Energy Chews for Hiking: Fuelling Big Days on the Hill

Most hikers think about fuelling the way they think about waterproofs — something you sort out once you're already cold and wet. But a long day on the hills, especially with a loaded pack and a few thousand feet of ascent, burns through glycogen at a rate that surprises people who've never trained for endurance sport specifically. Get the carbohydrate wrong on a nine-hour ridge walk and you don't bonk in the dramatic, collapse-in-a-heap way a cyclist might on a climb; you just get slow, irritable, and prone to the kind of ankle-rolling mistakes that happen when concentration fades on rough ground.

This is where energy chews for hiking earn their place in a rucksack. They're not a replacement for a proper packed lunch, but they solve a specific problem that sandwiches and flapjack don't: getting usable carbohydrate into your system quickly, without having to stop, without needing much saliva to chew through in cold weather, and without the digestive load of a big meal on a steep ascent when blood flow is diverted to working muscles rather than your gut.

How Many Calories Does a Day in the Hills Actually Cost You?

Hiking is deceptive because the effort feels moderate compared with running or cycling, yet the calorie cost adds up over the kind of duration hillwalkers routinely put in. Walking on flat ground burns roughly 300–400 kcal per hour for a person of average build; add a loaded pack and hilly terrain and that climbs to 500–700 kcal per hour, with steep, technical ascents pushing towards the top of that range or beyond. A full day out — say eight hours covering a horseshoe ridge with 1,200 metres of ascent — can therefore cost 4,000–5,000 kcal, a good chunk of which needs to come from carbohydrate if you want to keep moving efficiently on the descent, when tired legs and poor concentration are what actually cause accidents.

The practical target most sports nutritionists land on for sustained hill days is 30–60g of carbohydrate per hour once you're past the two-hour mark, scaling up towards the higher end on the steepest, longest days. That's a modest amount compared with what a cyclist racing at threshold might take on, but it's still more than most walkers manage from food alone, particularly once appetite starts to fade on a long ascent.

Why Energy Chews for Hiking Beat a Sandwich on the Steep Bits

The honest answer is that energy chews for hiking aren't inherently better than real food — they're better suited to specific moments. On a gentle valley path, a flapjack and a flask of tea are hard to beat. On a steep, sustained ascent, or in the wind and rain near a summit, stopping to unwrap and eat a proper snack is awkward and often unwelcome; your hands are cold, your appetite has usually dipped (a well-documented effect of exertion and altitude redirecting blood away from the gut), and you don't want to lose the rhythm you've built on a climb.

A handful of pastilles solves this cleanly. They're eaten on the move, in a few seconds, without breaking stride or needing to dig through a pack. Because they're mostly simple sugars rather than fibre, fat or protein, they clear the stomach fast and get converted to usable glucose within 15–20 minutes — exactly when you need it, rather than the 45–60 minutes a heavier meal might take to digest at altitude and under load.

Carbs, Cold and Altitude: What Actually Changes on a Big Hill Day

Three things shift on a serious hillwalking day compared with training at sea level or on the flat. First, appetite suppression is real: exercise-induced reductions in ghrelin (the hunger hormone) mean many walkers simply don't feel like eating by hour four or five, even though their glycogen stores are depleting exactly as fast as if they had. Second, cold reduces the efficiency of digestion and can make chewing large, dense food unappealing — pastilles that soften and dissolve are easier to manage with numb fingers and a cold mouth than a frozen energy bar. Third, altitude above roughly 2,500 metres genuinely does suppress appetite further and can cause mild GI upset, which is one more reason many mountaineers switch from solid food to easily digestible carbohydrate sources as they climb higher.

Electrolytes matter too, though less dramatically than on a hot summer ultra. Sweat losses on a cool hill day are lower than on a baking road run, but a full day's exertion still depletes sodium, and cramping on the final descent is a common complaint among hillwalkers who've fuelled on water alone.

Building a Simple Hiking Fuelling Plan

You don't need a spreadsheet for this. A workable framework for a long day out looks like:

• Before you set off: a proper carbohydrate-rich breakfast — porridge, toast, whatever sits well with you.
• First two hours: water only is usually fine; your glycogen stores haven't been touched yet.
• From hour two onwards: aim for 30–60g of carbohydrate per hour, split between real food on easier sections and quick-acting chews on the steep or exposed parts.
• On the steepest ascent or final push to a summit: lean on energy chews specifically — they're the format least likely to make you stop or feel heavy on a climb.
• On the descent: keep taking carbohydrate even though the effort feels easier; this is where concentration lapses cause most trips and falls.

Carrying a small, resealable pack of pastilles rather than several loose gels also means less rubbish to manage with cold hands and less waste to carry off the hill — worth thinking about on multi-day routes or when you're trying to travel light.

What We Use at FTP Endurance Fuel

We built our energy pastilles with exactly this kind of long, variable-intensity day in mind. The Mixed Fruit Pastilles 1kg give a straightforward glucose-fructose carbohydrate hit that's easy to portion into small bags for a rucksack pocket, so you're not carrying excess packaging up a mountain. If you want a change of flavour, particularly on a multi-day trip, our Tart Cherry Pastilles 1kg give the same fast carbohydrate in a tart cherry flavour. If you want real Montmorency tart cherry, it's in Power Fluids (3g per serving). Not sure which suits your trips better? The Taster Pack lets you try both before committing to a bulk bag.

None of this needs to be complicated. Hillwalking is forgiving compared with racing — you've usually got time on your side — but a small pack of energy chews for hiking in your jacket pocket is cheap insurance against the slow, foggy-headed final few miles that ruin an otherwise brilliant day out. Pack more carbohydrate than you think you'll need, eat it before you feel hungry, and save the biggest push for when the ground gets steep. If you're planning a season of bigger days, our bundles are worth a look for working out what actually gets you through a full day on the hill.