crossing the alps, are there any trails?

[Steffen]

i'm looking at maybe going a trip later this year.
from looking at the map it looks like the most practical route would be:
biella, italy -> zermatt, switzerland -> sion, switzerland -> montreux, switzerland.

but if there are established trails that goes through some towns, that would be the best options.
does anybody know if such trails exist?

thanks.

 

[Robbi]

i think Hannibal knows of one

 

[Steffen]

hannibal who?

after some searching in google, i found that there are trails, many trails.
but the challenge is to find a map that has all the trails on it.

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

hannibal who?

after some searching in google, i found that there are trails, many trails.
but the challenge is to find a map that has all the trails on it.

He means this guy.

 

[scoops_uk]

Try googling GR routes. Especially the GR 5 which might be of interest. There are a lot of amazing long distance routes in the mountains of Europe.

http://www.grfive.com

Scoops

 

[garethw]

Hi there
There are several long distance hikes across the Alps. http://grande-traversee-alpes.com/route-des-grandes-alpes for example.
As previous post says check out the GR routes. You can get guide books that give you the info http://www.ffrandonnee.fr/boutique/le-catalogue-des-topo-guides.aspx

You can also download the GPX waypoints for most of the hikes around France if you Google the hike you want.
Helps to speak French though! Here's a good site with some bits in English though: http://www.gr-infos.com/gr-en.htm
cheers
Gareth

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

The Tour de Mont Blanc is good, a. week. Or the one that starts at Geneva and emds up going all the way south over the alps to Nice.

 

[Robbi]

you might like to have a look at this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hannibal-Crosses-The-Alps-ebook/dp/B009ZOKUYI/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1357295084&sr=8-6

 

[Steffen]

Helps to speak French though!

so you think my current french vocabulary of c'est la vie, menage a trois, laguiole, opinel, oui, baguette and camembert is not enough?


maybe a crash course wouldn't be a bad thing, depends on price, how long it is, and if i can find one at all.

 

[Steffen]

thanks for your inputs.
contrary to my first post, i might do a couple of smaller stretches, instead of crossing the alps.
time and confidence in my own abilities will tell.

apart from the hiking, i have thought about starting in nice, france and working my way into italy, switzerland, germany, austria.
and maybe, just maybe wrapping it up in amsterdam.

 

[salad]

You can walk from Germany through austria to italy on one trail that starts near me(takes about a week) , I cant remember the name of it but I will find for you. Or you could do part of the via alpina which is quite a long trail with some great places to visit along the way

http://www.via-alpina.org/en/page/1/the-via-alpina

 

[Deaner666]

As other posters have mentioned there are loads of Grand Randonees (GR) routes across the European alps. Many are circuits but many are linear and could probably be joined up to pass through the various areas you're interested in.

I've done the Tour du Mont Blanc which is an amazing journey round the Mont Blanc massif through France, Italy and Switzerland. You'd be hard pressed to walk it in a week, as someone else mentioned, unless you're super fit or cheating! It took me 11 days of walking over 14 days (a couple of stops due to bad weather).

I've also done the Walker's Haute Route (High Route) from Chamonix in France to Zermatt in Switzerland. This is longer and harder than the TMB but is a proper linear walk from the famous French ski valley, across the French speaking part of Switzerland and to the foot of the Matterhorn (think Toblerone) in the German speaking part of Switzerland.

I've done parts of the Tour of the Grands Combins in Switzerland / Italy and also plenty of walking / climbing from the Arolla valley in Switzerland to Argentiere in France and found it's quite easy to pick bits out of different GR routes and join them up to move from one location to another.

If you're comfortable crossing glaciers you've got even more options open to you, but you then have to carry crampons, axe and rope.

As for maps, you're probably going to need a few! But the Swiss maps in particular are so beautiful that I've never seen that as a bad thing

Good luck with your planning, it's half the fun!

-Dave

 

[salad]

You can walk from Germany through austria to italy on one trail that starts near me(takes about a week) , I cant remember the name of it but I will find for you. Or you could do part of the via alpina which is quite a long trail with some great places to visit along the way

http://www.via-alpina.org/en/page/1/the-via-alpina

Hi the route I was thinking of was a section of the E5 hiking route starting in Oberstdorf (Germany) then going through Austria to the italian border. This section is 225 km and will take about a week but if you want more than that then you could start anywhere you like on this trail

 

[Bury_Dave]

Try this book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Backpacking...1322/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1357575626&sr=8-9

VERY worthwhile.

Showell (Pip) Styles was the original lightweighter.