Winter holidays? Mmm, fun. But, if you’re planning more than a bit of ski and après ski fun and feel a bit more adventurous, here are some essential travel tips from the folks at Responsible Travel.
Training & preparation
Chloe Knott at Exodus:
“Always read the trip notes that accompany your trip, as they will give good guidance on how fit you need to be. We find that women tend to underestimate and men overestimate their abilities”.
Cross country skiing advice
Tom Wilkinson, cross country skiing expert from our supplier, Exodus:
“Don’t compare cross country skiing to downhill! It’s smooth, often peaceful, and a wonderful way of experiencing the landscape. Also, if you are a downhiller you often forget your heel is not attached particularly when doing a snowplough. It’s not about going 100 miles an hour. It is however more of a full cardio workout.”
Snowshoeing
Xania, co-founder of our relaxingly active holidays partner, WearActive:
“If you can hike, you can showshoe. Obviously the length of the hike and the ascents involved matter. But do some cardio in the gym before you come, get on a stairclimber or anything that takes you uphill, and you’ll be fine. Because we can tailor our walks to groups’ abilities, we can either take you on four-hour, 1,000m ascent trek, or a flat riverbed trek that would be just a little more strenuous than a short walk at home.”
Highlands walking
Andy Bateman, co-founder of our Scottish Highlands walking holidays partner, Scot Mountain Holidays:
“People often ask me what my favourite season is for walking in the Highlands and it would have to be winter, with the snow on the pine trees, and views that on clear days can go on forever. You can see Ben Nevis fifty miles away from the high Cairngorms. I know a lot of the other guides up here feel the same way.”
Sleeping in snowholes
Andy Bateman, co-founder of Scot Mountain Holidays, and expert guide:
“Snowholes are actually safer than a tent, as you’re in naturally sheltered areas. You could have a raging storm outside but the snow would muffle it completely. It’s about zero degrees but because there’s no wind chill factor, you’re actually warmer than you might be in a tent on an exposed hillside in summer.”
Wolf-tracking
Sally Guillaume, founder and director of our activity holiday partner Undiscovered Mountains:
“My husband and I run wolf-tracking holidays in the French Alps just two or three times each year. Timing is important in winter, when their enormous territory has been reduced by snowfall so you’re more likely to find them, and tracking becomes easier, but it’s not such heavy snow that you can’t get around easily.”
