Via Talander: a pedagogical Alpine crossing by 12 teenagers from the Talander special needs school (Wangen, Germany) and their supervisors, from Tschagguns (Vorarlberg) to Tirano in 3 weeks:  viatalander.blogspot.com. Via Alpina Travel Fellowship 2011!

FFME Via Alpina: multi-activity relay crossing through 10 mountain ranges from Slovenia to France. 1025 day of hiking, climbing, mountaineering, via ferrata or canyoning for 300 participants from 25 clubs: www.ffme.fr/via-alpina/page/presentation-6.html. Special mention of the jury of the Via Alpina Travel Fellowships 2011!

Photographica alpina by Romain Liagre: photographic documentation of the Red Trail, with pictures taken at regular intervals in the four cardinal directions... and difficult learning of walking alone. Monaco-Leuk: photographicalpina.uniterre.com. Via Alpina Travel Fellowship 2011!

Travelling accounts, Martine Keller (from Eckwersheim, France): Monaco-Wenns, arrival in Trieste planned for 2012. Publication of the travel diary one stage per week: www.partance.org. With the official support of the international and monegasque Via Alpina secretariats and the permanent secretariat of the Alpine Convention.

The Alps and modern architecture: Paulina Lis (Ph D student in architecture and design in Warsaw, Poland): Vorarlberg, Liechtenstein and Central Switzerland: alpinewayoflife.tumblr.com. With the official support of the monegasque and international Via Alpina secretariats and the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention.

To the heart of the Alps for cardiac health, Michele Straube (Salt Lake City, USA) and her husband: Monaco-Trieste in 4 years, to communicate on atrial fibrillation, a disturbance of the cardiac rhythm for which Michele has been successfully operated in 2009: bit.ly/hHPG2f. First stage realised in 2011, up to Vallouise. With the official support of the Via Alpina.

Helga Bleml (from Olching, Germany): Munich-Monaco: muenchen-monaco-2011.blogspot.com

Jean-Louis Giraud (from Lyons, France): Trieste-Gsteig, the continuation to Monaco is planned for 2012! traces2011viaalpina.blogspot.com

Eric (from France): Isola-Bolzano, download here: PDF, 45 Kb.

Hans Thurner and Anita Lechner: Vienna-Nice: www.hans-thurner.at

Urs Liechti (Switzerland): Trieste-Monaco in 2 summers: www.berg-frei.ch/viaalpina

Panoramic photos by Daniel Kropveld in Slovenia: viaalpina.kropveld.net

"Insignificant stories" by Alain Grinda (from Belvédère, Maritime-Alps, France): Trieste-Monaco in 5 summers and 10 journeys. Anecdotes and technical notes downloadable here: PDF 300Ko.

"Via 12 pattes" (Via 12 legs) - 1 dog, 4 people and 5 rucksacks: Anne, Geoffroy and their sons Jephan (13 years) and  Niels (10 years) together with dog Ushka (from Brussels, Belgium): Slovenia-Mediterranean, with the tent : www.vialpe.be, via12pattes.blogspot.com

“Alpes autrement” (The Alps another way), Jean-Marie Scholz (from Dorlisheim, France): Trieste-Monaco at a quite sustained pace, with access from Alsace and back by bike. Daily correspondence with students from his village’s primary school: alpesautrement.fr

Domi Dury’s "Vita Alpina" (Alpine life) (from Uccle, Belgium): Monaco-Valais Alps: dodury.canalblog.com

Julien Carques (from Bergerac, France): Trieste-Menton: via-alpina-2010.blogspot.com

Grande Traversata delle Alpi: report by Iris Kürschner and Dieter Haas (Grindelwald, Switzerland): www.facebook.com/gta.trek

“Mes chemins” (My trails) by Bernard Brunis, from Couvet (Switzerland): Muggia-Mittelsberg-Scuol: viaalpina2010.blog.club-corsica.com (with a lovely overview of the various types of trails encountered)

“There and back again”: Graham Williams (from Aberdeen, Scotland): a loop through all the Alpine countries starting in Bad Goisern in Austria, unfortunately broken off due to an injury: roundthealps.blogspot.com

“Pointless journey on foot through the Alps”: Martin Schreiber (from Greding, Bavaria, Germany): Munich-Trieste www.muenchen-triest.de and Munich-Monaco: www.muenchen-monaco.de

The Husson family (from Aigueblanche, Savoy, France): Slovenia-Monaco in several summers: www.viaalpina.net

Practical information & unusual observations: Roman Ackl (from Munich, Germany) Sistiana-Tolmezzo-Bolzano-Maloja-Robiei in 4 summers: lighthiker.wordpress.com/category/via-alpina. A selection of photos and his GPS data are on line on triptracker.net/profile/lighthiker.

