Up to date December 15, 2025 10:24AM
Catching a case of the winter climbing blues? You’re positively not alone.
Up right here within the Northern Hemisphere, grey skies and slick trails have formally arrived, making even probably the most keen hikers assume twice about lacing up their boots. As temperatures drop quick and daylight disappears, squeezing in just a few miles feels loads much less interesting than it did again in July. The season of chilly noses, frozen toes, and brief path home windows is settling in, whether or not we prefer it or not.
However there’s excellent news: Whereas we’re bracing for chilly fronts and icy switchbacks, the Southern Hemisphere is simply hitting its stride. Down south, late November via February means lengthy days, heat solar, and dry trails which can be virtually begging for hikers. For us northerners, which means an opportunity to do summer time climbing season once more.
If bundling up sounds lower than inspiring proper now, contemplate this your invitation to chase summer time down south as an alternative. We’ve rounded up six Southern Hemisphere locations value touring to, the place peak season is in full swing.
Abel Tasman Nationwide Park – New Zealand
Journey Kind: Via-hike
Path: Abel Tasman Coast Monitor
The golden seashores of the Abel Tasman Nationwide Park shoreline are tempting this time of 12 months.
Abel Tasman lays declare to New Zealand’s longest shoreline. Solar-soaked trails and sandy seashores shaded by mānuka and beech timber outline this tropical escape. Plus, the ocean stays just a few footsteps away for everytime you’re prepared for a dip.
The 37-mile point-to-point on the northern tip of the South Island strings collectively turquoise bays, lush forests, and tidal inlets that rival the Caribbean. Wildlife is one other massive promoting level for this path, particularly throughout New Zealand’s summer time months. Preserve a pointy eye for fur seals and kororā, also called “little blue penguins,” on the seashore and customary forest-dwelling birds like weka and kererū should you tackle this trek.
The Coast Monitor is a choose-your-own-adventure journey. You’ll be able to hike finish to finish or break the total route up into bite-size items. Hail a water taxi and hit probably the most sought-after sections of path in Abel Tasman Nationwide Park, together with Anchorage Bay and Bark Bay. Hikers have the choice to remain at a standard campsite or backcountry hut on the path. There are 19 complete tent websites and 4 huts alongside the Coast Monitor, all of which require reserving upfront.
Prime season for climbing the Coast Monitor runs from December via February—New Zealand’s summer time season—because of lengthy daylight, heat temps, and calm seas. Permits are required to hike the Abel Tasman Coast Monitor. The New Zealand Division of Conservation (DOC) web site is the one place the place you possibly can guide campsites and huts, all 12 months spherical. Professional tip: Ebook early, as this route is a well-liked one for its gorgeous views and serene trails.
Lion’s Head and Desk Mountain – South Africa
Journey Kind: Dayhike
Trails: Spiral Route, Chains Route, Platteklip Gorge, India Venster
A “Cape City Christmas” has a pleasant ring to it, particularly when climbing as much as sun-soaked summits appears like the perfect reward you could possibly give your self. No journey to South Africa’s second-largest is full with no hike to the highest of two iconic peaks: Lion’s Head and Desk Mountain. Each trails rise from the sting of the town with an abundance of lookout factors towards the Atlantic and the glittering curve of Camps Bay. The reward on the prime of each climbs is sweeping views of bustling city epicenter under and deep sapphire ocean extending to the horizon. Hit up Lion’s Head at some point and Desk Mountain the following so you possibly can savor the climbs, soak within the views, and hold the tempo simple on the best way up and down.
On the climb up Lion’s Head, wind your means up rocky switchbacks utilizing ladders and chains that can assist you scramble to a panorama view worthy of its fame. Frequent trails to the summit embody the Spiral Route, a relaxed, 3.5-mile climb that includes a gradual grade and minimal publicity. Extra adventurous hikers may go for the two.8-mile Chains Route with many extra ladders, steel rungs, and steeper scrambles that add to the adrenaline-filled climb.
To sort out Desk Mountain, hike the stone-walled ravine of Platteklip Gorge to the path’s well-known flat-top summit. Alongside the three.3-mile round-trip hike, hold your eyes peeled for Cape City’s native wildlife, like squirrelly rock hyrax sunbathing on the sandstone and the occasional peregrine falcon perched on the cliff edge. For a extra chill climbing day, you possibly can reap the benefits of the Desk Mountain Aerial Cableway for a scenic carry to the highest. Come Christmas, Desk Mountain lights up with seasonal shade, from the vivid pink disa orchids and sprawling patches of pink and purple hydrangeas, identified domestically as “Christmas flowers.”
Understand that these trails are well-liked. Goal for an extra-early begin to get pleasure from quieter paths, gorgeous dawn views, and an overlook above Cape City all to your self.
Mt. Batur – Indonesia
Journey Kind: Dayhike
Trails: Dawn Route, Toya Bungkah Loop, Caldera Rim Traverse
A visit to expertise the volcanic heat of the Pacific Ring of Hearth has its attraction in mid-winter. In northern Bali, lava-sculpted landscapes on Mt. Batur supply a naturally heated different to cold-season climbing. Right here, tropical warmth rises from the paths that wind to the highest of the mountain.
Mt. Batur is without doubt one of the most accessible volcanoes within the Pacific Ring of Hearth, providing hikers a fast however rewarding climb to a dawn perch. Streams of morning sunbeams gentle up the caldera in shades of orange and gold, revealing black lava fields and distant peaks because the island wakes under you. The climb is steep sufficient to really feel like a exercise, but mellow sufficient to sort out earlier than breakfast, which is strictly why dawn missions right here have turn into a ceremony of passage for visiting hikers.
