Corsica GR20: The Toughest Trail in Europe
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- Опубліковано 17 гру 2017
- The GR20 is the most difficult hiking trail in Europe. Follow 6 Friendly hikers day by day through impressive mountain scenery. And enjoy the fun they have while hiking through it.
We hiked the trail mid June.
Music Used: Life of Riley by Kevin MacLeod
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Music Used: Silva Arsia by Krale
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Music Used: Icarus by Scott Buckley
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Music Used: Stars in her Skies by Scott Buckley
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Music Used: Tears of a Distant Sun by Scott Buckley
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Music Used: This will destroy us by Evan King
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Music Used: MDK shinespark by Evan King
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Music used: September Sky by Per Kiilstofte
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Music Used: The Quest by Whitesand
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Just amazing. Summer 2024 awaits!. Thank you for inspiring me. Cheers
Hi Ken, we're currently working on the movie for the southern section of the trail, which we hiked one year later. The scenery is just as great!. Best of luck with your 2024 adventure!
I hiked this trail in the 80s. Thank you for the video. I have very fond memories and want to return.
Thanks! Hiked it in the 80-ies? Must have been complete solitude I guess.
super leuk filmpje! mijn opa heeft altijd over zijn wandel avonturen in Frankrijk, dit geeft me wel een beter beeld van hoe het is wat je nodig hebt qua eten etc. bedankt voor het delen!
Thank you for sharing your journey on the GR20. You guys look like fun people to meet on the trail!
Thanks! You make us blush :-)
What a fantastic video!!! Thanks for sharing with the world!
Thanks Anders. Glad you enjoyed it so much. This video is actually part one of the GR20 hike, the northern section. We will be uploading the southern section around march 2022.
What a trail... would love to walk it someday. Thank you for sharing your experience
Hi. No problem, we like to share our memories of having fun in the outdoors. We hope you can hike this trail too someday. It's awesome. PS. this is just the northern part of the trail. Hopefully we will release our video of the southern part of the GR20 later this year. So stay tuned!
Enjoyed every bit of this vid.
Thanks!
My god, they all have balls of titanium. I am terrified of heights and these guys and gals are champs! Great vid and thank you so much for sharing it.
Hi Jourdain! Balls of titanium :-) I will tell them next time I see them! Thanks for the great response.
Can't decide just yet between this and the Haute Route (Cham to Zermatt) for my next adventure....water will certainly be more available on the latter!! Thanks for the vid!! :)
Have a great hike Mike! The Haute Route is more typical alpine meadows with great scenery. While the GR20 is more barren rock. The GR20 is also more difficult, a lot of time it's more adventurous hiking (or via ferrata / klettersteigen as it is known in Europe). You should defintely do both hikes, since the Haute Route is really beautiful. Also, add the Alta Via 1 or Alta via 2 to your list. Awesome classics in the Italian Dolomite mountains. See you on the trail :-)
for me one of the best hiking trails ever :) I love Corsica and Corsica Cola :) from Calvi to Conca :)
Hi Matic. We totally understand. We love this trail too. It's beautiful!
@22:25 I'm watching this with my brother. Our hearts shattering. ( Jk, we loved your diary)
Ad Astra thanks! We hope you will do it too! Its absolutely stunning out there. Maybe with your brother? Have fun in Corsica!
It's my dream. I started hiking recently, I'm a bit more than a beginner, so not the right moment for me, but I'm training hard, as I'd like to do it next summer :) thanks for this fantastic video.
Much appreciated! We think that with some training (hiking in hilly / mountainous terrain), you will be able to complete this trail next year. Just take your time to enjoy it, don't rush, you will get there.
I'm going to do the whole thing in two days time,can't wait
Wow. If you can do that it will be in the record books I think. We have read about trail runners that run the trail in one go. Hope you will make it. Awesome if you do!
@66420192 Hahaha thanks. That makes much more sense. We saw a lot of trailrunners on the rail. That was the first thing that cane to mind.
Beautiful video, really. It's one of my goal to do this trail. You sell it very well to be honest :)
Thanks! We had a lot of fun hiking it. Hope you will do it too. Although it was a tough trail, it was absolutely worth it.
Honestly, I think the CWT (Cape Wrath Trail) is more difficult than the GR20 but then again, who cares, as long as you enjoy the hike! Thx for the video!
Hi, yes we migght agree with you once we've done the CET too :-) We're thinking of doing it this or next year. The term "most difficult.." is not ours, but a general consensus within the hiking community. But we definitely agree with you, there are much harder trails out there.
