Walking and Climbing

Hi,

Myself and a couple of friends walked (and camped) the Tour Du Mont Blanc last July. We thoroughly enjoyed it and are looking for ideas for a similar trip for next summer. Although very scenic and enjoyable, we found the TMB a little tame at times and so would ideally like to find something a bit more challenging for next July.

We would be camping and cooking for ourselves and our budget is fairly limited so it needs to be somewhere which can be reached without too much exense - this is why we are looking inside Europe. However if there are other destinations outside Europe which have reasonably-priced flights, we would certainly consider them. Ideally, we would like to try something outside of the Alps.

Areas which we had in mind include: Scandanavia, Morocco and the Caucus Mountains but I would welcome other ideas.

I look forward to any suggestions,

Thank you

I've just come back from the GR54 - comparable in time to walk to the TMB (which I did last year) but much better and a fair bit more demanding IMO; some pics here.

If you look at the FFRP site they have a lot of ideas - but none really regarding severity etc etc..

Many might say the GR20 is the 'hardest' walk in Europe - I disagree, it is a great walk with a few chains on it to protect some easy scrambling - but it is very, very busy. 

Derek Goffin who posts on here has done some stuff in Morocco that looks interesting to say the least - also on my tick list.

Thanks for ideas so far... I am looking into them and they are all very tempting!

I am also starting to think of the alps again- possibly something like the Haute Route (Chamonix to Zermatt) The time scale (12days) is perfect but it looks quite technically advanced so it would be very useful to hear of any experiences of it and get an idea of its difificulty level and what sort of equipment would be required.

Any more ideas for me to research would also be great.

If you are thinking of the Alps I can highly recommend Kev Reynolds excellent book - covers every region and suggest tours in each; its very good. There is enough for a decade or two in here.

The Walkers Haute Route is (so I hear) straightforward....if you include some of the glaciers, then not so - coincidentally just got a message from a Dutch guy I walked with for a day on the GR54 - he did the Walkers Haute Route last year and thought it easy in comparison with the GR54; I have not done it so cannot judge.

My experience of the WHR was that it was definitely more demanding than the TMB and quite a bit higher with longer days, but no worse than doing Munros day after day.

I'm planning to do most of it again, but starting from Verbier as many people seem to do.  That way you miss the relatively boring Champex-Mont Fort element, but get a few days in Zermatt within your 2 week trip.

You might consider the Dolomites north to south. there are quite a few options and the walking is through staggeringly beautiful scenery, (both literally and figuratively) and you can add in as many diffcult bits of via ferrata as you wish en route. The huts are generally excellent and there are plenty of small towns en route in which to re-stock and refresh.

You didn't say which month but if you,ve a choice I'd leave it till after August or before July. Being that bit further douth it gets scorching in the valleys.