I crossed the Alps twice, not from north to south as usual, but from west to east and from east to west. I covered all the kilometres either on skis, by train, ski bus or gondola. Even the journey from Hamburg (where I live) to the Alps was by train. The 2023 XL ski safari started in Nice and the destination was Bad Gastein, in other words from Monaco to the Monte Carlo of the Alps. In March 2025, I then completed another full crossing of the Alps, this time from Vienna to Nice by train, in a gondola and on skis. Yes, skiing holidays by train are possible! So in a first attempt in 2023, I tackled the Alp-X from west to east and in 2025 I did the Alp-X east-west again to show that you can reach almost every ski resort in the Alps comfortably by train. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
The proportion of greenhouse gas emissions caused by global tourism is currently estimated at 8% - and the trend is rising. Around 50 million people from all over the world travel to the Alps every year, many of them in winter, and around 84 per cent of them travel by car. This means that a large proportion of CO2 emissions in winter tourism are caused purely by travelling to the winter sports regions. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have calculated that a full 75 per cent of CO2 emissions from a one-week skiing holiday can be attributed to the journey to and from the resort.
The project of crossing the Alps on skis alone, with lifts and public transport also seems to me to be a good way of improving the somewhat poor ecological reputation of skiing. Lift facilities, snow cannons, piste groomers and hotel operations certainly require a lot of energy. And yet - just like on a summer holiday - almost 80% of emissions are caused by travelling by car. However, many winter holidaymakers are often unaware that the majority of ski resorts in the Alps can be easily reached by train. Davos, St. Anton and Bad Gastein, for example, are directly connected to the European long-distance train network. Winter tourism was originally only able to develop in places that were already easily accessible by train a hundred years ago. These places could not be reached at all by car in winter.
The results of a master's thesis on public transport systems in the Alps (from May 2020; thanks to Marius Hellmund, Wuppertal) show that Around two thirds of winter sports resorts are already competitively accessible by public transport for day trips and holidays, and in the Western Alps and resorts located at long-distance railway stations even faster than by car. Every fourth place has direct rail access. In contrast, only 15% of resorts are only suitable for car-free travel to a limited extent, while 40% make it possible to do without a car thanks to a comprehensive range of mobility options such as local ski buses.
The idea of many environmentalists that skiing should only be practised when touring is probably not a solution either, given the greater impact this would have on previously unspoilt mountain regions. Even if the advertising in skiing nowadays only seems to be aimed at ‘outdoor and freeride’, according to a Manova study (2020), 95% of skiers are still pure piste skiers. For them and for me, I wanted to see how far you can get through the Alps without skins and without a car.
The German railway has now also recognised the signs of the times and has set up its own website with ski resorts accessible by train. With my tour, I want to show that you can not only reach the Alps comfortably by train, but that you can even cross them comfortably on skis and a railway or cable car. A self-imposed rule: apart from the journey and a day's break in Nice by the sea (‘La mèr!’), every day must be a skiing day. So there can't be any intermediate sections where you just spend a day on the train, for example - that would be too easy. No, part of the route should also be covered on skis.
The Alp-X therefore involves travelling to the ski resorts by train. The routes on skis were exclusively on regular pistes in normal ski resorts. I didn't have any skins, ropes, avalanche probes, shovels etc. with me on the Alp-X, as I only travelled on secured pistes. To optimise the route, ski swings were included where possible when overcoming dead ends at the head of the valley.
I myself was born in 1967, have been skiing enthusiastically for over 50 years and thus manage 30-50 skiing days a year. I manage around 10,000 to 15,000 metres in altitude on a day's skiing, depending on the ski area, and have also prepared myself for the project with appropriate training.
The journey will again take me through Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France, so I will again be using the Bundesbahn, ÖBB, SNCF and Swiss railways and will report on service and costs here again afterwards.
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