I am a passionate ultra trail runner and long distance runner from Salzburg, partly grew up in this area and finished the Hohe Tauern Panorama Trail in June 2024. From day 1 to 5 I ran/hiked 3 stages (Hohe Tauern Panorama Trail - Die Weitwander-Route im SalzburgerLand (hohetauerntrail.at) each day, on the last day it was only 2 stages. From a total of 17 stages I had to choose the alternative route (provided by the homepage) twice (stage 3 and 12), the official homepage declared these stages as closed (gesperrt), maybe due to snowfields above 2200m. At stage 13 I spared out the town Embach and ran directly from Taxenbach (Kitzlochklamm) via Grubereck to Rauris. At stage 15 I spared out the loop through Rauriser Urwald to Naturfreundehaus and ran directly to Naturfreundehaus in Kolm-Saigurn due to an approaching thunderstorm. Between Zitterauer Tisch and Stubnerkogel (stage 17) I had to evade a tricky snowfield and left the route for about 1-2 kilometers (I descended and ascended on the backside of Stubnerkogel).
I mastered the course perfectly and totally self supported, I slept in mountain refuges (huts) or other accomodations (appartment/hotel) and only used the supermarkets when passing through a town. I also carried my own nutrition throughout the course and sent a few items home in the postal office in Zell am See. I ran with the Asics Trabuco Max 2 all the time and used Leki Ultra Trail poles and the Salomon XA 25 backpack with 2 two 0,5l softflasks (there were enough fountains along the way). I had a lot of luck with weather conditions and finished the Hohe Tauern Trail successfully in Hüttschlag.