Introducing Jonas de Jong, trail expert for Tour des Combins

We are excited to share that Jonas de Jong has joined The Hiking Club team as “Trail Expert, Tour des Combins”.

Originally from the Netherlands, Jonas moved to Switzerland in 2016 and his love for the mountains blossomed. He’s hiked and run through forests, hills, and mountains, completing multi-day tours like the Tour du Mont Blanc, Tour des Combins and Tour du Monte Rosa. Jonas has also ventured into high-altitude mountaineering, having conquered over 10 of the Alps' 4,000-meter peaks. In trail running, he’s become one of the fastest from his low-altitude homeland, participating in races like Sierre-Zinal and OCC of the famed UTMB circuit.

Jonas is training to become an International Mountain Leader and has become an expert in the Pennine Alps region. He has experience during all seasons - summer, winter and shoulder - and offers guiding services for those that are interested in tackling more technical routes or to support a private group. He has guided groups all across the alps and beyond in hiking, trail running and snowshoeing.

As the “Trail Expert, Tour des Combins”, Jonas will be the key point person on The Hiking Club team for this trail. Our planning app will not only include necessary data and information for hiking the main trail, but also the inclusion of alternative routes and highlights that provide a unique experience. He will also provide consulting services via our Expert Access and Expert Consultation packages, present workshops and webinars, answer customer support questions and lead marketing activities.

With Jonas’ expertise, we aim to bring the most comprehensive planning tool for the Tour des Combins to The Hiking Club community.

Introducing Nick Janzen, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer

Brendan, Susan and Nick, Co-Founders of The Hiking Club

We are excited to announce Nick Janzen, has officially joined The Hiking Club team as Co-Founder and Chief Technical Office (CTO).

Nick brings 12+ years GIS (Geographic Information System) experience from IBM, GSI, Tensing and Merkator, which is extremely valuable to mapping the complex, integrated trail networks of legendary multi-day trails. More importantly, he brings his passion of innovation to the hiking community.

Nick’s involvement with The Hiking Club began two and a half years ago when he reached out with an email subject ‘Can I Help?’. He shared our vision for how technology could improve the planning and preparation process, and knew that he had the skills to make a significant impact to the hiking community. Since then, Nick has been working nights and weekends with Brendan and Susan to build our planning app, the first purpose-built app for planning multi-day hikes.

Nick has been a fundamental part of The Hiking Club journey and our growth. We are excited that with the popularity of our planning app, we are able to bring Nick on full-time to deliver more innovation to the multi-day hiking space, accelerate our speed to launch new trails, and continue to provide a delightful customer experience.

We know that Nick is the right person for the role not only for his dedication and technical expertise, but also because he’s survived a ‘break the trail’ experience, brings his family on our crazy offsite trips, and shows resilience and enthusiasm in wild Scottish weather. We are inspired by his dedication to his work, his family and his outdoor endeavours, and can’t wait to see what we will do together on The Hiking Club.

- Brendan & Susan

Nick joining the 2022 Break The Trail hike on Tour du Mont Blanc

The Hiking Club first offsite in Switzerland

Bear crawling over Munros in strong winds along the West Highland Way

Families who hike together, stay together :)

The Hiking Club partners with ExoLabs to provide snow data from space

How AI, satellites, and Swiss innovation will keep thousands of self-guided hikers safe in the Alps this summer.

How much snow is still on the trail, and where exactly is it? The answers to these important questions are required for early-season hikers to assess the risk of their planned route and determine if any changes are necessary. Uncertainty around snow conditions can be costly, leading to both re-planning and risk-taking, negatively impacting what should otherwise be the incredible experience of hiking in the Alps.

For the past 5 years, The Hiking Club has been undertaking the task of providing the latest trail conditions through a human-led approach, a “Break The Trail” update from The Hiking Club team, and then ongoing daily trail reports from trail ambassadors from The Hiking Club community. Despite these programs giving self-guided hikers a comprehensive view of where the snow is on the trail at a point in time, these updates can quickly become obsolete. The Hiking Club team has been searching for a way to provide more regular snow updates in a format that is targeted and actionable.

