Miriam Mayer crossed the Alps in 28 days.
On the 500-kilometer journey, she took photos for her thesis - and is now publishing a book.
Rottach-Egern - It is a special distinction when the thesis at the university is immediately published as a book - on top of that by the leading international publisher for photo books.
The 26-year-old Miriam Mayer from Rottach-Egern did just that with “Bergseele”, the experience report of her first Alpine crossing.
Hot off the press, the 240-page, large-format, high-gloss work is now in front of the young photo designer and author.
The Rottacherin is proud.
Almost as proud as after the crossing of the Alps, which she and her friend Lukas Reumschüssel undertook in autumn 2019 - and which is the basis of her bachelor thesis and then, in a revised form, the book that has now been published.
Travel and development report from Rottacher photo designer - "meticulously planned"
Mayer summarized the impressions that the couple gathered on their 28-day, 500-kilometer tour from Tegernsee to Verona in personal words and breathtaking pictures. The result is an exciting travel and personal development report. “We planned meticulously for six months and worked out our own route,” says Mayer, who grew up at the foot of the Wallberg and has always enjoyed walking in the mountains. Over the years, in which she never went on tours longer than two or three days, the idea of crossing the Alps grew into a dream she had longed for. This could also be combined with her thesis at the university.
The 26-year-old did not want to take the well-trodden Alpine crossing paths. Your route should include diverse alpine landscapes and spectacular mountain views. The well-known routes such as the Sterzing route or the E5 were therefore out of the question and should not be cut as much as possible.
"The photo points shouldn't be worn out and the paths there should also enable a deeper feeling and experience of the mountain world," says the photographer, describing the network of points from which her individual route emerged.
The challenge lay in dividing the route into day tours between eight and 25 kilometers in length and manageable meters in altitude and dividing it up with the opening times of the huts with places to eat and sleep.
After all, it was also important to carry as little equipment as possible, a change of clothes for different weather conditions, provisions and at least three liters of water a day.
The photo equipment took up seven of the 16 kilograms of luggage
In total, Mayer weighed 16 kilograms of luggage, her friend Reumschüssel on 21 kilograms. Because of the semester times, Mayer and Reumschüssel could not leave until August 28th instead of June as planned. “That was a tight schedule,” says the photographer with a view to the end of the season in the huts. At the end of August the days were getting shorter, the lighting conditions worse and the weather more unpredictable. They were lucky with the latter, it hardly rained. “Nobody will run this tour with so much luck at this time,” believes the mountaineer. Nevertheless, the couple was also confronted with borderline experiences.
For example, when it climbed for two hours in a stone desert on the main Alpine ridge and had to change its plans at short notice.
Or when a hut had closed prematurely and the two had to bivouac for one night.
“Borderline experiences are purely a matter of the head,” says the young woman confidently today.
The development that she has gone through can be read from her texts, which are based on the daily notes of the tour.
The report is supplemented by the photographic status report on the state of the Alps.
Mayer continuously changes perspectives - from the small to the large, to the panorama and back.
From flowers, grasses, mushrooms, stone structures and marmots to horses, cows, rocks, paths and people.
Up to the slopes with broken trees and ski slopes, bunkers and festivals from the First World War or summit chains and the extensive starry sky.
Whether in words or pictures: It is an impressive work that encompasses the entire Alpine world that the young Rottacherin has succeeded in doing.
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Georg Pawlata has developed a route across the Alps that even hikers with normal training can take.