Ingo Ronner (from Almere, The Netherlands): Trieste-Maloja in 3 trips. The photos are at www.flickr.com/photos/25143217@N05/sets and the account of the first trip can be downloaded here: in Dutch or English, 72 Kb).

“Alpapied – one foot in front of the other”: Nathalie Sarlat: Trieste-Monaco: alpapied.over-blog.net. With the official support of the Via Alpina.

“The Alpine adventure”: Valerio Sani and Milena Dalla Piazza (from Belluno, Italy), along with the dog Yuk: Monaco-Trieste with a southern variant through the Adamello massif and Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park. An adventure aiming to show something which science itself cannot explain yet: the physical condition of Valerio, who suffers from severe kidney insufficiency, improves when he does tough physical activity! www.avventuralpina.com. With the official support of the Via Alpina.

“Via Solaria”: Pascal Rastoul and Pauline Cassan (from Sorèze/ Tarn and Toulouse, France): along their hike from Trieste to Monaco they promoted the activities of the association Bolivia Inti – Sud Soleil for the development of solar cookers: traverseedesalpes.blogspot.com. With the official support of the Via Alpina.

Author – photographer – explorer: Brandon Wilson (from Hawaii), together with his wife Cheryl, a TV producer. Ambassador for peace and human rights advocate, Brandon has already written three adventure books: in Tibet (where Cheryl and himself became the first Western couple to trek from Lhasa to Kathmandu), travels from London across Africa to Cape Town, and a recent 4200 km trek in the footsteps of the Templars from France to Jerusalem. His crossing of the Alps provided the basis for a further book showing with lots of humour that the Alps offer “much more than cheese and gnomes” (see Documentation > Further publications). His website: www.pilgrimstales.com/overthetopandbackagain.html and on Facebook. With the official support of the Via Alpina.

“Guya Trekking 2009”, Manfredi Salemme (from Cogorno, Genoa province, Italy): Liguria-Trieste by mountain bike then Trieste-Garessio on the Via Alpina and back along the High way of the Ligurian mountains. Through this project he gave his support to ADMO, the association of bone marrow donors, and the Faculty of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Verona also  monitored his progress: via-alpina-2009.blogspot.com and travelogue “Niente è per caso” (“Nothing happens by chance”, see Documentation > Further publications). With the official support of the Via Alpina.

“Running across the whole of the Alps”, Jean-Luc Millereau and Bertrand Chouet (from Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France): Trieste-Menton alternating between running and climbing. As well as the sporting challenge and their desire to fulfil a dream they had in their youth, the aim of this adventure is to truly discover the Alps, an area on our doorstep where you can still live the great adventure and a living space subject to all the contradictions of the 21st century: toutes-les-alpes-en-courant.fr. With the official support of the Via Alpina.

In the mountains with a disability: Michel Dimitrieff (from Vallouise, Hautes-Alpes, France) left on 29 April 2009 for a crossing of the Alps from Slovenia to the Mediterranean Sea scheduled until February 2010 via a combination of the Red, Yellow, Green and Blue trails of the Via Alpina and with the additional challenge of several peaks to climb. It was to be a crossing with a difference as Michel has a motor disability and through this adventure he aims to encourage other disabled people to fulfil their dreams. His project shows not only that you can take on slightly “mad” challenges despite a handicap but also that this does not in any way detract from the difficulties that can arise in performing some of the simplest gestures in everyday life. This project received the official support of the Via Alpina.
Unfortunately stopped in his progress after two weeks due to injuries, Michel succeeded the following year in a more alpine crossing, the climbing of a series of summits throughout the Alps, avoiding long-distance crossings which had proved too strenuous for him.

„We were lucky to be there and we knew it!”, Antti Rantanen (from Vantaa, Finland): Sargans-Montreux: alpinepassroute.blogspot.com

A birthday gift for Ninka Stulemeijer:  Vienna-Menton alone (Weitwanderwege 01, 02 and 02A, Via Alpina and GR®5): alpesninka.uniterre.com

A season at nature’s pace for Pascale Giudicelli, a mountain leader with her husky dog for company. You can download here her illustrated travel diary from Trieste to Monaco here: PDF 2 Mb.

From the Adriatic to… the Atlantic! by Sébastien Louvet: run in full autonomy through 3 massifs of Europe: Trieste-Saint-Jean-de-Luz via the Via Alpina, Corsica and the Pyrenees. You can find his story and contact details here: PDF 600 Kb.