Thanks to The Hiking Club’s new partnership with ExoLabs, we’ve found it. The Hiking Club has integrated ExoLabs’ estimated current snow depth and 48-hour new snow forecast layers into the map in their trip planning app. Snow uncertainty will be a thing of the past on famous multi-day trails in the Alps, like the Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route, and Alta Via 1 Dolomites.

The estimated current snow depth will be critical for hikers in June and July, to ensure they have the most up-to-date information on where the snow is located and its expected depth along the trails. The 48-hour new snow forecast will be valuable for hikers throughout the season as it will indicate where and how much snow is expected to fall along the trails for informed decisions.

Estimated current snow depth and 48-hour new snow forecast layers now available in The Hiking Club trip planning app.

These legendary trails attract self-guided adventurers from around the world who are often experienced in mountain hiking but have little or no experience in the Alps. Without having local knowledge over multiple seasons, applying general snow reports of an area to a hiking route is hard. Tour companies often use local guides to check trails and translate these reports for their clientele, but self-guided hikers who have planned their own trips don’t have access to this resource.

““It has never been easier for self-guided hikers to plan their own trips in the Alps, and by adding ExoLabs snow layers to our app, we will also help make the early season hiking experience safer than it has ever been before.””

— Brendan Jones, Co-Founder of The Hiking Club

ExoLabs has developed an innovative solution to show the expected current snow cover and snow depth on a map. Their truly novel approach feeds daily satellite imagery and weather station data, (including field readings and snow analysis), through complex models driven by modern machine-learning techniques to produce a snow distribution over the topography of the Alps and other mountain ranges worldwide. This snow projection has a 20-meter resolution and is updated daily.

The snow depth layer was validated with over 2 million data points from the Swiss Alps and achieved an average error of just 0.36 meters of snow depth. Given the high variability of snow depth distributions and the spatial resolution of 20 meters, this is considered a very accurate result. It will be a marked improvement on the single high-level snow report for a region that has previously been available to the hiking community.

Make informed route decisions based on estimated current snow depth data in The Hiking Club’s trip planning app.

The new snow layers are now available in The Hiking Club planning app, part of release V1.11, and will be the basis for our 2024 trail updates program during the early hiking season.

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About ExoLabs: Linked to the University of Zurich, Exolabs specializes in environmental monitoring. Using satellite data as well as weather and climate models, and modern machine learning techniques, ExoLabs is able to gain a comprehensive insight into the condition of our environment. This valuable information is then presented in a user-friendly format in order to facilitate informed and sustainable decision-making.

About The Hiking Club: The Hiking Club allows adventures to easily plan and safely navigate legendary trails in the Alps. With a trip planning app, GPS mobile maps, and up-to-date trail information, The Hiking Club has everything a self-guided hiker and trail runner needs for their inspiring and challenging journey.

2023 Walker's Haute Route Trail Updates

2023 WALKER’s haute route TRAIL UPDATES

Updated: June 22nd 2023

Knowing what the early season trail conditions are like is a really important part of a self guided hikers preparation. It helps with;

• Awareness of the challenges

• Appropriate gear choices

• Review of alternative routes/options

• Revision of plan (if necessary)

Our updates are kept up-to-date during the 2023 hiking season by The Hiking Club team and our 6 Trail Ambassadors.

Key trail updates include:

• Our Break The Trail hike

• Latest trail updates

• Gear recommendations

⛏ BRENDAN’S BREAK THE TRAIL HIKE

From May 30th to June 21st 2023, Brendan Jones, Founder of The Hiking Club, completed the Tour du Mont Blanc and key sections of the Walker’s Haute Route. He documented his trip extensively on social media, providing live accounts of snow conditions across the mountain passes, route detours, and challenging sections of trails.

Click on below image to see a summary of each daily trail update:

Chamonix > Verbier

Mont Fort Area Recce

Grande Dixence > Cabane de Prafleuri

Cabane de Prafleuri > Col des Roux

Arolla > Pas de Chevres

Col de Torrent + Col du Tsate

Moiry Glacier + Sorebois

Zinal > St Luc

“LIVE FROM THE ALPS” WEBCAST

On June 23rd, 2023, Brendan presented a one-hour “Live from the Alps” webcast to share an update of the current trail conditions, including snow conditions, route detours and gear recommendations. It also included a live Q&A session that covers everything from using microspikes, best local weather sources and alternate route choices.

