Short hikes, under 3 hours

How walking times are worked out

The times on signposts and on our pages are estimates rather than measurements, and they often follow the same rule, set out in Germany's DIN 33466 standard and used by the German Alpine Club: an average hiker covers 4 kilometres on the flat in an hour, or 300 metres of ascent, or 500 metres of descent, breaks excluded. This is why a short but steep walk, such as the climb to the bivouac on Monte Due Mani or to the Rifugio Rosalba, can take as long as a much longer stroll on level ground. It is also why signposts give times rather than distances, and it is worth comparing them with your own pace after the first few outings, since real times can be noticeably longer or shorter.

Short walks are ideal for an after-work sunset, provided you remember that part of the return will be in the dark. A head torch with charged batteries is essential even if you expect to be back with the last of the light, because dusk falls sooner in the woods than on the summit. Before setting off it helps to run through the trickier parts of the descent, and on Monte Barro, where the EE protected path is an alternative to the normal ascent, the normal route is the better way down after dark.