2020
A garden, a pandemic, a first step
When Denmark locked down, our founder Prasanna started walking laps in his garden. Not for fitness goals or Instagram. Just to stay sane, and to keep moving.
About
About HikingFriends
Self-guided hiking trips and a hiking community, run from Denmark.
Three friends, one mountain, and a lot of laps around a garden
In the spring of 2020, Prasanna Kumar Rajakumar was walking circles around his garden in Denmark. Everyone was. There was nowhere else to go, and walking was the one thing that had not been taken away. What surprised him was not the boredom of it. It was that he kept doing it after he did not have to.
By 2021 the circles had become 5-kilometre treks around Denmark, and they were not solitary any more. He would post where he was walking and who wanted to come, and people came: colleagues, neighbours, friends of friends, people who had never owned a pair of boots. Denmark is a flat country. That turned out not to matter. What people were coming for was four hours of conversation with someone walking beside them rather than sitting across from them.
Then, in 2023, a hiking trip to Switzerland. Prasanna came home different. Anyone who has stood in a valley and looked up at something that has been there for millions of years knows the feeling: a very specific, very inconvenient obsession. The flat trails around Copenhagen suddenly had a purpose, which was getting ready for something much bigger.
In 2024 that something was the Tour du Mont Blanc. He led a group of friends around the whole circuit: 164 kilometres, three countries, more than ten thousand metres of climbing, eleven days of getting up and doing it again. Vijay Balakrishnan came on that first trip and quickly became the reason it ran on time. He co-founded the company on the way home.
In 2025 Anbuselvan Sivaraju joined and brought the last piece. Anbu is the one who notices the person at the back who has gone quiet, and drops back to walk with them.
What we actually do
That is the whole company. Three people, one trail we know intimately, and a conviction that the difference between 'I would love to do that one day' and actually doing it is almost never fitness. It is logistics, and fear, and not knowing where you will sleep.
So we removed those. We book and pay for every bed, arrange every dinner, load the route onto your phone, train you for months before you fly, and answer a Danish phone number at any hour while you are out there.
We still run the free weekend hikes around Copenhagen, the day trips into Sweden, the family walks. That is not marketing. It is the same thing we have been doing since the garden, and Mont Blanc is just the long version of it.
How we got here
From lockdown laps around a garden to the full circuit around Mont Blanc.
- 2021
From solo walks to weekend friends
Those garden laps became 5 km routes through the Danish countryside. Friends started joining at weekends. No app, no plan, just "see you Saturday morning".
- 2023
Switzerland changed everything
A family trip to Leukerbad, and the first real mountain hike. Standing on those trails, surrounded by peaks that dwarfed everything back home, was the moment hiking stopped being exercise and became adventure.
- 2024
The Tour du Mont Blanc, part one
Months of research into routes, refuges, gear lists and training plans. Then the trail itself: the first half of the TMB with a small group of friends. Vijay joined, and his energy made the whole trip possible. 85 kilometres of alpine magic.
- 2025
Finishing what we started
Back on the trail to close the circuit. Anbuselvan joined the crew. New legs, same spirit. The second half was harder, wilder and more beautiful than we had imagined.
- 2026
Taking others with us
We spent hundreds of hours planning our own treks. Now we do it for other people: every bed booked, every dinner arranged, the route on your phone, and a Danish number that answers while you are out there.
How we work
Real experience, not marketing
Everything we tell you about this trail comes from having walked it. No hypothetical advice, no copied guidebook text.
Beginners welcome, always
We were beginners too, and recently. Our trips are built so your first multi-day trek can be your best one rather than your most stressful.
Honest about the hard parts
Dormitories, no lunch included, tourist tax, and days that climb 1,300 metres. We would rather you know now than find out on day two.
Community over commerce
The weekend hikes around Copenhagen and the day trips into Sweden are free, and always will be. They are where this started.
The team
Three people. Not a call centre.
Prasanna Kumar Rajakumar
Founder · 2020
Started with garden walks during lockdown. Now plans multi-day alpine treks. Believes everyone has a hiker inside them, and that most people simply have not found their trail yet.