Haha, you sleeping under the rock was epic. I am planning to do the trek next year too
😊 Thanks! Yes cowboy camping is always a lot of fun! Have fun on your trip. You will have an awesome time.
@@FriendlyHiker Thanks. How heavy was your rucksack?
@@AB-zx4qz We always go light weight. Our base weight (pack without food and water) is 7.5 kg. That includes tent, sleeping bag etc.
lovely video! was is it for a new vhike after the grand canyon trek ive had with some friends, you just gave me the best idea! th.-anks! did you meet a lot of people? it certainly looks like youve had the trail for yourselves :-) thanks for sharing!
Hi Gyorgy. Thanks! This video is the Northern section and that's what most people hike if they have only a week to go hiking. So Yes! You do meet A LOT of people. Especially around the huts, bergeries and campsites. It is one of the most famous hikes in Europe. But everybody is doing their own thing. So during the hike it doesn't feel crowded. Only at the start and end of the day at the huts and campsites. The southern section is also very beautifull and less crowded. If you want to do the whole gr20 then start from north to south. That's what most hikers do. You than walk with the flow insead of against it. PS. Grand Canyon hike sounds awesome 😊
@@FriendlyHiker thanks for the tip! i will try to put my GC hike up online. not very good at youtubeing... anyway, thanks again!
I absolutely need the places you slept in because I hate to camp in huts and such ...
Hi Ad. Unfortunately, within the national park you're only allowed to sleep near the huts and bergeries (mountain farm houses), at designated spots. There were only 2 times that we did not do it. The first time was where he girls slept under a big rock. In this case we skipped one hut during the hike because we thought we would make it to the next one. Which we didn't because the terrain was too difficult and we got tired and it was getting dark. So we had no choice to seek shelter.The second was outside the National park. We were cowboy camping before the last descent into town. all the other nights e stayed near a hut. Make sure you leave very early. Not just because of the heat, but also to get to the huts ans bergeries first, so you can pick a good (more secluded) spot.
Hello Andre!
Great video, many thanks for sharing that with us!
Did you manage to wild camp at all time? Did you have any issues with that?
Many thanks!
camicami33 Hi. Thanks! Well that is actually very difficult. Most days you walk on steep cliffs or along mountain sides. Your best bet is to stay near huts and bergeries. Huts always have places to camp with a tent.
camicami33 we are actually hiking the southern section of the GR20 right now. So sorry for the late response. We dont have service all the time
Andre, You are so lucky that you get to hike with good cooks (lol). I get so tire of eating Mountain House. Did you have to pack ten days food or was there a resupply on the way. I only got to day 3 . I have to go fix a busted water pipe. I will watch the rest tonight. I always enjoy your work. Capt. America
Hi Captain America! Thanks :-) Mountain house etc. are great for a quick weekend or so, but for long hikes, nahh. We like to eat something tasty so we usually dry the food ourselves. On Corsica we started with 3 days of food for the whole team. That includes breakfast to dinner plus everything in between. There are no towns along the Northern section, but there are small farms in the mountains that sell home made cheese and/or ham. There are also several mountain huts that you pass. They have some food available, but don't offer much variety. Usually only some pasta like spaghetti, cookies etc. You can eat at some huts too. But usually only for the people that stay in the huts, and you have to book that a very long time in advance. So after a couple of days we had to improvise a bit to make the food taste a bit better. Lian explains it in this video we just uploaded. ua-cam.com/video/45kba3TWh50/v-deo.html This is the longer full version of the bit we put in the Corsica movie.
Great vid. This gave me an idea of what to expect on the trail. Did you encounter any problems camping? I heard some rumours that you can only camp by the huts and have to pay.
Thanks!! Yes it is true. Within the National Park it is not allowed to camp anywhere, except at bergeries and mountain huts. And yes it's usually very crowded so people start very early tot get the best (flat) tent spot at the next official camp spot. We only slept on other places twice. 1st because we could not make it to the hut. To long a distance. 2nd. Just sleeping under the stars without a tent on the last day but that was outside the National Park.
Hi, thanks for posting this great film. Looks like a trip filled with great memories. I noticed that you all wore lightweight boots or trail shoes. Did you reach consensus about what footwear was best? Looking forward to watching more films of your adventures!
