Teams of Sherpas, mountaineers from Nepal, have been at work building trail networks through Norways rugged northern wilds, increasingly popular with hikers.
The Sherpas first came at the invitation of Geirr Vetti, who realized that they had developed skills in building safe and stable paths through steep, difficult and sometimes unsteady territory. Four came at first, but 38 are now at work, and have built hundreds of kilometers of trails.
“I think we have laid 200-300 footpaths over the course of the ten years. That’s around 200-300 kilometres in paths,” Vetti told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. “I think it has been a positive development, but finding money for paths is not an easy business. We’ve had five good years, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it will be in future,” he said.
Good news; I certainly struggled with paths in Lofoten in summertime, mainly because most local access is in winter by skidoo. Even waterside trails are non existent as everyone uses boats for fishing !
Norway has a spike in hillwalking accidents in springtime among hikers desperate to get out in the hills; surely this will help them too.