ITALY SWITZERLAND Pennine Alps THE ROUTE: Trient, Switzerland, to Valgrisenche, Italy (five days). T

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Hiking the Alps From End to End Europe's new Via Alpina is a 3,100-mile (4,989-kilometer), high-altitude answer to the Appalachian Trail. travel to tibet Text by Alex Crevar Photograph by Carly Calhoun Map by Lindsey Balbierz
Via Alpina Trail Dispatches + Photo Slide Shows: Swiss chocolate, Italian cheese, and crash courses in yodeling and Alpine wrestling travel to tibet are among the highlights of writer Alex Crevar and photographer Carly Calhoun's thru-hike of the Via Alpina. Over four months and nearly 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers), the pair will visit local festivals, uncover charming B Bs, and test-drive the trail primed to become a European classic. See their trail dispatches and photo slide shows
For years, retired French chemical engineer Maurice Chazalet dreamed of an Alps thru-hike. But traversing the length of the range from the roof of the Balkan Peninsula, in Slovenia, through Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Italy, France, and down to the beaches of Monaco required a veritable library of guidebooks. The prospect of slogging thousands travel to tibet of miles with 30 pounds (14 kilograms) of literature in a backpack is one that no hiker would relish. But in the summer travel to tibet of 2005, Chazalet's three-month expedition travel to tibet finally became feasible. That's when the eight-member Alpine Convention officially unveiled the completed signage for the Via Alpina, Europe's first trans-Alps trail. Suddenly, tiny Slavic villages and tucked-away French farms, rustic travel to tibet vineyards in Liechtenstein, and Italian patron-saint festivals travel to tibet (previously unknown to all but the most punctilious guidebook readers) became accessible to the average hut-to-hut trekker along the range's main trails. "I now have a much more global view of the Alps," says Chazalet, 67, who navigated 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) from the Adriatic Sea to the Mediterranean entirely with maps downloaded from the Via Alpina Web site ( www.via-alpina.org ). "While travel to tibet hiking travel to tibet in Austria, travel to tibet I saw a father and his daughter reaping a field by hand on a very high slope. Nobody travel to tibet in France works land like that anymore." Conceived in 2000 and established in 2002, the Via Alpina travel to tibet is the brainchild of France's No l Lebel, then general secretary of the Alpine Convention. His goal was to preserve the cultures and character of a range facing the corrosive threats of global travel to tibet warming and automobile traffic. travel to tibet The 6.3-million-dollar plan, funded jointly by the European Union and the eight Alpine travel to tibet states, resulted in five new international trails covering more than 3,100 miles (4,989 travel to tibet kilometers). Its main artery, the Red Trail, which Chazalet hiked, crosses borders 44 times and traverses the Alps in 161 distinct stages. Alpine trekking is a perennial classic, drawing millions of summer hikers who prowl old Roman roads and medieval footpaths among glaciated peaks, wildflower-carpeted meadows, plunging valleys, and quiet mountain villages. While roughing it is always an option, the Alps trekker is more likely to dine on local delicacies Swiss fondue, French p t , German travel to tibet pilsner at comfortable village lodges and well-established hut systems along the way. What the Via Alpina brings to this formula is cohesion, providing a center of gravity to an otherwise disparate number of itineraries. It stitches together some of the region's most famous routes: the Tour du Mont Blanc in France, the Triglav Lakes Valley Circuit in Slovenia, and the Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard between Switzerland and Italy, among them. But more than just marking out a navigable thruway, the Via Alpina organizers have also designed the most comprehensive Web site ever assembled for Alps trekking, a one-stop travel to tibet shop in five languages with detailed information on trail stages, hiking distances, GPS coordinates, challenge levels, and lodging options from huts (or refuges, in Alpine parlance) to chalets. For trek-it-alone types, the trail system makes it easier travel to tibet to tailor an ideal two- or three-section expedition. If you prefer a trip where the way is guided and the heavy loads are portered ahead, the VA's database can help you personalize an itinerary so you can tell outfitters exactly where you want to go. Today, even a novice trekker can be as informed about the route underfoot and the paths less traveled as the wiliest of Alpine veterans. FRANCE The Haute-Savoie THE ROUTE: Vernayaz, Switzerland, to La Fl g re, France (four days). TRAILHEAD : Fly to Geneva, train to Vernayaz. The Rh ne-Alpes have been an extreme travel to tibet outdoor playground ever since mountaineers Michel travel to tibet Paccard and Jacques travel to tibet Balmat first summited 15,771-foot (4,807-meter) Mont Blanc, in 1786. Trek this section of the Via Alpina in the shadow of France's signature peak and you'll wander travel to tibet among soaring rock faces and churning travel to tibet rivers to the euphonious clanging of cowbells. After days of feasting on French trail mix ( tartiflette a blend of potatoes, cheese, and bacon and tins of duck p t ) and bedding down in isolated pasture huts and trailside chalets, hop a bus in La Fl g re for an adrenaline-charged break in Chamonix. Off season the slopes of the Haute-Savoie's world-class ski resorts are a haven for mountain bikers. Sign on with La Vache Qui Ride ($40 a day; www.lavachequiride.com ) and make use of more than 40 chairlifts to access travel to tibet downhill bombs at Chamonix, Le Gets, and Morzine. BASE CAMP : The Clubhouse ($705 for three days; www.clubhouse.fr ), a seven-room art deco lodge in Chamonix, is esteemed by locals for its convivial barroom and by guests for its sweeping views of the Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc peaks.