Thanks!! We are lightweight hikers. So most of us hike on trailrunners. But because of the rough mountainous terrain some opted for light weight boots (A class, as it's called in Europe)
@@FriendlyHiker Thanks for the response. On balance, do you think you made the right footwear choices? I am planning to take a turn on the GR20. I'm accustomed to single day hikes in heavy mountain boots and I love their rigidity for side-hilling, but.... worn over many days, I'm concerned I could expend a lot of energy just to have the perfect boots for a few sections whilst the rest of the time, feeling that my enjoyment is being impaired. Did you find at any time that you wished you had gone with stiffer boots? Thanks again!
@@lemmeinnowplz on A LOT of places it's more like a mountaineering trail. So scrambling on or between barren rocks. If you are not used to hike in this sort of terrain with trailrunners, than this is NOT the place to start trying. I advice you to stick to your current setup. The trail does have a lot of good hiking sections too. Sometimes even a whole day with a good trail. If you're comfortable with your current strong shoes, use them and experiment with lighter shoes on easier trails.
@@FriendlyHiker This is great advice, thank you very much! Please keep producing great videos :)
Absolutely outstanding video. Loved it
Some tough technical trekking in there. Looking to do it 2023. Have EBC March 2022 so will be a good amount of time on feet.
Myself & friends Completed the Welsh 3’000’s Snowdonia few weeks back & that was a tough one
Which date did you travel?
Was thinking the full route North to South
Hi Chris. We're glad you liked the video so much, thanks for the nice comment :-) You're adventure sounds like a nice one too. We've always wanted to go hiking in the Snowdonia region. Do you have a video on UA-cam of the trip you made? We're curios to see what it's like out there.
Regarding your question: we hiked the GR20 mid June. Later can be too warm to hike. Especially August and September can be very hot.
Hi, great video! Did you do much 'wild' camping? Did you find many places to do this or are you stuck to certain campsites... 😀
Hi Kevin. Thanks for the compliment! Due to the steepness of the terrain it's actually difficult to find good spots. And it's illegal to 'free camp' within the national park. Which is basically most of the island. Officially you have to camp at the huts or at some bergeries (farm houses). That's what we did. Make sure you leave really, REALLY early since there are a lot of people on the trail and the good spots (flat) are usually gone very quickly. Most people start early anyway to beat the heat. We did wild camping twice. Once we had to stop because we skipped a hut to try to get to the next. But it was too far so we had to make an emergency shelter under a rock. The other night was at the end of the trail. Just outside the park. Cowboy camping: no tent, just sleeping under the stars.
Great video (except for the spaghetti ahahahah)!!
I would like to know: how difficult and how many the thoughest part of the trail are?
Hi. Thanks. Yeah the spaghetti thing :-) That was fun indeed. Regarding the trail. The GR20 is regarded as one of the hardest trails in Europe. It used to be THE hardest because of the difficult climbs. But a couple of people died on the trail on those sections, so they closed them and the route is different now. Les dangerous and more doable for most hikers. Still, it’s very tough on many parts. You still have to climb and scramble a lot. Also, some of the ascends and descends are really steep. In all, there is not just one or two places that are difficult. There are actually a lot of them. That said, most of the trail is really well maintained and absolutely stunning!
what time of the year is this? and where did you get your water supply from? do you pass streams & lakes every day? we'll be there in August and am wondering whether streams will flow at that time of the year..
Hi. This is in june when temperatures are not too hot and there is still a lot of water half way up the mountains. We don't know what the water situation will be in august. But it is a dry place. So higher up the streams might be dry. Do what we always do. Stock up with water (full bottles and an extra 3l platypus) when the streams become small. You will always find water in the valleys and at the mountain huts. Meaning: You will always have a water source at least once a day. Have fun in august.
How did you manage to get all the food supplies? Did you carry it all by yourself or Did you buy it during your hiking?
Hi. Thanks for asking. Yes we did carry most of the food but used a hybrid system. We bought some stuff along the way. There is hardly any place to do a real good resupply. There are some small mountain farms along the way called Bergeries. They sell home made cheese, ham or sausages. Very basic though. There are also mountain huts along the way. They also sell stuff to hikers. But again very basic. The huts are mainly stocked for the people that sleep in them. So you will encounter a lot of people with just a day pack going from hut to hut. They sleep and eat there. Most huts are really basic. There are 2 huts along the way that have a good stock of food. There are also 2 places (1 small town and one ski resort) that you pass. They have a small stock of supplies. We read about it and decided to dry our own food so we could have really tasty meals along the way. It was worth the carrying. We only carried for 6 days of food. Only dinners and snacks. The rest we bought along the way.
Great video, thank you for sharing. I've done the GR20 twice and I'm not sure if you were aware but camping anywhere on the GR20 is strictly forbidden, I figured I would point this out for those who may watch your video and assume that your activities are permitted. Nevertheless, looks like you all had a great time!
