Stage 4 - Ortler 29 June - 3 July

The Ortler from the Payer Hut

From the vineyards of Bolzano, the route takes a gentle wooded ridge on large trails to Lana near Merano.  After this gentle interlude, it ascends 2000m to a long high ridge, culminating in the Hasenhorl, before descending all the way to the next valley.  After following the line of the valley it rises to a group of snowy covered mountains crowned by the lofty Vertainspitze,before descending once again to the valley at Solden.  The normal route on the 3905m Ortler follows, with a long up and down route parallel to the great Northen glaciers of the Ortler range, ending at Valdimentro near Bormio.

169km, 11,000m ascent, trails, mountaineering

Forerunners

I've just re-read Martin Conway's classic account of an end to end crossing of the Alps more than 100 years ago.  This one of my inspirations and I've added a page to this blog about Conway and my own journey.  There's some classic lines in the book and you can read a copy free online.

See my new page The Inspiration.

A definite plan

I reluctantly concluded that I needed to plan in quite some detail.  I've redrafted the route to stick to a high level course throughout, so abandoned just following Alte Via 1 and the GR5 and opted for my own route that keeps to the mountains as much as possible whilst taking in more summits.  This lengthens the whole thing a bit and definitely makes it moire demanding, but it keeps the character of the route fairly consistent. 

One thing is for sure, it won't go to plan!  On bad weather days I'll have to change it, but it gives a reasonable idea of where I'll be and when. 

The Schedule

The red sections indicate where I think there is a high likelihood of not completing and having to shorten the day/abandon peaks.  Yellow translates to a medium chance of having to change plans and green means I'm fairly confident of being able to press on regardless of weather and how I'm feeling.

Stage 3 - Dolomites 21 - 28 June

This section is one of the most spectacular of the whole trip, piecing together some of the best and most testing via ferrata in the Dolomites.  It will rely on some decent weather and not too much snow.  The almost constant exposure and dizzying heights will make for an amazing week if it all comes together.

Prospective summits include Sextner Rotwand, Paternkofel, Cadini, Punta Sorapis, Tofane di Dentro, Tofane di Mezzo, Tofane di Rozes, Punta Fanis Sud, Piz Boe, Plattkofel, Kesselkogel, Rosengarten
 206 km 15,000m ascent, a lot of via ferrata, trails,

Stage 2 - Karnische Alpen 17- 21 June

This is a very long natural ridge line marking the border of Italy and Austria.  It starts off gently along the wooded ridge, before turning rocky and offering some diversions up one or two very fine via ferrata.  It's a natural ridge line that pretty much follows the border all the way and stays high.  Peaks include Oisternig, the Gartnerkofel, Trogkofel, Hohe Warte, Steinwand,before the great ridge line of the Karnische Hohenweg with the Steinkarspitze, Gamskofel and Pfannspitze

A via ferrate goes up this face of the Hohe Warte

175 km, 11,700m ascent, mainly trails, some via ferrata

Stage 1 - Julian Alps 13 - 16 June

I'm really looking forward to Slovenia as I've not been before and it looks spectacularly beautiful.  The first two days are on trails, but weather permitting, I plan to link up several via ferrata to summit Triglav, Razor, Prisojnik, Jalovec and Mangart.  These look spectacular mountains and I'll need crampons in June.  If the weather plays ball this could be one of the highlights of the trip.

125km, 9600m ascent, trails and via ferrata

Route Overview

My route pretty much follows the border of Italy all the way, and is very loosely based on a combination of the Via Alpina red, blue and yellow routes.  However, I wanted to do a higher level route that combined much more challenging ground so this is what I came up with.  My full plan is very ambitious in that it takes in a lot of summits.  There's no way I'll do all these unless I have perfect weather over 2 months which is not exactly likely.  This is a dream scenario so I'll just do as much of it as I can, and accept that sometimes I'll need to follow a lower or less difficult alternative.

Its quite appealing to go from sea to sea, but the reality appeared to be that the first few days from Trieste would be rather dull dirt roads and woodland trails, so I've decided to start on the edge of the Alps proper at Cerkno.  You can get there by bus from Llubljana which is accessible by train from the UK, so I'll start there after a 2 day journey.

The route breaks down as:

Triglav

Julian Alps - Trails then via ferrata up spectacular Limestone mountains

Karnische Alps - Follows the border of Italy and Austria, initially on wooded hills, then Limestone mountains with some via ferrata

Dolomites - A challenging link up of as many high level via ferrata as I could find including several of the major summits and mountain groups such as the Sextner Rotwand, Sorapis, Tofana, Langkofel, Sella and Rosengarten.

The Ortler

South Tyrol - Gentler land from Bolzano to Merano and then back over 3000m+ mountains to the Ortler.

Ortler to Bernina to Disgrazia - Mountaineering linked by high Alpine paths.  Possible ascents of the giant Ortler, the Piz Palu - Piz Bernina traverse and Monte Disgrazia, followed by a high level traverse under the Piz Badile.

Lyskamm

Ticino to Monte Rosa - Some big days along trails and some 3000m+ summits through less well known but beautiful parts of Switzerland.

Roof of Switzerland - Monte Rosa peaks over Lyskamm and Breithorn.

High Italian passes and a few 3000m+ summits from Valtournenche to Courmayeur passing South of the Valais Alps and Mont Blanc ranges.

Monte Viso

Mont Blanc - Mont Blanc from Italy and traverse over Aiguille de Bionnasay.

Begins on the GR5 to the Vanoise National Park, but soon abandons this for a more high level and rough route taking in 3000m+ summits in the Vanoise, Queyras and Mercantour national parks to the Mediterranean including an ascent of Monte Viso.

The Plan

In 2015 I'll be 50.  I've been doing pretty much the same sort of things for quite a long time now, so I think I need a good long break.  Alison understands my wanderlust, so with her understanding, I'm planning a 2 month journey.  I've settled on a continuous traverse of the European Alps from end to end as I wanted something that I can immerse myself in, enjoy and I can get there on the train.  I'm guessing its about 1850 km, and I'm not trying to do it especially quickly.  Instead I want to experience the mountains properly - to be able to soak in the atmosphere and to climb some of the mountains rather than skirting round them.  So although I'll have lots of big and arduous days, they won't involve yomping along as fast as I can go.  

The plan is to leave around mid June, starting in Slovenia and ending at Monaco in mid August.  I'll be taking a lightweight tent, but I plan to use huts, especially for eating and I want to go pretty lightweight.  Although it will essentially be a solo venture, there's an open invitation for anyone to join me.  I'll be moving at a swift walking pace for most of it, keeping to the mountain tops as much as possible.  In the Eastern Alps I'll look to combine as many via ferrata as possible and if the weather permits, I'll attempt some bigger summits like the Piz Palu-Piz Bernina traverse, Monte Disgrazia, the Ortler, the Monte Rosa traverse, Mont Blanc and Monte Viso.  I'll rely on friends, old and new coming out to join me with the kit for the climbs, so if you fancy any of this, please do get in touch.