Trekking Abroad

Ten years ago people who liked the outdoors went 'hiking'. For reasons as yet unknown to fashion, this involved knee socks, stout walking sticks, unspeakably painful boots and lashings of tartan. Now the adventure sport revolution means that the kind of people who would once have thought twice before embarking on a stroll in the UK 's Lake District are rocking up to tour operators and demanding trips to Everest base camp or volcano summits in Guatemala. And quite right too. In the process trekking has become definitely cool; tartan has been ousted by Gore-tex, and where once only explorers and gap-year students could be found at the peak of Mount Kenya you are now just as likely to bump into that nice little old lady from the local shop.

Of course there is a down side to this. There is a kind of Adventure Arms War whereby if Dave down the road made it to K2 Base Camp, then John will look like a big softie unless he tromps up the Trango Tower. Hand in hand with that is the familiarity-breeds-contempt factor whereby destinations that were once reserved for hardcore explorers are now seen as simple holiday jaunts. I once met two blokes who saw no problem in yomping up Kilimanjaro dressed in T-shirts and shorts. They were happily complacent since lots of people had trekked up the mountain, and besides it was in Africa and therefore hot. Even the mention of the permanent glacier at the summit didn't make them think about the need for planning. 'It's called the Coca-Cola route,' one of them pointed out, 'how hard can it be?' As it happens, it was hard enough to take the lives of three people over the course of the next five days but fortunately our friends in the skimpy trousers made it through with nothing more serious than frozen knees and red faces. Just because others have done it doesn't take away the need for, or benefits of, extensive preparation.

Trekking tours are available the world over, from steppes to savannah, rock faces to rainforest, and are tailored to suit every ability, age group and degree of hardiness. My recommendation is undoubtedly to get out there and go for it, but be aware that there are certain factors that will not feature in even the most conscientious operator's descriptions.

Leaving out all the obvious stuff about your degree of physical fitness (just be honest with yourself) or the importance of jabs (take proper advice and remember to see it through - including finishing all courses of pills), the single greatest problem people have is that 'trekking' so often seems to mean 'uphill'. Nobody can really prepare you for altitude sickness because it varies so much from one person to the next. Fit people seem as likely to suffer as the unfit, and despite being told many times that fatties were more likely to suffer than thinnies personal experience suggests that it is pretty much totally random. So let's just imagine that once you're over 3000 m you're going to get chipolata fingers, random headaches and occasional nausea. Green tea may help, but by far the best way to counter altitude sickness is to take the time to acclimatise. Which means taking your time to go up and taking as many rest days as your body dictates. Unfortunately that is often at odds with the scheduling of tour operators and so rather than asking why a trek is so cheap, make sure that you ask how much time you will have to acclimatise on the way up. It would be a shame to make it to the summit only to have your view spoilt by a blinding headache and the overpowering urge to unleash last night's supper. The top of Kilimanjaro, the base camps of Everest and K2, and indeed high places the world over, are littered with people who spent a fortune on fancy shoes, saved a few shillings on the tour - and would now give their life savings to be back at sea level.

Take a decent pair of collapsible trekking poles with you - the most popular are made by Leki and are made of aluminium, weigh next to nothing and can be adjusted to the right height simply by twisting them. Trekking poles give you greater stability and, most importantly, take the weight off your legs and back by bringing the upper body into the equation. They increase comfort, endurance and make for excellent sword fights when you're celebrating having bagged that summit


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