Follow our dedicated WHR Instagram page to get latest updates

🥾 GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS

As of June 22nd, 2023: Microspikes and poles are recommended for anyone hiking in June and early July to support snow crossings. This gear can help with confidence when crossing steeper snowy slopes, even when the snow is not icy. Also, although the freezing level has been up over 3,000m for a few weeks now and is forecast to stay there for the next week if it does drop to the level where snow is still lying on the trail, then microspikes and poles will be essential - especially if staying at a place high on the mountain like Cabane de Prafleuri, Cabane Des Dix, or, Cabane de Moiry.

2023 Tour du Mont Blanc Trail Updates

2023 TOUR DU MONT BLANC TRAIL UPDATES

Updated: June 13th 2023

Knowing what the early season trail conditions are like is a really important part of a self guided hikers preparation. It helps with;

• Awareness of the challenges

• Appropriate gear choices

• Review of alternative routes/options

• Revision of plan (if necessary)

Our updates are kept up-to-date during the 2023 hiking season by The Hiking Club team and our 20+ Trail Ambassadors.

Key trail updates include:

• Our Break The Trail hike

• Latest trail updates

• Gear recommendations

⛏ BRENDAN’S BREAK THE TRAIL HIKE

From May 30th to June 2nd 2023, Brendan Jones, Founder of The Hiking Club, completed the Tour du Mont Blanc in 5 days. He documented his trip extensively on social media, providing live accounts of snow conditions across the key mountain passes and difficult sections of trails.

Click on below image to see each of the detailed daily trail updates:

On June 4th, 2023, Brendan presented a one hour “Live from the Alps” webcast to share an update of the current trail conditions including snow conditions, route detours and gear recommendation. It also includes a live Q&A session that covers everything from using microspikes, best local weather sources and alternate route choices. Watch the recording below.

Follow our dedicated TMB Instagram page to get latest updates

📸 LATEST IMAGES FROM THE TRAIL

We’ve created a highlights reel on Instagram where you can see the most current live updates from our 20+ trail ambassadors that complete the TMB between June > September.

SPECIFIC TRAIL UPDATES

3rd June, 2023: Bissonnay bridge now installed. 📸 Eliza, THC Trail Ambassador.

6th June, 2023: Bridge between Le Chapieux and Refuge Mottets not yet installed. 📸 Dean, THC Trail Ambassador

10th June, 2023: Tractor has cleared the road from Lex Blanche (below Rifugio Elisabetta). 📸 Raimond, THC Trail Ambassador

8th June, 2023: Mont Farve Spur still lots of snow that requires careful navigation. 📸 Marshall.

11th June, 2023: Col di Tricot now snow free! 📸 Aakash, THC Trail Ambassador.

12th June, 2023: Grand Col Ferret basically snow free on Italian side. Still lots of snow on Swiss side. 📸 Raimonds.

🥾 GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS

As of June 13th, 2023: Microspikes and poles are recommended for anyone hiking in June to support snow crossings. This gear can help with confidence when crossing steeper snowy slopes, even when the snow is soft. Also, although the freezing level has been up over 3,000m for a couple of weeks now and is forecast to stay there for the next week, if it does drop to the level where snow is still lying on the trail then microspikes and poles will be essential.

2023 Trail Updates

We complete a “Break The Trail” journey to provide the first trail report for the key legendary trails in the Alps - Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route and Tour of Monte Rosa. We share these updates with thousands of hikers that travel to the Alps each year for their epic bucket list hikes. This information is particularly valuable for early-season hikers to understand the latest snow conditions, route detours, and gear recommendations. This year, our program is bigger and better, giving you updates across multiple channels throughout June. Check it out!

Our 2023 TRAIL UPDATE PROGRAM

This year our program will consist of 3 key elements:

• Break The Trail updates via social, website and email

• Live Webcast from Chamonix and Zermatt

• 2023 Trail Ambassadors

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2023 Break the trail

Early season conditions can vary dramatically from year to year. June 2019 was a particularly çhallenging season with significant snow on high mountain passes throughout June

~ Col de la Seigne, Italy (Tour du Mont Blanc)

We will kick off our 2023 trail updates from Chamonix, starting at the end of May. Each day we will share updates including snow conditions, route detours, transport updates and gear recommendations. Our focus is on the conditions on the mountain passes, peaks and difficult trail sections, as this is where the most uncertainty exists.

