to choose from, depending on our budget and needs. Simple models with minimal adjustment sit alongside more advanced models, offering programmable lighting modes, multiple beams, and even intelligent reactive lighting that economises battery power.
For many UK mountain lovers the annual Kendal Mountain Festival is a permanent fixture. It was a great pleasure this year for Tracks and Trails to be part of the action both as a guest speaker in the Mountain Running Session and in the Hood To Trail trail running film premiere.
A country full of surprises. Without a doubt Bulgaria has wonderful mountains offering some extraordinary opportunities for snowshoeing. With a reliable snowfall it is fast becoming a well-recognised destination for winter activities and is our new snowshoe trip for 2019.
Featuring in winter 2019 is Finland. We have two new cross country skiing trips in this truly Nordic country.
We have been surprised and amazed by the richness of the culture and history in Finland. The welcome has been warm and the Finnish people keen to share their knowledge and passion for their country. To sit round a lunchtime camp fire deep in a remote forest and listen to tales of goblins and suchlike, and stories of the folklore of the Sami people is a joy.
Aurora? What can I say about Aurora as she came to be known? Every night of the week around dinnertime somebody in the group would consult the “Aurora” app to check the probability of seeing the Aurora Borealis and when it would be best to layer up and venture out into the night. Such was the nightly conversation that THE Aurora, took on a female form and simply became known as ’she’ or Aurora. Regular question - when is Aurora coming out to play tonight? I’d not seen the Northern Lights before and truly they are astonishing - mesmerising, like watching flames in a fire but way colder and incredibly beautiful. I’ll definitely be going back to Äkäslompolo with T&T but first I have to tick off their Hallindgal trip in March. Bring it on!
On a glorious warm November day Montane Ambassador and director of Tracks and Trails, Julia Tregaskis-Allen, caught our partner Montane at the 2018 Kendal Mountain Film Festival.
#mymontane Share your story and you could win £150 of Montane kit! Every month Montane select one winner from entrants of all walks of life. To enter all you have to do is have an outdoor story to tell. It can be anything from; first summits to personal goals, celebrating a summit, enjoying a slog or relieved one is over! Can we make Decembers winner a Tracks and Trails entrant?
It was great to spend time with the Montane Team to discuss new kit, clothing and ventures for winter and summer 2019.
I joined a friendly group in Saas Grund for the start of the Tour de Monte Rosa. After a cloudy morning on the first day, we were hugely lucky to have almost perfect weather for the next eight days.
