30 Days, 31 Nights: On the L1 Transalpin from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Brescia [Prologue]

Wow, how time flies: It has now been three years since I last set out alone on an adventure powered by my own muscle strength. While in 2021 I was only on the road for a little over a week, I set myself a bit more of a challenge this year: hiking the L1 trail from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Brescia. On a tour of over 420 kilometers, 30,000 meters of elevation gain, and 30 daily stages, I’ll be making my way from Germany to Italy, from Bavaria, the land of pale beer, to Italian coffee, and from Lederhosen to Alta Moda.

The L1: A Foreword to the Trail

Hiking across the Alps once in a lifetime is a dream for many. The call of freedom, blue skies, and refreshing mountain lakes definitely makes an adventurer’s heart beat faster. There are a number of different routes that cross the Alps: from the well-known E5, the “highway of transalpine hikes” from Oberstdorf to Merano (140 kilometers, about eight days), to the Dream Trail from Munich to Venice (529 kilometers, 28 daily stages), or the L1, which is the one I chose.

The L1 is probably one of the most demanding and technically challenging transalpine hikes: in 30 stages, it goes from Garmisch-Partenkirchen over 420 kilometers and 40,000 meters of elevation gain, up to 3,360 meters (Saykogel), along very lonely trails through Tyrol and the Ötztal all the way to Brescia near Lake Garda.

The L1 is explicitly not a classic long-distance hiking trail, but rather a freely assembled route by Hans Losse. The trail was created in 1989 with the goal of designing a route that could be completed entirely on foot.

What makes the L1 charming, meanwhile, is that although the trail is long and challenging, it manages without secured climbing passages and almost entirely without glacier crossings, making it relatively safe to hike.

How to place this post / Preliminary information

First of all, it is important to me to set the right expectations for this post: This is NOT a guide to crossing the Alps, not for the L1, and certainly not for other long-distance hiking trails. I’m hiking the L1 under somewhat special conditions: first, I’m carrying full camping gear, and on top of that I’m doing the transalpine hike late in the season, from the end of August to the end of September. That means lower temperatures, huts that are already closed, and even less traffic on the already very lonely L1.

This post and the ones that follow are only an account of my experience — I simply have too little experience to make general recommendations. Crossing the Alps is always a risky undertaking, especially when glacier crossings are involved, when traveling alone, when hiking on unmaintained trails, or when there are sections where you have to camp or bivouac. In my case, all of these factors apply. It takes alpine experience, a high level of endurance, and good preparation to make the crossing safely. And even then, weather events (extreme heat, thunderstorms, or hail) can make sections of the tour impassable and cause injuries.

“Literatour” recommendation and further resources

As announced, this is not a guide on how to cross the L1. Anyone seriously considering it should engage deeply with the subject and plan carefully.

Here are some resources that can help with planning:

1. alpenquerung.info - the original website since 2012, but no longer maintained and generally no longer recommended as a basis; many huts no longer exist by now either. Still, certainly recommended as background reading!
2. ”Alpenquerung L1 Garmisch — Brescia / 30 Stages with GPS Tracks” by Christian K. Rupp, published under ISBN 978-3-7633-4607-3 by Bergverlag Rother. For me, generally the best source, an absolute recommendation!
3. “Off the Beaten Classics Across the Alps – L1 from Garmisch to Brescia” - Komoot collection for the tour including route descriptions

The route of the L1

The L1 roughly runs through the following sections:

1. The Wetterstein Mountains - From Garmisch-Partenkirchen to the Inn Valley
2. The Stubai Alps - From the Inn Valley into the Ötztal
3. Ötztal Alps - From the Ötztal into the Vinschgau
4. The Ortler Group - from the Vinschgau into Val Camonica
5. Adamello Group - From Val Camonica to Bazena
6. Brescian Prealps - From Bazena to Brescia