Crossing the Alps on foot (E5)

In September 2017, I made the spontaneous decision to hike across the Alps. The route would take me from Merano in Italy, along the E5 long-distance hiking trail through Austria, to Oberstdorf in Germany, covering nearly 150 km. So, I quickly packed a few essentials and off I went to Merano. When I arrived there, I could still enjoy mild summer temperatures and admire plenty of ripe apples. I took the bus to Moos and started my journey on the E5 trail with great motivation. Just before darkness fell, I found an entrance to a well in the middle of the forest, where I set up my camp for the night and managed to sleep well, despite the pump starting in the middle of the night. The next morning, I continued uphill through the valley, into a thick fog. At the top, the Italian/Austrian border was already shrouded in fog. A long descent followed until I reached Zwieselstein. There, I found a hut belonging to the German Alpine Club (DAV). It was very small, but also very familiar. After a short time, I got to know all the other people there and had wonderful conversations with a sense of being in a mountain hut. The next day, I continued with a seemingly endless ascent on a very steep gravel path through the Ötztal (the valley where Ötzi the Iceman was found), reaching an altitude of over 3000 m at the Pitztal Jöchl. There was even some snow on the path, which was not very well visible, and I felt relieved to have reached the highest point and to see the Braunschweiger Hütte within reach. Unfortunately, there was a celebration at the hut and there was no more sleeping space available for me. So, I descended further into the valley and spent the night in a weather shelter hut. The cold woke me up early and I continued downhill through the gentle Pitztal. After the tough ascent of the previous day, not only did I feel fatigued, but my shoes also started to fall apart more and more. The loose sole and an approaching storm front before the next ascent forced me to unfortunately abort the tour after about 70 km. In Jerzens, at the fire station, where I was surprised by an Austrian folk festival, I ended the hike with the promise to start here again.