In the pipeline
Alpine Exploratory's exploration 2024-25

Alpine Exploratory exists as a system for exploration, systematised yet thoroughly human. This is the Exploratory system. For the moment we apply ourselves to the Alps, Scandinavia, the UK and Ireland.

News Winter 2025
We are settling into our scheme of adding 3 or 4 new routes per year, which is letting us realise our dream to explore more of the world. The more we see, the more there is to see. We keep our focus on the intense and extensive Alps and we gradually spread across Scandinavia, the UK and Ireland.

Italian Dolomites
First season 2025
Info and booking available provisionally October 2024
Pete Ellis walked in 2023
Simon Stevens visited in 2023
Steph Ward walked in September 2024

In July 2023, Pete walked the AV9 for Alpine Exploratory and supplied to us full Routecards and lots of great photos. We now offer the AV1, AV2 and AV9 in the Dolomites thus completing what we see as the 3 walking-compatible AVs of the full 10. It used to be 8 but they made 2 more! We'll have a page on this, with a map...

The tourist office in Belluno gave us a batch of guidebooks a few years ago, which got us thinking about these 10 Alte Vie. Or as it was then, 8. Some rule themselves out through lack of accommodation except bivouac huts (akin to bothies in the Scottish Highlands) or essential via ferrata sections. These three, however, the AV1, AV2 and AV9, are all viable to ordinary mortals.

New for 2025!
The Lofoten islands, Norway

Norway
First season 2025
Info and booking available provisionally October 2024
Simon Stevens walked in July 2022
Pete Ellis walked in July 2023
Nicky Mount walked in August 2024

Simon traveled through Lofoten in July 2022 with an eye on a long-distance trail. At that point we had in mind a week's walking from Svolvaer, island capital, to A in Lofoten, the village right at the end of everything. What we needed to investigate in detail were the start- and end-points of each day, the buses needed, and the accommodation along the route. After that visit we thought we would use 2 or 3 bases instead of moving on each night, as connections are sparse, and we then asked Pete to look at things more thouroughly.

Pete's visit gave us some good walks but wanted a further visit, in 2024, to tie up details and explore some more. Lofoten is a very exacting place, especially if people are without a car and rely on walks and buses to reach places. We see it as like the Hebrides on steroids: beautiful islands but with even more planning needed! Nicky Mount made our 2024 visit, thus, and brought back wonderful ideas and photos. Our first trips depart in Summer 2025 to this special island chain.

South East Switzerland
First season 2025
Info and booking available provisionally October 2024
Simon Stevens visited in May 2024
Pete Ellis walked in July 2024
Lou Stone walked in September 2024

We were all over the Engadine in Summer 2024, that enticing area of Switzerland (and the Canton known as Graubünden) that includes Davos and St Moritz. Team members Pete Ellis, Lou Stone and Simon Stevens each visited separately across Summer 2024. The two towns Davos and St Moritz are about 4 days apart by foot. As we are finding out, this makes an enticing mountain walk with one hut in the middle.

Planned for 2026

Munich to Venice, Austrian and Italian Alps

Austrian and Italian Alps
First season (provisionally) 2026
Pete Ellis walked in 2024
Ben Hughes walking in 2025

2024 was the time for us to cross the Alps North to South, and we will check over this route in 2025. This is the Munchen-Venedig, or Munich to Venice. It's also known as the Traumfpad, ' Dreamway'. There are various routes which achieve the objective. In Germany it's a big trek, a natural link over the mountains, a fixture in people's map of mountains in their minds.

The full Munich to Venice would be 4 weeks long, of which the first and last weeks are relatively flat, and of which the middle two weeks are the most interesting. Our route crosses the Adlerweg just South of Innsbruck and carries on to the Zillertal area outside Mayrhofen, then takes in some of the AV2 in the Dolomites before crossing to the AV1 to its finish near Belluno.

(Cross the Alps a little faster by trekking our Alta Via 1, flying into Munich and out of Venice. Take the train from Munich to Dobbiaco, hike the AV1 from Dobbiaco to Belluno, then take the bus from Belluno to Venice.)

