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Trek readiness

What the trek asks against what you are doing now — the gap, named, and the weeks to close it.

days

Anything deliberate — gym, run, hills, swim. Not a walk to the shops.

hours

Continuous walking, including the way back. Be honest — the plan is built off this.

m

Total metres climbed. The Grouse Grind is about 850 m.

kg

Consecutive days of real walking. Recovering overnight is a separate skill from one big day.

weeks

Set 0 if there is no date yet.

Where you are now

52%On the way

You have 16 weeks and the gap wants about 20. That is a real shortfall — either the date moves, or the objective does.

Training frequency
60%5 days a week, one of them long.
Time on your feet
57%Build the long day toward 7 hours.
Ascent in a day
60%Work up to 1000 m of climbing in one day.
Carrying a load
75%Train with the pack you will actually carry — about 8 kg.
Back-to-back days
14%Get comfortable walking 7 days in a row.
Biggest single gap
Back-to-back daysGet comfortable walking 7 days in a row.
Highest point
4,130 mHandled by ascent rate and itinerary, not by training — see below

Worth knowing. Fitness does not protect you from altitude sickness, and there is good evidence that fit people ascend too fast because they can. Above 3,000 m, sleep no more than 500 m higher than the night before, take a rest day every 1,000 m, and treat a headache that does not clear as a reason to stop climbing. That is an itinerary decision, and no training plan substitutes for it.

Annapurna Base Camp TrekThe trek itself, run with people who have done the preparation with you first.

How this is worked out

Five capacities, weighted

Training frequency, longest day, ascent in a day, load carried and back-to-back days are each scored against what the objective demands. Ascent and consecutive days carry the most weight, because they are what separate a trek from a long walk.

The gap, not the average

The headline is an average, but the advice comes from the lowest score. A trek is limited by your weakest capacity — being strong on four of five does not carry you through the fifth on day six.

Why the weeks compound

Volume is added at about 10% a week, which is the rate most people tolerate without collecting an overuse injury. So doubling your longest day is about seven weeks, not a fortnight. The programme runs as long as the worst gap rather than the sum of them, because a long day carrying a pack trains three of these at once, plus two weeks to taper.

Altitude is not scored

Susceptibility to acute mountain sickness is not predicted by fitness, and cannot be trained for at sea level. It is governed by how fast you go up. Treating it as part of a fitness score would be the most misleading thing this page could do, so it is reported separately and never as something a training block fixes.

Other tools

  • Hike timeNaismith's rule, corrected for descent, pack and the stops nobody plans for.
  • Heart-rate training zonesFive zones from your own resting rate, not a formula that ignores your fitness.
  • Daily energy and proteinWhat a day actually costs you, and how much protein supports the training on top.
  • Body compositionBody fat from a tape measure, and the fat-free mass index that actually tracks your training.
  • One-rep maxYour working maximum as a range, from two formulas that disagree — plus the percentages to train off.
  • Interval timerTabata, EMOM, hill repeats — with sound, a wake lock, and a clock that stays right in your pocket.

What would you do with this?

That is the part worth talking through, and the first conversation is free and takes half an hour.

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