As a team of two (Gerald Gruber together with Florian Pirnbacher), we started at 8 PM and set off into the night. The weather conditions were perfect, and the night couldn’t have gone any better. Our first longer break was at the “Kreuzkogel” after 20 km. After 9 hours, we reached our first aid station at the “Grüner Baum” in Kötschachtal, where we were perfectly taken care of. After that came the longest ascent, which gradually became more challenging. Our second aid station was perfectly located at the “Kölnbreinspeicher,” which we reached after about 14 hours. Then came the climb to the highest point, the “Weinschnabel.” Up until that point, we were perfectly on track for our 24-hour goal time. However, there followed a really difficult downhill section that cost us a lot of time and energy. In this section, Florian, who had been struggling for some time (especially with nutrition), decided to drop out at kilometer 72. I still felt very fit, so I decided to continue the rest of the route on my own. At kilometer 78, I reached our third aid station at “Kreuzeck,” and I was told that I would soon receive support on the trail. Steffen Giesecke joined me for the long last 25 km to the finish line. I want to thank all the supporters for their outstanding help, especially Florian, for taking on this adventure with me. Thank you!
PS: Navigating in the high alpine terrain was very challenging, and there were several situations where we strayed far from the path. As a result, we ended up with 104.5 km instead of the planned 101 km.