The route was based on this: https://www.alpenverein.at/weitwanderer/weitwanderwege/norda... but I entered in Styria/Austria and headed West to Bregenz, from there I went South and taking a route back towards East towards the "Ortler Group". Time was August until end of October. I was quite lucky with the weather apart from 2 nights where I got quite a scare from the weather. Strong thunderstorms with wind and lightening ... so I had nowhere to escape - if I stay inside the forest I might get squashed by a falling tree branch. if I stay in the open field lightening might finish me off. Apart from these 2 nights it was mostly crystal clear skies (no need for a rain cover just a moskito net so I could watch the skies before falling asleep). Once a sangliere (wild pig) visited me because I had a sandwich in my tent. Lesson learned hang it up into the trees.
> Did you have a lot of outdoorsman experience before?
I grew up on the Swiss/Austrian border so mountains aren't that much of a big deal for me. My grand-dad was a hunter (so was my mum). My childhood I spent most of my time in the woods because it was country side where I grew up and the closes neighbor was 3km away. I would often be really bored as a kid and my dad's response to this was "get of the house and play if you're bored" and so I usually went to the woods (look for mushrooms), built tree-houses and even named trees (yes I was a lonely kid :D). I did travel (backpack) since I am 17 yro and been doing similar things in Sri Lanka and Australia, but not alone, not for that distance and with much younger legs :D It's not something that requires a lot of effort or skill though. The Alps, compared to the Appalachian trail are densely populated, and if you want you're always just 1 days hike away from civilization.
edit: initially the idea was to reach the Julian Alps but I had to give up since my slow tissue (knees and joints) were totally not making it any more. I could recover my muscles easily with just an extra day of rest. But the slow tissue never recovered. I went for a slow run in December and was still in pain. I think most of the damage I did during the first 2 weeks when I still carried all the weight on my back.
> Did you have a lot of outdoorsman experience before?
I grew up on the Swiss/Austrian border so mountains aren't that much of a big deal for me. My grand-dad was a hunter (so was my mum). My childhood I spent most of my time in the woods because it was country side where I grew up and the closes neighbor was 3km away. I would often be really bored as a kid and my dad's response to this was "get of the house and play if you're bored" and so I usually went to the woods (look for mushrooms), built tree-houses and even named trees (yes I was a lonely kid :D). I did travel (backpack) since I am 17 yro and been doing similar things in Sri Lanka and Australia, but not alone, not for that distance and with much younger legs :D It's not something that requires a lot of effort or skill though. The Alps, compared to the Appalachian trail are densely populated, and if you want you're always just 1 days hike away from civilization.
edit: initially the idea was to reach the Julian Alps but I had to give up since my slow tissue (knees and joints) were totally not making it any more. I could recover my muscles easily with just an extra day of rest. But the slow tissue never recovered. I went for a slow run in December and was still in pain. I think most of the damage I did during the first 2 weeks when I still carried all the weight on my back.