Prep a Multi Day Hike - Expectation
Planning to my experience is key, especially when it comes to expectations of the individual group members. There is nothing more frustrating when expectations are not in-line or simply assumed. Tension will rise pretty fast in a group if somebody was expecting some though, long days of mountaineering while the other member of the group mainly joined to enjoy the tranquillity of an overnight camp by the bonfire.
So how do you approach expectation management?
As often, the key is communication. It is important to ensure an trustful and open culture in the group to enable an in-depth discussion on upcoming expectations and goals. What is important for each member and what would he/she like to “take away” from this experience (and also investment)? Once expectations are expressed by each member (and sometimes it is not easy for all the members to actually be clear themselves) it is time to bring these different views together and find a common denominator. This again requires discussions and exchange in the group. It is important here than members are trying to convince others of the value of their goals. Some negotiations can be helpful but they always have to stay “within boundaries”. The better we manage to align the goals and limitations of the group as such, the more pleasant and rewarding the trip is going to be. There has to be an agreement on the group goals and expectations in the end. If this can’t be achieved splitting the group or abandoning the trip idea might be the only option.
Write down the agreement
It may sound overly cautious but it does often make sense (especially if the group is larger) to write down the common goals and expectations. Also discuss limitations (e.g. no climbing sections) that the group would like to bring to the trip. These might be essential once we enter the route planning stage.
How did we approach this stage?
Unfortunately we had to run our initial planning stage as part of the Corona lockdown phase. Getting together physically was still difficult and we opted for a “virtual meeting”. Our planning was based on a collaboration toolkit we used to document especially our route options. We also used this platform to derive our common goals and expectations.
Our Discussions
It feels a bit weird to have theses discussions on what to expect and what everybody’s goal is for the trip. It suddenly becomes a lot more like “being in the office” and there is obviously some tention in the call. We usually are not too fond on talking about ours wishes and fears and confront each other with these thoughts. After about an hour of quite intense discussions we (I hope) had our final set together and documented.
What elements or dimensions did we discuss and finally note down?
Duration of our trip: Dates and time of start and latest finish
Region: Where do we want to go? We also agreed to prepare in detail two possible routes in different regions to be able to chose last minute based on weather forecast
Daily distance and elevation gain: How fit is the group and what are our aspirations
Weather: How tolerant are we towards the weather? Only go with a four day window of sunshine?
Food: Do we carry everything or should we aim for re-supplies? Do we go for mountain huts for lunch/dinner or even overnight?
Daily routine: When do we plan to get up, e.g. do we sleep-in or plan to raise and start hiking around a specific time?
Discontinuation: Are there situations or events that would force us to stop our hike?
Other elements such as do we want to write a blog or do a video report of the hike.
Recommendation
I’d like to highlight some of the outcomes that might be interesting for the further read or especially to other hikers being in a similar situation. The list is not complete but I think some elements are to specific to us as a group and of rather limited value to others.
What would I recommend (to this point) to others to set or talk about:
Be precise: Especially on dates and timing. There is nothing more annoying than having a bad start into the trip based on missed trains or mis-understandings on when and where to meet. Also when defining the region, be precise and make sure everybody has the same understanding also on “how to get there”.
Be reasonable: One of the key elements of a multi-day trip are the distances travelled per day. They will have a huge impact on every day and the level of comfort of the group. Not only cover horizontal but also vertical distance (i.e. gain in elevation). We also calculated the required power per day as a “clinical distance measure”, this is a measure where we multiply altitude gained by a factor of 10 and add the horizontal distance. So for example if we hike 12km and gain 1350m in altitude this equals a total of 25.5 power kilometres. The hiking distance per day should match the “weakest element” of the group. Calculate in some contingency, the hardest day is usually day 3.
Be optimistic: Weather is always a discussion and also accidents. Discuss it, plan for it - but thankfully their are (at least with us) rarely an event.
The Outcome (for us)
So what is in for us, what did we decide on? We stick to the 4 days or actually extended that to a certain degree. We can pack and leave on day 0 already shortly after noon. This will open up additional options or provide flexibility. We have aimed for 25-30km per day, with a usually early rise in the morning (7am-ish) and an early camp finding (around 5pm) at night. We also decided as a group that we aim for doing a short video documentary of the hike - let’s see, exciting.
This concludes the expectation section. Keep with us for the next upcoming episode on gear.