I survived hundreds of kilometers hiking in the Alps, it was a very miserable trip and after a few days I send some gear back home since the temperatures were waaaay hotter then last year.
Next year I will do a similar trip, though during a colder season.
I still like the Alps.
What I learned is:
- I was just lucky on my last trip to the Alps
-Get at the very least 1 day of rest every week where you only walk a short distance at the maximum. If you feel like there is a risk of an injury coming up, just swallow your pride and get an additional rest day to be on the safer side.
Keep this in mind when booking your overnight stays.
-Check the weather report any time you rest to prevent dangerous situations
-Only carry a minimum of rain equipment since you will be forced to wait for the rain to end anyways.
75% of the time it's not worth risking it in the Alps to walk during rain since the weather channel can report light rain but there is still a very real chance for a sudden heavier rainfall to accure that might cause a rockslide.
In the summer since there are also sudden heat related storms in the mountains including hail and lightning.
-Always plan a shorter alternative route or a Plan B in case of bad weather for EVERY day. I now appreciate a more thorough approach to planing out trips of such magnitude,
I repeat: I was just lucky on my last trip to the Alps.
-Avoide walking for longer then 7 hours a day to still have some additional time to recover from shit going wrong or just to have more rest stops.
- Reapply sunscreen more often or bite the bullet and just be one of those people wearing long sleeves in the summer.
- The food in Austria got even more expensive since last year. As a person that can improvise I still got a cheap, healthy diet going on, but I recomend that people that need more variation when it comes to meals should carry 15% more money for food just to be safe.
-I should have been more diligent in following my own advice as well as the advice of anons that ended up or will end up in the guide.
Like I wrote it in the guide myself, nobody is immune making mistakes or forgetting obvious things, myself included.
On a hike ones blood flows primarily to the legs and not to the brain ...
So yeah, The next big guide rewrite will come on the 10th of August, where I will also read the posts I missed the past few weeks.