Sand To Snow

In late 2017, he watches a YouTube video titled This Is Not a Beautiful Hiking Video – a raw account of an Austrian hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. In that moment, he knows for certain: I’m going to do this too.

Preparations begin, the route is set. But then his visa for the US is denied. Disappointed, he scraps his plans and books a trip to Asia instead. A week before departing for Nepal, his visa is approved after all – but by then he has already made up his mind and boards the plane to Kathmandu anyway.

He travels for months through Nepal and Southeast Asia. Until one day, sitting in a small bar in Laos with a beer in hand, he makes his decision: I’m doing it.

What follows is 2,650 miles on foot. From Mexico to Canada. Through desert, mountains and forest. Under his trail name Sombrero, he makes his way through the American backcountry alongside a close group of friends.

Sand to Snow is a down-to-earth, honest and often funny account of a long walk filled with sand, snow, friendship and endless miles.

Not a hero’s story.
Just a true one.