Usually, we would do a continuous journey covering big daily distances and elevations. But this year, we’ve come up with a different format that still takes us to all the necessary places whilst keeping life fun and manageable with our 1 and 3 year old daughters! Therefore, we’ll be taking 3 weeks to complete all 3 trails. Tag teaming, taking transport, and trail running where needed to check out all the passes and key routes. No doubt it will be a comedy :)

Follow us on social to get real-time trail updates

• Tour du Mont Blanc: Instagram / Facebook

• Walker’s Haute Route: Instagram / Facebook

• Tour of Monte Rosa: Instagram / Facebook

live webcast: chamonix & zermatt

From the start of the Tour du Mont Blanc, to the end of the Walker’s Haute Route and the mid-point of the Tour of Monte Rosa. Join us for live trail updates!

This year, in addition to our daily trail updates on social media, we will be hosting free webcasts live from the Alps throughout June. Join us to learn about the latest trail updates, snow conditions, route detours (if any) and gear recommendations. We will share latest photos and descriptions of key mountain passes and difficult trail sections, for our 3 legendary trails - Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route and Tour of Monte Rosa.

WATCH Session 1: Sunday June 4th from Chamonix, France

WATCH Session 2: Friday June 23rd from Zermatt, Switzerland

trail ambassadors

Hiking in June or July? Keen to share updates from your epic journey with your fellow hikers? Come on board!

📷: Shout out to Sanna, one of our 2021 trail ambassadors.

UPDATE: APPLICATIONS CLOSED FOR 2023

35 ambassadors took part in our 2023 program.

What will you do?

As a trail ambassador, you will provide “live from the trail” content about trail conditions, route updates, and memorable experiences. This content will be shared with The Hiking Club community to keep fellow hikers up-to-date, including:

• Tour du Mont Blanc (Instagram)

• Walker’s Haute Route (Instagram)

• Tour of Monte Rosa (Instagram)

In return, you’ll receive exclusive swag to rock on all your hiking (and non-hiking!) adventures!

Who are we looking for?

Hikers who are completing one of the below trails during June and July 2023;

• Tour du Mont Blanc

• Walker’s Haute Route

• Tour of Monte Rosa

• Alta Via 1 (Dolomites)

What is the time commitment?

• Kick off session: To ensure we set you up for success, there will be a 30 min briefing session in May/June (depending on your start date)

• During your hike: Share your trail updates and photos via Whatsapp or email (max 15 mins per day)

Does this sound like you? Get it touch to find out more. We’re excited to bring you on board!

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Did you know that we’ve been doing Break The Trail since 2019? Read about how our project has evolved over this time.

2019 Early Season Conditions

In 2019, we completed 486 km / 302 mi, with over 30,000m of elevation gain and loss, over 18 hiking days.

There was significant snow on high mountain passes that resulted in detours, additional gear and the help of transport to complete the journey!

Read the full 2019 trip report

2020 EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS

June was a quiet month due to COVID-19 uncertainty and travel restrictions preventing many early season hikers from reaching the trail. This led to less information being shared online about the trail making it hard to get a sense for how rapidly the snow was melting and conditions improving.

We were able to enter France on 1st July (the day the borders opened!) and quickly got on the trails to check them out.

In general, the conditions were excellent but there was still a few sections with challenging snow cover and accommodation options that were closed for the season.

Read the full 2020 TMB trip report.

2021 EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS

Unfortunately COVID travel restrictions prevented us from travelling to the Alps this year 😭 With the help of our trail ambassadors (Sanna, Alia, Bruno, Alistair and Tui) we were still able to share trail updates to the community.

A cold and snowy May made for some difficult early-season hiking conditions. While a spell of warm weather in early June is causing the snow to rapidly melt, it will still take a few weeks before the trail is completely snow-free. The late snow and warm weather are also causing wet slide avalanches to come down throughout the Alps.

Read the full 2021 trip report for TMB and WHR.

2022 EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS

In general, the conditions for this time of year were exceptional. The amount and depth of snow were much less than in typical years. Most people were saying 4-6 weeks ahead of a typical season. Microspikes and poles are recommended for anyone hiking in June to support snow crossings. There were a number of disruptions to transport this season that may affect hikers, including: Le Tour gondola closed, Le Chable closed in June, and Grimentz cable car closed.