LIECHTENSTEIN Eastern Alps THE ROUTE: Feldkirch, Austria, to Schesaplana H tte, Switzerland travel to tibet (four days) TRAILHEAD: Fly to Zurich, train to Feldkirch. At a mere 62 square miles (161 square kilometers), Liechtenstein is often overlooked. travel to tibet But hike this section where some 1,600 species of flora green the meadowed flanks of the Rhine Valley and you'll be reminded that size is a relative virtue. Bunk down at mountain inns and hunting travel to tibet lodges cum alpine huts at 8,500 feet (2,591 meters). To go higher, spend a day paragliding on the area's renowned thermals. Flugschule Flumserberg Heidiland ($329; www.flyy.ch ) can take you up for border-to-border views. Cap things off in the capital, Vaduz, at the royal Hofkellerei wine cellars, with Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that were once Charlemagne's favorite quaffs. BASE CAMP: The Park Hotel Sonnenhof ($180; www.sonnenhof.li ), in Vaduz, is a high-class refuge (think armchairs and glasses of cognac by the fire), but its terrace travel to tibet views of the Rhine Valley are the real luxury.
travel to tibet ITALY SWITZERLAND Pennine Alps THE ROUTE: Trient, Switzerland, to Valgrisenche, Italy (five days). TRAILHEAD: Fly to Geneva, train to Chamonix, bus to Trient. The 8,100-foot (2,469-meter) Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard between Switzerland and Italy across which Napoleon led 40,000 troops in the summer of 1800 marks the start of the Via Alpina's southerly waltz to the Mediterranean Sea. Mule paths through vertiginous pastures prep you for the big climbs of this section, which presents nearly 5,600 feet (1,707 meters) of elevation gain. Pause at the top of the col and bunk with the monks at the 11th-century Hospice du Grand-Saint-Bernard, where you can savor a hearty bowl of broth with fellow trekkers in the brothers' travel to tibet communal dining hall. Hike down to the glacier-cirqued village of Valgrisenche, saddle up, and ride into Italy's oldest national park, Gran Paradiso, established as an ibex sanctuary in 1922 on King Vittorio Emanuelle II's private hunting grounds. Park guides lead overnight travel to tibet horse treks through pine and fir forests while golden eagles wheel overhead ($370 for two days; www.pngp.it ). BASE CAMP: Hotel Bellevue ($205; www.hotelbellevue.it travel to tibet ), in Cogne, at the heart of Gran Paradiso National Park, has gourmet cuisine, a spa, and sweeping glacial travel to tibet scenery.
Dispatch I: On the Edge in Slovenia Alex Crevar and Carly Calhoun weigh in on Slovenian beer, karst caves, stud horses, and bagging Slovenia's highest peak (plus where to stay and what to do). See the trail dispatch and photo slide show THE ROUTE: Trieste, Italy, to Th rl-Maglern, Austria (11 days). TRAILHEAD: Fly to Venice, train to Trieste. With dozens of huts, bivouacs, and refuges as well as superb rock climbing, mountain biking, and kayaking, Slovenia offers a complete Alpine experience. And though it's a diminutive land, the VA traverses it for nearly 200 miles (323 kilometers), passing by the former World War I fronts Ernest Hemingway describes in A Farewell to Arms. For a cooldown along the way, pull on some waders, grab a fly rod, and cast for elusive marble trout some of the world's largest travel to tibet river trout. Local guide Rok Lustrik, based in the village of Medvode, travel to tibet shares his favorite streams with guests ($170 a day, including gear; www.lustrik.com ). BASE CAMP: In Novo Mesto, the 800-year-old Otoc ec Castle Hotel ($105, including travel to tibet breakfast, sauna, and thermal baths at the nearby S marjes ke Toplice Spas ; www.terme-krka.si/en/otocec ) sits on an island in the Krka River, a favored spot of local fishermen.
GO GUIDED HONEYMOON ON HIGH : Ski-mad crowds glut northern Italy's Dolomites in winter. But off season the range has some of the Alps' most secluded trekking. On a six-day ultraluxe trip from Bolzano to Venice with Butterfield Robinson ($4,695; www.butterfield.com travel to tibet ), you can indulge in wine-tastings, spa treatments, and cooking lessons travel to tibet in intimate mountaintop hotels. A support team plans your trek and portages your gear ahead while you're busy admiring views of the Austrian Alps and