← Treksup

How to know you’re ready for a multi-day trek

On the West Highland Way, no single stage is the problem. The route research behind Treksup puts it plainly: “Eight consecutive days is the real difficulty here, not any single one.” That is why the app asks you questions before every route, set to that route’s hardest parts, and why it can honestly answer “not yet”. These are the checks, with what the app tells you when you fall short.

1. Your longest day

Tour du Mont Blanc days take 4 to 8 hours, most of them over rough ground. On Kungsleden, day two is 20 km. On the West Highland Way two stages are over 20 km, and the last one into Fort William is the longest.

What the app says when you fall short: “Walk a full day before committing to eleven of them.” On the West Highland Way: build up to comfortable 20 km days, or take the nine-day split that shortens the middle stages.

2. Days back to back

The route research keeps coming back to this one. On Kungsleden: “Seven days in a row is the real test, not any single one.”

The advice: “Do a two or three day trip first. Feet and shoulders fail on day three.” On the West Highland Way: “Do a two-day walk with an overnight pack first.”

3. The pack you will carry

For the Tour du Mont Blanc the app counts on 7 to 9 kg for refuge trekking and 13 kg or more for camping. On the Walker’s Haute Route it asks whether you can keep the pack under ten kilos for two weeks of hut nights: the huts give dinner, breakfast and blankets, so the pack is clothing, a liner and a day’s food.

The advice: “Train with the pack you will actually carry.” Weight changes balance, knees and speed.

4. Water

Ten of the 25 routes in Treksup ask whether you have walked a full day carrying all the water you needed, three litres or more. On the Tour du Mont Blanc, three of the last four days are tagged dry: long stretches with no reliable spring.

The advice: practise a long day on three litres, fill everything at the refuge, and treat a spring that is not marked reliable as a bonus, not a plan.

5. Weather: rain and storms

On the Escapardenne the question is simply whether you will still walk a full day in rain: the Ardennes are wet in every season and the paths are slick. The advice is to get real rain trousers and a shell, then walk a wet day at home on purpose.

Eight routes ask whether you have ever turned back or sat out a storm. On the Tour du Mont Blanc, heat thunderstorms build over the cols in the second half of the day, so the plan is to be over the col before early afternoon. When the sky builds, the refuge behind you is more often the right answer than the one ahead.

6. Fog and finding the way

The West Highland Way is well waymarked, but Rannoch Moor is featureless in mist and the mist swallows the markers. The advice: learn to follow a GPS track and carry the map before you cross it. Several other routes, from Mallorca to Madeira, ask the same question about their own fog.

7. Heights and exposed ground

On the Alta Via 1, several sections traverse ledges with fixed cables above long drops. The app is blunt about it: “If heights frighten you, walk the Tour du Mont Blanc first, it is far less exposed.”

8. Remoteness and rivers

On Kungsleden, mobile coverage is patchy and between the road heads the only way out is on foot. Never walked somewhere like that? The advice is to go with someone experienced the first time and leave your plan with the hut wardens.

Wading after rain is one of the biggest risks the Swedish Tourist Association names on that trail. Know the rules before you go: unbuckle the hip belt, face upstream, use your poles, and turn back when the water is above the knee. A bridge a kilometre away beats a crossing.

Swedish Tourist Association, Kungsleden

9. A night in a mountain hut

Shared dormitories, your own sleeping-bag liner, cash in some places, dinner at a set time and lights out early. Bring the liner, book dinner when you book the bed, and expect to share. On the Adlerweg the app puts it this way: “It is part of why people come.”

What “not yet” means

Falling short on one check does not mean you should stay home. It means the route needs one more thing first: a two-day walk with an overnight pack, a wet day on purpose, a day on three litres. Or a route that asks less of you: start with one of the seven that suit beginners, and read how hut booking works before you pick dates.

The readiness check, route by route

Every route in Treksup has its own readiness check, with these questions set to that route’s hardest days, and the advice when an answer falls short. On the seven free routes it is open in full, free on iPhone.

Get Treksup on the App Store

Questions

How fit do I need to be for a multi-day hike?

Fit enough for the route’s longest day, and then for several of them in a row. Walk a full day of that length first, then a two or three day trip: in the words of the route research, feet and shoulders fail on day three.

How heavy should my pack be for a hut-to-hut trek?

For refuge trekking on the Tour du Mont Blanc, Treksup counts on 7 to 9 kg; with camping kit, 13 kg or more. On the Walker’s Haute Route the aim is under ten kilos, because the huts provide dinner, breakfast and blankets.

How should I train for my first multi-day trek?

Walk one full day as long as the route’s longest stage, do a two or three day trip with an overnight pack, and train with the pack you will actually carry. Walk a wet day on purpose, and practise a long day on three litres of water.

What is the hardest part of a multi-day hike?

Usually not a single day but the accumulation. For the West Highland Way the route research says it directly: eight consecutive days is the real difficulty, not any single one.

What if I am scared of heights?

Pick a route without exposed sections. On the Alta Via 1 several sections have fixed cables above long drops; Treksup advises walking the Tour du Mont Blanc first, which is far less exposed.

Sources

The questions, the reasons and the advice in quotation marks come from the readiness checks in the Treksup route library, for the routes named. Counts are over the 25 routes in the app. Page updated 30 September 2026.