The Arran Coastal Way, Scotland

Scottish Highlands
First season (provisionally) 2026
Pete Ellis and Ben Hughes walking in 2025

The Arran Coastal Way jumps out at us as a circuit of Arran, that island to the West of Glasgow. Easy to reach, and hilly, Arran is a popular holiday and walking destination. We expect the route to be 7 stages long. Pete and Ben will each walk this route in 2025, Pete in Spring and Ben in Summer.

Planned for 2027

The Alpe Adria, Slovenia and Italy

Slovenian and Italian Alps
First season (provisionally) 2027
Pete Ellis walking in 2025

The Alpe Adria in full is a 43-stage hike in the Eastern side of the Alps, through Austria, Slovenia and Italy. We plan to tackle 7 stages where the trail enters the Julian Alps of Slovenia and passes into Italy, a particularly attractive part to us.

The Lechweg, Austria and Germany

Austrian and German Alps
First season (provisionally) 2027
Pete Ellis walking in 2025

This route of about 9 stages and at a less challenging level of hiking, follows the river Lech through the Lechtal, in the West of Austria, and emerges in Germany at Füssen. Füssen is the home of the famous castle Neuschwanstein. Lech itself is a smart village, a bus ride from St Anton on the Adlerweg.

The Jura Crest Trail, Switzerland

Swiss Alps and Jura
First season (provisionally) 2027
Pete Ellis walking in 2025

The Jura Crest Trail is roughly 16 stages between Dielsdorf (outside Zurich) and Nyon (near Geneva). We'll start by walking the 8 stages between Vue des Alpes and Nyon. We anticipate a pan-Swiss trail that's less of a challenge than our Via Alpina and in an intriguing part of Switzerland as-yet unknown to Alpine Exploratory, perhaps more rolling and pastoral but still with hills.

The Maritime Alps, part of the GR52, France

Southern France
First season 2027
Info and booking available provisionally October 2026
Simon Stevens visited in June 2024
Pete Ellis walked in July 2024
Lucy Harvey walked in July 2024

In 2024 we visited the Maritime Alps, those hills within a week's walking or so to the North of Nice in the South of France. Pete Ellis, Lucy Harvey and Simon Stevens have all visited separately in June/July 2024, and we have a plan for how we'll offer this week-long partial-GR52 trail for 2027.

The Southern location gives us a mountains-to-the-sea adventure in warm heat. The scenic mountain railway runs from Turin to Ventimiglia in Italy; and the towns of Nice, Monaco and Menton are in reach at the end.

(One key hut will be closed in 2026 for a refit, and because of the weight of new trips we're introducing, we'll put this GR52 back to a 2027 start. Please ask us about it in the meantime!)

The not-so-far future...

... and knowing that the far future comes pretty soon.

The Jamtlandsfjällen circuit, near Åre, Sweden

To add to our coverage of Sweden, besides the Kungsleden, we are thinking of a trip near the famous ski town of Åre. Pronounced more like Ureh, Åre is on the train from Stockholm and the relatively nearby main town of Ostersund. This three-hut trek is well-known within Sweden.

The Julian Alps, Slovenia

To encourage our Julian Alps Hut-to-Hut in Slovenia, a lovely route in a charming area, we will look into variations of the route: we have two in mind, one to extend slightly the route and the other to bring in a new route between Bled and Bohinj. The town of Bled is easily reached from Ljubljana.

The full Kungsleden, Sweden

We offer the first week of the Kungsleden, and we are enticed by the full Kungsleden which carries on for about 3 more weeks. The whole Kungsleden would be 3-4 weeks of remote hiking in its full length from Abisko to Hemavan. Apart from at bigger stops, the accommodation is self-catered and tents.

The Laugavegur, Iceland

To the East of Reykjavik we find this 4-day trek from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk. The self-catering huts might limit the appeal of this route, but we hope that the volvanic landscapes will be enormously attractive. At this stage, we will just have a look, having been to Iceland for our 2019 team trip.

Please ask us for more information on any of our routes. Thank you.

Guided & self-guided holidays