Marvelling and sharing one’s discoveries with others: Gisèle Lafond (from St Pierre d’Argençon, Hautes-Alpes, France), formerly a high-ranking athlete and sports educator specialised in health professions, is chairwoman of the “Gym, nature, santé” (“Gymnastics, nature, health”) association. In 2007, in partnership with the French Association of Diabetics, she linked the Chamonix Valley to Monaco with three successive groups of young diabetics via the Via Alpina Red and Blue Trails. She offers us here her travel account, full of lyricism: PDF 43 Kb. Her website with many other projects: www.gisele-lafond.com

The pioneer: Hans Diem (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany), had already made several trips right across the Alps and was the first to walk the entire Via Alpina (after Pietro Marescotti, from Genoa, who had completed the so called “Grand Slam” on mountain bike from 1999 to 2006): the Red Trail from Monaco to Trieste in 2002, the Blue Trail from Monaco to Riale in 2004 and 2005, the Yellow Trail from Trieste to Oberstdorf in 2006 then the Purple Trail from Berchtesgaden to Oberstdorf in 2003 and from Dovje to Germany in 2007. Hans walked the Green Trail in 1995 before it even had the name Via Alpina… and again in 2009.
Even though much has been improved since then, his travel notes are a real point of reference! PDF 1 Mb. You can also download on lighthiker.wordpress.com a version of his diaries on the Red and Yellow Trails with additional comments by Roman Ackl and other Via Alpinists (via the black “box” at the bottom of the right hand column on the site).

A writer’s view: Martin Prinz (from Vienna), Trieste-Monaco. In “Über die Alpen” (Over the Alps) he combines his observations of the Alps as a cultural landscape in mutation with his personal experiences as author, sportsman and man. All details can be found in Documentation > Further publications. Blog and articles in the Standard: derstandard.at/?url=/?ressort=R-viaalpina. 

“The happiness smugglers”: Jacques and Daniel Barthélémy (from Grenoble, France), Trieste-Monaco: passeursdebonheur.blogspot.com

Two guidebooks and a regional blog: Sabine Bade and Wolfram Mikuteit (from Constance, Germany), Monaco – Garessio – Monaco. The corresponding guidebooks, regularly updated, are available at Documentation > Further publications. Their internet site and their blog are overflowing with information on the region, to help you not only to successfully complete your treks but also to better understand the social economic context: westalpen.eu/viaalpina.htm and westalpen.wordpress.com.

Small and big people: The Fisler family (St Martin, Fribourg, Switzerland) crossed Switzerland on the Red Trail from Ulrichen to Poschiavo with their 6 children aged at the time (summer 2003) from 5 – 15. An example to follow: www.850.ch/sp/spip.php?article22 (in French). In 2008 they set off once again along the Red Trail, in the Maritime Alps from St-Sauveur-sur-Tinée to Monaco in the Spring (www.850.ch/sp/spip.php?article56) and then in the Summer, in the continuation of their 2003 trip, in three weeks from the Bernina to Klosters (Silvretta) (www.850.ch/sp/spip.php?article58).

2500 kilometres from one coast to another: Trieste-Monaco by Vincent Tornay (from Geneva, Switzerland). This crossing inspired a book and a film (see Documentation > Further publications). His blog and many photos are still on line at www.itinerance.ch/blog/2007/04 (in French). You can also request a copy of the bilingual magazine Mountain Report which contains an article by Vincent from the International Office (no. 2, French / English or German / English, € 8,50 + postage).

Alex Crevar and Carly Calhoun (Croatia/USA): Trieste-Monaco for the National Geographic Adventure magazine. Their accounts and the slide show of the first two sections of their journey are on line at: www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/travel/alps/via-alpina.html

The “Transalpine” crossing by Simon Dubuis (Paris, France): Nice-Vienna: www.transalpine.dubuis.net

A great adventure for Maurice Chazalet (from Lucenay, Rhône, France): Trieste-Monaco. Travel notes downloadable here: PDF 3.4 Mb.

Photos by Julien Allaz (from Berne, Switzerland) on the Red Trail between Soazza and Biasca: photo.geoloweb.ch/?cat=63; and also by Giovanni Mazzolani on stage R25: PDF 0.9Mb.

You can also get hold of a copy of the dispatches made by journalists of the Swiss daily paper Le Temps in summer 2002 (L’Alpe no.23, € 15 + postage) and those of the Alpes-Magazine team in summer 2003 (no. 87, € 5.80 + postage) via the International Secretariat.