Where to Walk in January

January is two seasons at once

January is a poor month for the high Alps, for the Nepal teahouse trails, and for most of upland Britain. It is a strong month in two other bands. South of the equator it is midsummer, so Patagonia, the volcanic heart of New Zealand’s North Island and the top of Table Mountain are inside their walking season. In Israel the desert days have cooled down, and canyons that are dangerous in July are ordinary walks.

The routes below are on Waymark, and each one lists January inside its season. Distances, days and grades are the ones on the route pages. The full month list is on Where to walk in January. A trip that starts in late December and runs into the new year should be read next to Where to walk in December: the map barely changes, but the beds on the famous routes do.

Patagonia in the middle of summer

The W Trek, Torres del Paine

Four days, 75 km, about 2,500 m of ascent, graded hard. The line through the park is the one people mean by the W: the granite towers, the French Valley with its hanging glaciers, and the face of Grey Glacier. Waymark’s season is the Patagonian summer, roughly November to March, and the route page is plain about the nights: refuge beds need to be booked months ahead.

January sits in the middle of that summer. The days are long. Wind is part of the walk in every month, so a hard day is still a hard day. This is not a route to start because a free week appeared in the diary. The chain of nights is the trip. If the beds are gone, the month does not matter.

The W Trek, day by day

Laguna de los Tres, under Fitz Roy

One day, about 20 km out and back from El Chalten, with about 1,100 m of ascent and a last climb of about 400 m to the lagoon under Fitz Roy. Graded hard. The season is November to March, with December to February named as the peak, and strong wind possible all year.

January is that peak. If the spire is in cloud when you leave town, the walk still climbs to the lagoon, and the usual move is to try again the next morning rather than to declare the day wasted. El Chalten and Torres del Paine are both in southern Patagonia. A January flight that far should look at both walks, not pick one and ignore the bus or the extra night that would add the other.

Laguna de los Tres

A volcanic day, and a city mountain

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

One day, 19.4 km, about 765 m of ascent, graded hard. It crosses an active volcanic landscape, and the Emerald Lakes are the usual reason people go. Waymark lists the best months as November to April. Outside that window the same line is a winter mountaineering day, not a formed track.

January is midsummer on the North Island, so it sits inside the window. It is still one exposed day. Weather can close the crossing, there is no reliable water on the middle section of a route this open, and the grade is hard because of distance and weather, not because anyone is asking you to rope up. Read the day before you treat it as a scenic shuttle with a stroll in the middle.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Table Mountain via Platteklip Gorge

About 5 km and 780 m of ascent, graded hard because the gorge is steep and in the sun, not because it is long. The season is Cape Town’s summer and autumn, November to April, and the route page says to start early to beat the heat. The cable car is the usual way down, when it is running.

January is midsummer in Cape Town. Heat on the gorge is the hazard, not snow. Carry water, leave early, and do not assume the cable car will still be taking people down when you reach the top. Wind closes it. If your only plan is the ride down, you do not yet have a plan.

Platteklip Gorge

Israel, when the desert is the point

January is inside the cool season for the Negev and the Dead Sea shore. Waymark’s desert routes shut the door on midsummer for a reason the pages state in plain language: heat on the crater floor, in Ein Gedi and on the Snake Path is dangerous, not merely unpleasant. January is the half of the year those pages are written for.

Makhtesh Ramon

One to two days, about 18 km, about 400 m of ascent, graded moderate. The walk drops from the rim at Mitzpe Ramon to the prismatic columns of the Carpentry, the coloured sands of the Ardon valley and the spring at Ein Saharonim. The season is October to April, with spring and autumn called ideal.

January is cooler than those shoulder months, and the rim can be windy. It is still the right half of the year. Do not slide this walk into July because the flights were cheaper. The page is explicit about summer on the crater floor.

Makhtesh Ramon

Three shorter desert days

If you want the desert without a night on the crater floor, January also fits three shorter routes.

Masada by the Snake Path is about 4 km and 350 m, graded moderate, October to April. The point of the walk is to be on Herod’s fortress when the sun comes up, which means starting in the dark. The same page calls summer dangerously hot.

Ein Gedi is the easy day: about 4 km and 200 m of ascent, October to April, up a water-rich canyon to the David Waterfall, with a higher spring and cave if you continue. Start early even in January if you are going past the waterfall. Summer is the season to avoid, not a season to “just bring more water.”

Timna Park is a full day of about 10 km and 250 m, graded moderate, October to April, in the southern Arava: the Mushroom, the Arches, ancient copper mines and Solomon’s Pillars. It pairs with a Red Sea night in Eilat more naturally than with a Galilee trip. For the north of the country in early spring, wait for Where to walk in March.

Masada Snake Path, Ein Gedi and Timna Park.

What to leave for a different month

January is the wrong month for the Tour du Mont Blanc, whose listed season is mid-June to mid-September. It is the wrong month for Annapurna Base Camp if the high section above Deurali matters to you: the page says to avoid deep winter snow there, and names October to November and March to April instead. It is also the wrong month for the Inca Trail and the Salkantay Trek. Both name a dry season of May to September, and the Inca Trail page adds that the trail is closed every February, so a January plan that slips by a week can fall into a closure, not just into rain.

If your dates are early spring rather than midwinter, use March. If they are the week before this month, use the December piece. The mistake is to pick a famous name and hope the month will cooperate.