How to Climb Mountains on a Budget

[@TraintoSummit]

Let us know your top tips for climbing mountains on a budget! P.S. On Patreon we'll make every future guide based on community requests. In these guides you'll find the GPS route, accommodations we stayed in, logistics (where we stayed, transport, etc), gear rental, our own advice, and much more.

[@hurkas2197]

Great guide! Also Vinted is a good source of getting some gear :) I got my hardshell,softshell jackets etc there are lot of hidden gems

[@francescodevittori6179]

As a Swiss local, the big one is getting fast/fit enough to climb in one day without staying in a hut. Still difficult for big objectives, but it's getting better...

[@projektyprzygodowe]

I love low budget travelling! Even if I don't have to do it, this way is just much more fun for me. I climbed Mr. Kazbek this year and the whole trip costed less than 500 euro, including flights from Poland to Georgia. This of course doesn't include all the gear, but for me, it was mostly Decathlon stuff, which is not that expensive. Last year, I want to Swiss Alps for few days to climb some 4000-ers, and all the costs were below 200 euro. Tatra Mountains are also extrealy cheap, when you know where to find a free parking.

[@jpk91]

Looking into Kazbek aswell. How did you plan the whole thing? As a solo climber w/ a guide or no guide w/ a partner? Where did you stay?

[@projektyprzygodowe]

@@jpk91 The planning is quite easy. Just fly to Georgia, take a bus to Stepantsminda, hike to Meteo base cam, acclimatize and wait for good weather for the summit push. We were 4 people team, without a guide. Carrying all our gear and food, sleeping in tents. After a successful climb, we spent 2 more nights in Stepantminda in some extreamlly cheap guesthose (about 8 euro per night for one person). I have a long video about all these things on my YT channel, but unfortunately, it's in Polish language.

[@jpk91]

@@projektyprzygodowe Thanks for the answer. Will check the video anyway :)

[@shrutibanait9241]

How did you manage few 4000ers in Swiss alps under 200? How did you plan it

[@projektyprzygodowe]

@@shrutibanait9241 1. Fuel, tolls and parking costs shared with 3 other people. 2. Most of the food taken from home country. 3. Sleeping only in tents (in that Swiss region, allowed above the tree line) 4. No guides, no huts, no cable cars, etc.

[@RichardHarbron]

Knowing when to hire or not to hire a guide can make a big difference, especially in the Alps. Join local clubs and build up a list of contacts for climbing partners. You can do a one day course in roping up and crevasse rescue and head out by yourselves on easy routes. Repair gear instead of buying new stuff. Boots can be re-soled. In Switzerland, consider investing in a half-fare card for public transport. It's expensive but very quickly pays for itself. Youth hostels are also really good in Switzerland. In France, the Illico Liberte card is also worth getting for reduced train costs.

[@brandoncohoon]

I usually just lurk and watch the videos but this is the perfect video for someone like me so I really appreciate you making it. The one comment I left before was on your Aconcagua sea to sea video about you inspiring me to start mountaineering and my first trip is in less than a week! Excited to go and if I one day make it to a real significant summit I’ll be giving you credit, thank you for documenting your own journeys!

[@SetForAdventures]

Great tips Cris 👌🏻 All the very best to you and Viv Simon 🤠👍

[@duncanbeard9460]

Excellent advice there! We recently returned from 2 weeks in Saas-Grund (which turned into nearly 3 due to flooding destroying the road). We thought going by train would be worth trying & looked cheap but it ended up costing a lot because due to health issues we did not book until 2 or 3 weeks before we went. Buying all valley food from CoOp or Denner midi-marts cost us £30-£40 per day. Camping for 2 people with two small tents was 48CHF per night! We did get 4 x 4000m mountains done though, not bad for old blokes. We joined AAC too.

[@TraintoSummit]

@@duncanbeard9460 I remember when that flooding went down, it was pretty intense. Well done on the 4K's, that sounds like a great mission to me 🔥

[@richardwaudby7338]

Wish I’d seen this a fortnight ago. Heading to Nepal too and ended up using BMC as all the ones I checked were similar priced or more, was shocked how much it was.

[@andresgpaul]

Also the Italian Alpine Club is quite good, around 45 euros for the year and similarly to the Austrian one, includes insurance and discounts on huts.

[@YnseSchaap]

7 days Zermatt. Stayed on the camp site for 7 franks a night. a lift pass for hikers around 250 franks, lasts 6 days. Shopping can be done at a cheap supermarket (you have to look for it though) Cheap beer at the wine store in front of the camp site or pizza and beer at The North Wall Bar 😁Coffee at huts is usually not that expensive. In total I spend 600 euros for a week (and that included the bus journey from Holland to Zermatt)

[@TraintoSummit]

@@YnseSchaap If you haven't been to Zermatt for that period you'd think €600 is crazy money, buts that's actually a bargain, well done 👊🏻

[@YnseSchaap]

@@TraintoSummit 😁I'm Dutch it's what we do 🤣

[@andrewgardener1668]

Great tips team

[@tobigehtraus]

Nice !

[@blueshadow3794]

So good! Keep climbing!

[@RobRoy2012]

Great information for beginners, Cris. Pity I am too old to take advantage of it. These peaks were awesome!

[@Goofy685]

I don't know how old you are or anything, I just wanted to say that the oldest person to climb Everest was 80 years old. And that's Everest! Even if you're "too old" for that, you're almost certainly not too old for something like Gran Paradiso or Bishorn :)

[@adamheathyt]

Good stuff guys, very helpful :)

[@vivcristea]

Definitely worn our B2s on many a flight before 😂

[@robfodder5575]

BMC but it is expensive but the yearly cover is better value. And its sport AND travel insurance . It did used to be better value but Im sure there was some incident with a celebrity which cost the underwriter a fortune (something like that). Anyway, isn't AAC limited rescue only , no travel insurance benefits ?? The whole insurance thing is a snake pit, to properly compare you need to read war and peace.

[@wishdarkstalkaz4050]

BMC take the p1ss...plus gotta pay to join them before they even sell you cover. Company “True Traveller” is very good...I’m using them for climbing in Nepal.

[@TraintoSummit]

@@wishdarkstalkaz4050 We had the same thought many times 😂

[@domen1154]

There's only so much you can save. It's alot better to increase income. Which is not easy, but it's the only long term solution.