Learning to Walk in the Alps

Some years ago my wife, Vicki, and I hiked from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland via the Haute Route with a mountain guide. In the early part of the trip, Pierre, our guide, told me he was going to teach me to walk in the mountains. I looked puzzled, as I thought, “Give me a break!” Soon I was thankful for the lesson, however.

Pierre taught me to walk in as straight a line as possible. He taught us to avoid stepping on rocks and to always select the easiest set of steps on any part of a trail. He said to go slower when ascending steep grades and to pick up the pace on the flats and downhill sections of the trail. All this sounds like common sense, but moist people don’t attend to their walking when hiking.

I noticed immediately that I was conserving energy by using Pierre’s technique. I even seemed to be going faster and hiking more smoothly. I try to use this method whenever I am hiking on any terrain that is off road. Try it, and you will surprise yourself!