Read the full 2022 trip report.

2022 Recap: New tools, better support and a stronger community

Is it really 2023 already? 😲

2022 was a big year. We launched new trails, tested new products, grew the community to 10,000, and continued to support self-guided hikers to plan, prepare and complete their epic Alps adventures. Phew, time for a break 🎄🏝🥞

2022 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Apr: Launched hiking time calculator for Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route and Tour of Monte Rosa to help you quickly estimate how many days it would take you to hike one of the legendary trails

• May: Trail expert consultation via phone or email now available

• May/Jun: Break The Trail - Live trail updates to open the 2022 hiking season including; snow conditions, trail conditions, and transport schedules.

• Jun: 2022 Custom GPS map with everything you need to navigate your trail including extra details like the 2022 transport schedules for all the buses, gondolas, and trains along the way.

• Jul: Launched a series of 3-day Chamonix base camp hikes.

• Summer: Provided real-time trail updates, such as extreme weather, trail route changes, transport changes, and trail conditions.

• Aug: 60+ people signed up to test our new accommodation planning tool checker

• Oct: Released the 2023 accommodation booking status page to help people know when to start booking their accommodation.

• Oct: Partnership with Organic Maps as our preferred map app

What is in store for 2023?

Here are a few hints - a new planning app, new trails, and recruitment of more trail experts! Sign up to our newsletter below to keep updated.

Finding your people: a global hiking community

When I started walking the Camino de Santiago it didn’t take me long to realise I had found my people. In fact, only about 2km. I met Viviane, who like me, was on day one of this ancient pilgrimage trail. As we walked we enjoyed our new friendship that was fun and easy, having been instantly built on our shared love of a new adventure.

780km and 38 days later, I stood at the foot of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the end of my journey, and feeling … well, honestly, not much at all. It was simply because, for me, walking this camino was less about the destination or even the trail (although it is amazing, don’t get me wrong!); it was all about the incredible people, like Viviane, who walked alongside me. They are my people.

I continue to find these people on every hike I’ve done since. On trails through fields, farms, villages, cities, valleys and mountains, their company and their stories empower me.

It is for this reason, we at The Hiking Club are laying the foundations for a community of hikers and adventurers!

This is a place for all hikers to share a love of walking in the wild. Whether you’re wandering the hills of the South Downs, trekking through the mountains of the Swiss Alps, hiking the Timberline Trail, walking the Camino de Santiago (highly recommend!), or you’re exploring the trails of your local national park…we believe everyone has a hiking story to tell (big or small!) and that story has the power to inspire others.

What we stand for

The global hiking community is filled with adventurers, each as unique as the trails they walk. It is this tapestry of personal experiences bound by a shared love of spending time in the outdoors that is truly special and worth celebrating.

The aim of The Hiking Club community is to create a place of discovery where you can be inspired by, and connect with, other hikers.

Inspire. Be inspired by the stories of other hikers and discover new places to explore! Share your own story and the amazing places you’ve visited, what trails you’d recommend, and your own incredible experiences.

Connect. Find your people. This is the place to meet fellow hikers from around the world in between adventures. Ask a question, share an idea, or simply reach out to a group of people who come from all corners of the globe.

Grow. Through stories, experiences, tips and recommendations, we hope this community will encourage and motivate us to grow in confidence, expand our knowledge, and reach our hiking potential.

If you love hiking, love walking in nature and love the adventure of the trail, then we are your people!

Join The Hiking Club community - we can’t wait to meet you and hear your stories from the trail.

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Author: Greta Stevens
Greta discovered a love for multi-day hiking on the Camino de Santiago and has never looked back. She co-created the Modern Adventurers book with The Hiking Club before joining the team full time to help empower a global community of adventurers to walk the way they want in the wild!

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Who are we?

The Hiking Club empowers anyone to walk the way they want in the wild with personalised self-guided hiking experiences that are easy to find, quick to plan and simple to navigate.

We believe hiking experiences have the power to transform lives. With a growing range of personalised hikes that take into account your preferences, fitness and interests, we give you everything you need to explore the legendary trails of the world!