Hikers can select the traditional 5-mile Dawn Route, the three.5-mile Toya Bungkah Loop that departs from Toya Bungkah village, or the extra demanding 6-mile Caldera Rim Traverse to hike to the height of Mt. Batur. Every route offers you a distinct angle on the volcano and two completely different calderas that make up the volcanic mountain. Whether or not you’re right here for the exercise or the pictures, there’s a line to the highest that matches your type.
Energetic lava flows are removed from this route, however you possibly can really feel the warmth of the volcano in different methods. Pausing to relaxation on a sun-warmed boulder takes on new which means if you notice the warmth is coming from deep contained in the mountain. Heat steam vents and sizzling rocks radiate from under as the bottom releases geothermal vitality. (Some guides even prepare dinner eggs within the geothermal steam.)
Cordillera Huayhuash – Peru
Journey Kind: Via-hike
Path: Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit
The Cordillera Huayhuash isn’t the place to go should you’re hoping to keep away from snow. In reality, you’ll doubtless crunch via patches of it most days as you’re employed your means between excessive passes, lots of which soar above 15,000 toes, together with Siulá and San Antonio. However that’s a part of the magic. This distant Andean circuit delivers a number of the greatest mountain views on the earth, with each climb revealing one other lineup of towering peaks, hanging glaciers, and turquoise lakes hidden in glacial basins.
The 80-mile-long Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit cuts via one of many Andes’ most dramatic subranges. The journey dishes out unimaginable views of large, mountainous monuments like Yerupajá, which is Peru’s second-highest mountain, the steep, icy faces of Siula Grande, and the jagged peaks of Jirishanca. Native communities defend this sacred mountain vary fiercely, because the Huayhuash stays way more distant and fewer developed than its northern sibling, the Cordillera Blanca, including to its wild and off-the-map attraction.
As a result of the Huayhuash sits near the equator, the tropical solar meets year-round ice and snow. This distinctive mixture implies that hikers will spot glaciers clinging to sheer rock faces whereas tenting in grassy valleys stuffed with flourishing wildflowers and grazing alpaca herds. Most hikers sort out the total circuit in eight to 12 days, tenting at designated websites alongside the loop path.
The summer time season can also be the wettest season on this mountain vary, which means you must count on extra rain and snow within the excessive alpine. The tradeoff is experiencing the Cordillera Huayhuash at its most gorgeous time of 12 months, with snow-draped peaks, lush inexperienced valleys, and moody skies. You should definitely rent a educated, native information and pack animals to assist handle gear and logistics, particularly should you’re new to true mountain adventures.
Namib-Naukluft Nationwide Park – Namibia
Journey Kind: Dayhike
Trails: Dune 45 and Huge Daddy
Dune climbing in Namibia most likely isn’t the very first thing that involves thoughts if you’re dreaming up a warm-weather winter escape. However a visit to the Namib Desert—the oldest desert on Earth—could be your new favourite method to ditch winter. To get there, fly into Hosea Kutako Worldwide Airport and make the scenic four- or five- hour drive into Namib-Naukluft Nationwide Park in southwest Africa. The journey is lengthy, however the reward is exploring iconic sand giants like Dune 45 and Huge Daddy.
Dune 45 is the right warm-up climb. Dawn is the perfect time to sort out the mile round-trip route; the dune exhibits off its magnificence below the glow of the morning solar. Enjoyable reality: It’s one of the photographed dunes on the earth because of its easy accessibility and razor-sharp ridge that splits dawn gentle and shadow. For an even bigger problem, climb Huge Daddy, which rises practically 1,000 toes excessive and dishes out a troublesome 3-mile climb alongside a knife-edge backbone of sand. From the highest, you possibly can look straight down into Deadvlei, a white clay pan with lifeless “skeleton timber” surrounded by fiery orange dunes.
Keep in mind: The desert performs by its personal guidelines. Begin earlier than dawn, pack extra water than you assume you want, put on solar safety, and keep away from climbing as soon as the noon warmth hits.
Tasman Peninsula – Tasmania
Journey Kind: Thruhike
Path: Three Capes Monitor
The distant wilderness of Tasmania’s southeastern shoreline makes a fairly compelling case for a winter escape. Referred to as Australia’s wilderness playground, Tasmania stands out for its distant trails and solitude in comparison with a number of the nation’s extra distinguished trails just like the Bibbulmun Monitor, Larapinta Path, and Australian Alps Strolling Monitor.
Take into account tackling the Three Capes Monitor should you’re looking for respite from winter climate in alternate for days stuffed with heat coastal breeze and solitude on the Tasman Peninsula. The three-night, four-day journey covers 30 miles of oceanside path and traverses towering dolerite cliffs that plunge straight into the Southern Ocean. You can too full the observe in fewer nights by combining sections into longer days. For all of the wild surroundings you’ll encounter, you’ll additionally wind alongside superbly crafted stone paths and boardwalks that flip rugged terrain into clean travels.
As an alternative of tenting, Three Capes Monitor hikers keep in three related public huts—Surveyors, Munro, and Retakunna. Each is architecturally smooth, stocked with bunkrooms and cooking areas, and constructed with enormous decks overlooking the shoreline. Overnights within the huts are included together with your allow and make the trek surprisingly snug after lengthy days touring throughout Tasmania’s wild cliffs.
The perfect time to hit the observe is December via February, when heat temps and prolonged daylight make the coastal surroundings shine. Permits are required and have to be reserved via Tasmania Parks and Wildlife. Be sure to order permits early: This path’s top-notch views, snug backcountry huts, and average mileage land this journey on the prime of many Tasmanian hikers’ bucket lists.
