Europe's High Points – summits of 50 European countries

• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Reviews
• Further Reading

This book is divided into 48 chapters covering the high points of 50 European countries. Each chapter contains basic information about the country (or countries) and its (their shared) high point, including how to get there, the difficulty of the route and equipment needed, relevant map and a detailed route description (or descriptions). A sketch map showing the route/s is provided for each high point. Indications are given of the time needed to complete each route, rather than the distance, as the latter is often misleading on mountainous terrain, and distance can be diffcult to gauge accurately for many of the more far-flung routes.

Although the routes are accompanied by sketch maps, whenever possible you should take a detailed topographical map of an area. Again, when possible, details of suitable maps are given. Unfortunately, due to the remote and little-visited nature of some of the places described, it may be extremely difficult to get your hands on a decent map. When this is the case, searches online can occasionally bring up useful maps. Maps for these areas are often outdated and inaccurate and a degree of caution is therefore required. We have tried to make the route descriptions as clear as possible in case you cannot find a decent map to assist your ascent and descent. Some good map suppliers include: Stanfords, tel: 0207 836 1321 www.stanfords.co.uk; Elstead Maps, tel: 01483 898099 www.elstead.co.uk; and The Map Shop, tel: 0800 085 4080 www.themapshop.co.uk.

Difficulty

Each route has been given a difficulty grade on an ascending scale from 1 to 5:

1. Easy tourist amble
2. Standard hike
3. Hike complicated by difficulties in any of the following areas: route-finding, time, altitude, ascent, scrambling
4. Certainly requires the protection of a rope or via ferrata kit. Likely to involve exposure to steep terrain and may involve climbing, crevasses, risk of avalanche or rockfall, very low temperatures and high altitude (in addition to the difficulties of a grade 3 hike).
5. Full alpine kit required. Prolonged exposure to high altitude, steep terrain, narrow ridges, climbing, crevasses, avalanche and risk of rockfall. Likely to involve very low temperatures. If severe weather is encountered retreat may prove extremely difficult.

These ratings are based on our own experiences on the mountains. They correspond to the difficulty of the primary routes we have described on the peaks and there may well be easier alternatives. For alpine ascents the official UIAA ratings are also included.