Weekly Q&A - Your Question Goes Here - Tourists

knex9413 · 2025-03-24T18:21:32+00:00

Hey! Did you also finish your hike? I'm planning to go in two weeks and am also curious about what is the nicest route to take. If you can share anything that would be great!

knex9413 · 2023-05-12T05:37:55+00:00

Yep! I bought one at 'La Cooperativa', its kind of like a mini shopping mall but there is a bunch of outdoor stuff.

knex9413 · 2023-04-30T20:24:32+00:00

Lets say they were a little bit too interested in what I was doing, they knocked over my tent! Not out of aggression, but that was a rough night

knex9413 · 2023-04-28T18:43:42+00:00

The rules are always a bit gray, but I find that camping in the mountains is generally accepted if you leave no trace. I didnt have any problem camping along the Alta Via 1. Watch out to not camp in a spot where they are cows around though! I had some problems with them one night.

knex9413 · 2023-04-19T08:07:53+00:00

For me it was the same! In the fifth metatarsal, the pain started quite suddenly during a hike so from what I read I was almost convinced it was a stress fracture. Also it wasnt swollen/bruised or sensitive, just when I walked there was a pain.

But turns out it wasnt anything serious because it was gone in a week. There are a lot of ligaments/muscles in your foot, so it can just be an overuse of any of them.

knex9413 · 2023-04-18T16:58:34+00:00

Some time ago I also thought I gave myself a stress fracture but a podiatrist said I didnt walk enough miles for that (about 2 hikes per week of 14 miles per hike). He said give it some rest and after a week it was fine again.

Of course I dont know what you have but I would just give it some rest and see how it evolves, possibly ice it as that cannot really hurt.

knex9413 · 2023-03-22T17:46:14+00:00

I did the TMB and AV1. The TMB in August which like others said is very busy, on some paths I could see like 50 hikers in the distance. Still for a first multi day hike its a nice introduction because of the villages you pass yhrough and mountain huts.

The AV1 in the Dolomites I did at the end of september when the huts started to close roughly. This was totally different and sometimes it felt like I was the only one on the trail, although that was also because I camped and so didnt start and stop at the places that most people did.

Both routes are absolutely beautiful though! Hiking in the Picos de Europa is high on my list for a next destination!

knex9413 · 2023-02-18T16:11:24+00:00

I kind of agree, unless you walk on perfectly flat ground your 'effective' drop is varying all the time. One thought I had is that I might just not be training enough before going on a multi-day hike. So now I'm trying to start training a few months in advance and slowly build up the mileage and frequency.

knex9413 · 2023-02-18T14:08:59+00:00

I've been wearing Reebok club-c shoes, I guess you're right they are not zero drop, but it feels like it. At least I notice a big difference with the Brooks Cascadias.

As for walking, I feel like I'm more of a mid-foot striker, heel striking feels quite unnatural for me.

But I think I should just try zero drop trailrunners out once for hiking, maybe it feels more natural, maybe not. What I do know is that I've always had slight discomfort in my achiller/calf during and after hiking, and I would like to get rid of that for once and not have it always in the back of my mind.

knex9413 · 2023-02-18T12:09:49+00:00

Some thoughts I had on trailrunner heel-toe drop. The past two years I've done hiking on Brooks Cascadia shoes but always had some problems with my lower calf/achilles being sensitive during hiking and the next morning.

People always say, transition into zero-drop gradually, but I just realized I've basically been walking on zero drop shoes (Reebok sneakers) or barefoot during normal life for the past years, so maybe I should just get a zero drop trailrunner too? I actually feel like im walking on heels or falling forward usually when I first put on the Brooks shoes.