Vijay Balakrishnan
Co-organiser · 2024
Joined for the 2024 TMB and never looked back. The kind of person who carries extra snacks for the whole group and somehow still hikes faster than everyone else.
Anbuselvan Sivaraju
Community builder · 2025
Brought fresh energy to the 2025 TMB completion. Passionate about making hiking accessible and social, because the best views are better when they are shared.
Frequently asked questions
What does self-guided actually mean? Am I alone out there?
It means no guide walks with your group. Everything else a guided trip provides, we still do: refuges and guesthouses booked and paid, breakfasts and dinners arranged, the route on your phone as GPS files and offline maps, transport guidance, and our Danish number 24/7. You walk at your own pace and stop where you like. The TMB is one of the busiest long-distance trails in Europe in season, so 'alone' in practice means 'in charge of your own day', not isolated.
Am I fit enough for this?
The honest test: can you walk 15 to 20 km over hilly terrain carrying 7 to 8 kg, and get up and do something similar the next day? If yes, the 4-day trip is realistic. The 7-day and 11-day trips need that repeated for a week or more. Nothing is technical, no ropes, no climbing. It is pure endurance. Our training programme starts months ahead precisely so you can build up rather than hope. Take the fitness test on this site, or tell us your current weekly walking and we will give you a straight answer.
What are the refuges like? Will I have my own room?
Mostly no, and we say this loudly because it surprises people. Mountain refuges are dormitories: bunks or mattress platforms shared with anywhere from 4 to 20 people, sometimes mixed. Bathrooms are shared, showers may be coin-operated, timed, or occasionally unavailable. You bring a sleeping bag liner, which most refuges require. Bring earplugs, genuinely. In exchange you get a hot dinner, a bed at 2,000 metres and a sunrise you would otherwise have to camp for. On the 11-day trip 2 nights are in a hotel; on the 7-day trip, 1 night.
What happens if weather closes a col?
It happens, most often early or late in the season, and it is planned for rather than panicked about. Every high col on the circuit has a lower valley alternative or a bus link between the same two villages, and your bed that night is booked at the destination either way, so a closed pass changes your route, not your accommodation. Your GPS files include the alternates. You call us, we advise on the day based on the actual forecast, and we notify the refuge if you will arrive late. We will not tell you to push over a pass in a storm to keep a schedule.
Do I need travel insurance?
Yes, and it is mandatory. You must show us your policy before departure. It needs to cover hiking and trekking up to at least 3,000 metres, mountain rescue and helicopter evacuation, and medical repatriation. Standard city-break travel insurance often excludes exactly these. Note that the EU health insurance card does not cover Switzerland, which is on the route, and does not cover mountain rescue anywhere. Check the wording, or send it to us and we will look at it with you.
What about my luggage, do I carry everything?
On the trail, yes: you carry your own pack, and a well-packed TMB bag is around 7 to 9 kg including water. Pack weight is the single most common reason people struggle, which is why the gear weight calculator on this site exists. If you would rather not carry it, luggage transfer between accommodations is available as an optional extra, though some refuges are not road-accessible.
When is the best time to go?
Late June through mid-September, which is when the refuges are open and the cols are clear of snow. July and August are the warmest and busiest. Early July can still hold snow on the highest passes. September gives you quieter trails, sharper light and more stable air, but shorter days and a real chance of an early cold snap.
Will I have phone signal?
Intermittently. You will have coverage in the valleys and villages, and often on the higher cols, but there are stretches with nothing. That is exactly why your maps are offline and downloaded before you leave: navigation does not need signal. Bring a power bank. Note that the route crosses into Switzerland, which is outside EU roaming for most Danish plans, so check with your operator before you go.
What if I cannot finish?
Then you stop, and it is not a failure. Almost every stage on the TMB has a bail-out: a valley path down, a bus, a cable car, a road head. Call us and we handle the rest, moving or cancelling the nights ahead where possible and sorting onward transport. Nobody is going to tell you to keep walking on an injury.