Hi Graig, thanks for the compliment and for pointing this out. To make it clear for all the viewers, camping IS allowed near the huts and most bergeries. They have designated camping spots. That’s where we camped. Graig is right in saying that camping on not designated areas is forbidden. Although we camped on the official sites near huts, there was one time we had to make camp between 2 huts. We skipped a hut and thought we could make it to the next one. We underestimated the steepness and slowness of that part, so we had to make camp unwillingly. We also did sleep under the stars once. That was at the end, outside the National park border. No camping, just us in a sleeping bag on a sleeping pad, under a beautiful milky way.
It is allowed party-boy
Super video! De GR20 staat voor mij volgend jaar op de planning :) Hoe zijn jullie heen en weer gereisd?
Hoi Tomas. Bedankt :-) We vlogen vanaf Schiphol naar Ajaccio. Daarvandaan namen we de trein naar Vizzavone. Daar zijn wij gestart. Mocht je de hele route van noord naar zuid willen doen (2 weken), de trein naar Vizzavone gaat door naar het noorden. Daar 1x overstappen en je komt in de plaats Calvi. Neem vanaf daar de taxi of de bus naar Calenzana. Daar start de trail. Afgelopen jaar hebben we het zuidelijke deel gedaan. Vanaf het eindpunt van de hele gr20 (porto Vecchio) terug naar Ajaccio hebben we toen met een bus gedaan.
In which month and day you have been there please im going there in 18 July... thx and good video
Thanks. We were there mid june until the end of june. Mid July will be totally okay, but hotter. We advice to start early in the morning when it's cooler.
@@FriendlyHiker thank you very much for such a fast advice and reaction. I appreciate that ;-) have a nice next trek ;-) Im happy and cant wait for Corsica :D
Hoi wat een inspirerende video!! we vroegen ons af: wat voor water hebben jullie onderweg gedronken?
Hoi Tom. Bedankt voor het compliment. We hadden een waterfilter en een Steripen bij ons. We dronken het water, na filteren, uit de beekjes die je regelmatig tegen komt.
Friendly Hiker dankjewel voor de snelle reactie! Ik ga is kijken wat voor filters er op de markt zijn. Ik heb de camino del Norte gedaan en daar was overal water uit de kraan te krijgen. En nu opzoek naar de volgde uitdaging.
inspiring! I might do it in 2019 if I can get off my backside
It's a beautiful hike. You should definitely give it a try!
Hey Paul. I'll be doing it in April if you'd like to join
@@tjmeagher9604 that's a kind offer many thanks. I am working so no chance, plus I am 48 years old and getting fat :-) I am thinking of TDMB this summer as a sensible good target for getting a life again!
What time of year did you hike this route?
Hi Sarah. We started hiking on the 15th of June. The temperature is still not so hot and there is still enough water in the streams.
Uao! Which period have you been there?
Hi. We were there from mid June until the end of June.
Is this really a hard trail it looks beautiful but doesn't look that challenging
Hi. Well, to some degree you're right. We've hiked much more difficult trails ourselves outside of Europe. But here, in Europe, the trail system is extremely well maintained. So no wilderness hiking (basically, there is no wilderness anymore except for the far north), or other hard hikes. Just smooth trails with easy to follow markers. That said, in Europe, this trail is regarded as the toughest trail. It's because you have sections that are very steep and you can only climb them with steel cables, chains etc. Those sections are somewhere between hiking and basic mountain climbing (sections named: via ferrata / klettersteigen). It's therefore that they say it's not for a regular hiker, but only for really fit and experienced hikers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_ferrata
Ok ! Everybody says it's the thougest hike in Europa...That is not true...only the four first days are though...and the passage in the Cirque de la solitude...i found it easy...not very easy but easy...i hiked this summer on AV2 in the Dolomites : it is thougher and more technical that Gr20
Dear Migale, great that you have done the AV2. It's still on our list. We did the AV1, which was awesome and indeed tough. We guess yours was too. However, these trails are officially Via Ferrata (klettersteigen), and not regular hiking trails. Regarding the GR20. What is tough, tougher and toughest is always a debate. Within Europe the general consensus is that the GR20 is the toughest HIKING trail. We adopted that for our sub title. It's not specific our opinion. Like you, we have done tougher trails too. On the GR20, some sections are relative easy, but other sections border on via ferrata or a mountaineering trail with climbing on chains and rocks. Therefore toughest, in general a tough trail, certainly not recommended for beginners.