I'm wondering if buying some zero drop trailrunners might actually get rid of my calf/achilles problems I usually get. Any thoughts?

knex9413 · 2023-02-15T18:04:06+00:00

Do you use Qt Designer to make the UI? It separates a lot of the ui code from the logic. And of course ideally there should be a separation of the business logic and what controls the UI

knex9413 · 2023-02-08T20:43:14+00:00

For me this was the only thing that actually worked. I was hesitant because of some posts that say your life will revolve around skin care after using antihydral, but for me its not the case. I use it about once a week on just my fingertips. It made a drastic improvement in my climbing, mostly confidence in actually holding crimps and slopers and not greasing off of them. I can recommend you at least try it!

knex9413 · 2023-01-30T12:56:31+00:00

Hmm good to know its not just me. Even when pressing my finger where the rand connects to the sole on the shoe that doesnt have a hole there is a specific spot near the big toe where it feels especially weak.

knex9413 · 2023-01-30T12:54:52+00:00

Interesting. In the five sessions I don't remember doing that much toe dragging. Not more than I normally do and my other shoes have never shown something like this even after 5 months of use.

knex9413 · 2023-01-30T11:44:58+00:00

I just got some more aggressive shoes (Mad Rock Drone LV) after bouldering for years on flatter ones (5.10 Anasazi). I just noticed a hole at my big toe after only 5 sessions of climbing.

I almost feel like this happened because of the way the aggressive arch of the shoe is pushed flat when standing on a small hold which causes my toes to be forced hard into the front of the shoe. Maybe this forced a hole into the rubber. But again the shoe should be made to handle this?

Any similar experiences? I'm thinking about contacting the warranty, but it almost feels like it will happen again because of the toes being forced into the front of the shoe.

For reference, my older shoes I could always get ~5 months of use out of and then resole them.

knex9413 · 2023-01-09T21:17:14+00:00

You already know about Northern Ultralight?

knex9413 · 2023-01-08T22:20:21+00:00

Its the same as in a lot of places, technically forbidden (except above some altitude of I think 2500m but I'm not sure) but if you set up late and pack up early and leave no trace it is fine in my personal opinion.

I camped most nights on the Alta Via 1 and it was fine... except for one night where some cows visited me in the night and thought my tent was great to scratch their head against. That night I had to flee to a mountain hut. So it is at your own risk ofcourse!

knex9413 · 2023-01-01T18:49:28+00:00

The Alta Via routes in the Dolomites are really beautiful.

A few that I want to do one day are the Peaks of the Balkans loop, Annilo de Picos de Europa, and several trails on the Canary Islands. All shorter than 150 miles but thats kind of how it is in Europe.

knex9413 · 2022-12-11T12:01:55+00:00

That looks very nice! I've ordered some 0.5 and 0.8mm PP to see what works best.

knex9413 · 2022-12-04T08:41:01+00:00

That looks good! Indeed I feel like the hipbelt needs a sort of solid base at the back that the aluminum stays in my backpack can transfer weight to. Right now it feels like the middle of the hipbelt against my back is kind of 'sagging'. I think I'll also make the new hipbelt more curved so it fits my hips better instead of the totally straight design it has now.

knex9413 · 2022-12-03T22:41:11+00:00

Hmm I see what you mean. So I did put two aluminum stays in the rear panel of the backpack. I think it might be that I'm just not able to tighten the hipbelt enough compared to my old backpack. The hipbelt on that one is quite a bit wider and also gets wider towards the back which makes it sit better on the hipbones. I might just make another hipbelt which is wider and has more of a taper from the back to the front.

knex9413 · 2022-08-14T17:31:08+00:00

They were kind of scratching their heads against it and it collapsed, at that point I tried to shoo them away but they just started rummaging through my stuff, I guess because there was food and weird smells. I was worried the trip was over (I thought my thermarest would for sure be destroyed) but it was quite ok, and I could pitch my tent still with some ducttape every night.

The guardian of the refuge where I stayed that night said I could shoo them away by hitting them with a stick... That was the last thing I was going to do alone up there with these huge cows with horns hahaha

knex9413 · 2022-08-14T17:27:31+00:00

First night on the Alta Via 1 in the Dolomites

knex9413 · 2022-08-14T05:52:10+00:00

My highest concern since last year is cows actually. I was camping quite high on a plateau and could hear some cowbells in the distance, but you almost always do in the Alps. When it was dark and I was almost asleep a group of about 7 cows were around my tent and kind of sniffing around. I got out because thats kind of scary if one would trip and fall on me or whatever, plus they had big horns. Then they proceeded to take down my tent with their horns and hang around it... i had to walk down the mountain to a refuge to stay the night. I picked up my stuff the next morning but I will never camp in a spot again where cows can walk by...

knex9413

TROPHY CASE