All of our adventures list an ‘Adventure Challenge Grade’ as a guide to the type of itinerary and level of challenge you can except on that particular tour.
The grade is designed to give you an overview of the overall level the adventure is aimed at, enabling you to quickly browse adventures that match your goals or preferences. More specific information about what is involved in each adventure can be found in the trip notes and itinerary, which will detail the daily trekking distances, elevation covered and any prerequisite fitness or experience requirements.
Adventure Challenge Grades – Trekking
All of our trekking itineraries require a reasonable level of fitness and will involve some degree of physical activity. They will all encompass most aspects of Adventure Travel and require your active participation. I.e. to see the trip highlights you will, in most cases, be going under your own steam! Our ‘easiest’ grade does not represent relaxing on a beach for a week, but our shortest and most comfortable treks. Even these require a reasonable level of fitness.
Grade
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Description
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Fitness Requirements
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Grade 1: Leisurely
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Designed for people who are active and healthy but want a relaxing and enjoyable walking holiday in relative comfort.
These types of trips are likely to involve taking guided day hikes to viewpoints and other places of interest. You will not need to carry more than a daypack. Many of the day routes will have options to shorten or skip certain sections and most trips will be in comfortable accommodation. |
All participants on tours at this level will need to:
- Be active and healthy
- Be able to walk comfortably for 3-6 hours a day on undulanting terrain.
If you are fit and healthy and exercise a few times a week you are unlikely to need a specific training plan for this grade of a trip. |
Grade 2: Fairly easy
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Not all treks need to be at high-altitude! This grade covers multi-day trekking itineraries that can be complete with a reasonable base fitness. They don’t take in huge elevation and do not occur at very high altitudes.
You might be camping or staying in mountain hut/teahouse type accommodation. |
All participants on tours at this level will need to:
- Be active and healthy
- Walk 4-6 hours on back to back days without undue discomfort.
If you do some regular walking and exercise you will likely have the required fitness levels for these types of trips. You can prepare for these treks by undertaking some regular walking in the build-up to your trip. For example, walking to work/walking the dog a few times a week and some longer walks with a day pack in the hills on the weekend. |
Grade 3: Moderate
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Grade 3 trips require a certain spirit of adventure and a reasonable level of fitness. There will be some tough days in your itinerary, as well as extra factors such as altitude, cold/heat and multiple days of sustained effort.
You may travel to areas where only basic accommodation is available such as teahouses, camping or shared dorm mountain huts. |
You don’t have to be able to run a marathon or 4-minute mile, but you do need a reasonable level of fitness and ability to walk long days for several days in a row. If you can walk 2 long days (6-8 hours) in the UK mountains over a weekend without undue discomfort you will likely have the required fitness for these treks. Many routes in this grade will not be walking this many hours per day, as they are at altitude and require a period of slow acclimatisation.
Getting some practice walking uphill (your local hill is best, but stair repetitions will also help) will prepare your legs for what’s to come. |
Grade 4: Challenging
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You will be undertaking multiple days of challenging trekking. Some of the days will be long and may involve a lot of up and down or could be over rough terrain. You may also face extra environmental factors such as high altitude, cold and heat which may prevent you from performing at your usual levels.
Even at this grade, speed is not usually a requirement, particularly if at altitude, as itineraries allow for slow and steady pace on even the most challenging treks. |
You need to be comfortable trekking full days (6-8 hours) for multiple days in a row. You will also benefit from your legs being used to walking up and down steep gradients. Getting walking in the UK hills on back-to-back days is a great way to prepare for this level of challenge. |
Grade 5: Strenuous
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These are our most challenging trekking itineraries, higher grades are reserved for mountaineering and snow-capped peaks.
Grade 5 treks take in all the challenges of grade 4, but usually have an extra hurdle such as a particularly long summit day/night, a technical section of the route requiring extra skills or experience or having to be self-supported (carrying your own gear) for some of the route. For example, the summit night on Kilimanjaro involves waking early in the morning, climbing to the summit and trekking back down to a lower camp and can take up to 15 hours. |
Similar to Grade 4, but you will need to have that extra stamina in reserve for the final push.
Ensuring you’ve undertaken some longer training days and being used to being on your feet all day is essential at this level. Short, higher intensity workouts (e.g. running/playing a sport/workout classes for 30 minutes, 3 times a week) will help increase your cardio and overall fitness levels.
Even Grade 5 treks are certainly attainable for most people who are willing to commit to a modest course of training. |
