Comfortable Hiking: The Goal Is Not The Mountain Top

Comfortable Hiking: The Goal Is Not The Mountain Top - Mountains do play a key role in the new active holidays trend called “comfortable hiking” – but that doesn’t mean these hikes need to be challenging.

The world over, travel organisers are becoming increasingly specialised in catering to the precise needs of vacationers heading for the hills in Asia, South America, North Africa or Europe.

Be it in Nepal, Morocco, Chile or even Greenland, most trekking tourists are out to explore the breathtaking landscapes at their own pace and not out to set records.

That’s why Kundri Boehmer-Bauer of Hauser Excursions, a travel operator in Germany specialised in hiking tours, says Nepal is catering to the needs of more casual hikers with easier “comfort trekking” tours.

It’s particularly heartening that all the trekking routes in Nepal are open again after setbacks inflicted by several earthquakes, says Boehmer-Bauer.

Trekkers there are given the chance to spend several nights in the same mountain hostel from which they can explore a different trail every day.

After a long but not too exhausting hike, trekkers can relax in the evenings and, depending on the price category, enjoy some kind of treatment.

“On average, such trekking tours last 10 days,” Boehmer-Bauer says.

Of course, there are several different target groups in the trekking scene, ranging from families to ambitious sports-minded hikers to seniors.

One of the major trends is what Thomas Bucher, of the German Alpine Association, calls cabin hiking.

“In the past, the peak was the destination – today it’s the cabins,” he says.

There in the Alps, simple sleeping accommodation can be found in mountain pastures nearly everywhere.

And it’s not just in the summer months. Now, the winter season is seeing more and more snow trekking in the Alps, Bucher says.

“The alternative to skiing is now winter trekking,” using snow shoes and skis. And many of these winter hikers are sticking to the prepared ski runs and not going off on their own, he says.

“More and more people seek out the fitness aspects and don’t want to expose themselves to the danger of avalanches,” the DAV spokesman adds, explaining the new trend.

But now for the biggest surprise in the new trekking trends in Germany: According to the German Hiking Association, it’s not the high altitudes of the Alps that are the favourite places for hiking, but the medium-elevation mountains.

Why? Association spokesman Erik Neumayer says it’s the proximity of these mid-sized mountains to where people live.

“Most people want to go hiking somewhere close to home,” he says.