Every year, our Expedition Officers organise at least one summer expedition. These trips venture all over Europe and even further afield and usually involve 1-2 weeks of backpacking, but will often include other activities such as scrambling, climbing, wild camping and sightseeing. The trips are welcome to any keen UBES members, although if there is a lot of interest, they have to be on a first-come-first-served basis.
The expeditions are a great chance to experience some of the most breathtaking mountainous areas outside of the UK with an excellent group of like-minded people. They are a great opportunity for members to gain skills in trip planning, experience some of the wilder off-the-beaten-track routes and challenge themselves. Our expeditions officers and members will also help you with kit list and what food to bring so don’t worry if you don’t have a lot of experience.
We are conscious that trips like these can be expensive for students, so our Expedition Officers aim to make trips affordable by looking for good value flights and accommodation for the group. UBES can help to provide a lot of the kit (for example tents and stoves) to help keep your kit costs down.
How to get involved
See below for a link to the 2024 slides, and feel free to ask our Exped officers or an Exped leader if you have any questions!
Click to access 2024-Summer-Exped-slides.pdf
In around March each year UBES holds an information evening briefing members on the upcoming committee positions, training opportunities and most importantly a presentation on the summer expeditions! At this point in the year, the plans will still be an outline. From then, the expedition officers will usually make a facebook group for all interested and give you more information on the trip itinerary as it is planned. The group will come to an agreement on the final details such as dates and flights. Once decided, it’s up to members to book flights themselves and arrange their travel.
In the time running up to the trip, the expedition officer will let you know a more detailed itinerary, the recommended kit and other useful information about what to expect.
Then all you need to do it count down the days until the trip! In addition to our official expeditions, many of our keen members organise their own mountaineering adventures. Check out our blog for some examples.
Here are the outlines of some of our trips:
Summer 2019
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dates: 1st – 25th July
Activities: Backpacking, wild camping
Cost: £250-350
Iceland
Dates: 26th August – 4th/6th September
Activities: Backpacking, camping, hot springs
Cost: £500
Summer 2018
French Pyrenees – GR20 trail
Dates: 13th June – 2nd July
Activities: Backpacking, wild camping
Cost: £400
Albania & Montenegro – Peaks of the Balkans
Dates: 5th – 23rd September
Activities: Backpacking, wild camping
Cost: £500
Summer 2017
Georgia – The Transcaucasian Trail
Dates: 18th June 2017 – 9th July 2017
Activities: Trekking, Wild Camping, Mountaineering, GPS data collection/research
Cost: £450-600
Expedition Report Intro Talk Expedition Video Blog
Slovakia – High Tatras
Dates: Late August – Early September
Activities: Trekking, Wild Camping
Cost: £500-600
Summer 2016
Norway – Lofoten Islands
Wild Camping in the Lofoten Islands. Photo — Adam Dawson
Activities: Hiking, Scrambling, Wild Camping, Swimming, Canoeing
Cost: approx. £350
Expedition Video Blog Intro Talk
Slovenia – Julian Alps
Dates: 1st -15th September 2016
Activities: Trekking, Scrambling
Cost: £450 (projected)
Summer 2015
Iceland – Fimmvörðuháls and Laugavegur Trails
Dates: June
Activities: Backpacking, scrambling, wild camping
Cost: £350 (estimated)
Summer 2014
Morocco – Atlas Mountains
Represent (Photo – Alex Waldron)
Dates: June
Activities: Backpacking, scrambling, wild camping
Cost: £350 (estimated)
Romania – Fagaras Mountains
Photo – Rob Wragge-Morley
Activities: Hiking, Trekking, Camping, Sightseeing
Summer 2013
Norway
Dates: 25th June – 6 July
Activities: Hiking, Trekking, Camping
Cost: £800 (estimated)
Corsica GR20
Activities: Hiking, Scrambling, Climbing!
Cost: Approximately £400
Summer 2012
What a Summer! See where we went in 2012
Iceland
Slovenia
A beautiful view
September 2012 saw ten highly enthusiastic ubesters travel to slovenia for 2 weeks of backpacking, scrambling, mountaineering in the julian alps
You must be logged in to post a comment.