Hike the Alps from your computer

May 19, 2012 2:27 PM

Webwandern. Hike the Swiss Alps but don't bother getting out of your chair. Site is in German, but easy to navigate.
posted by zardoz (13 comments total)

I sing at my desk so I don't annoy the locals.
posted by Apropos of Something at 2:29 PM on May 19, 2012

Wow, that is incredible. Who watches that?!

Apparently me ... I found these two stuffed elks on a rock in one of the videos.
posted by Henrik at 3:08 PM on May 19, 2012

I think those are goats, but still that's an interesting idea.
posted by lobstah at 3:12 PM on May 19, 2012

Needs more alpenhorn.
posted by pracowity at 3:14 PM on May 19, 2012

They're Alpine Ibex, and there are two more here. I have a feeling they might make quite a few appearances...
posted by cromagnon at 3:27 PM on May 19, 2012

This is calming and frustrating at the same time.
posted by desjardins at 3:37 PM on May 19, 2012

Webwandern ist des Müllers lust, webwandern!
(That was for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.)
posted by uosuaq at 4:56 PM on May 19, 2012

Needs more alpenhorn

I never thought I'd say this, but I am smitten with an Alphorner.
posted by Alonzo T. Calm at 7:27 PM on May 19, 2012

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I spent a few weeks trekking around in the Alps a few years ago. It is one of the most spectacularly beautiful places on the planet.

I'm gonna watch the whole thing. Then, I'm going to start making plans to go back for another trek.
posted by smcdow at 9:28 PM on May 19, 2012

Very impressive and innovative, they put a lot of thought and effort into this - notice how the trains go by when a track is crossed; how other people are avoided to foreground nature; near-seamless audio and video transition to make it feel like one continuous tracking shot. I have trouble walking but used to love hiking so this sort of thing is meaningful. I posted earlier about something similar in the US, but it's more like Google Street View. There is also a company that sells DVD's of hikes. Anyway this is the best one I've seen and I plan on watching the entire 5 hours (3.5 to go). There are still ways to improve it but this looks like state of the art at the moment.
posted by stbalbach at 9:41 PM on May 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Lovely
posted by joost de vries at 11:02 PM on May 19, 2012

This is awesome, though I almost nodded off five minutes in.
posted by TheShySamurai at 8:42 AM on May 20, 2012

zardoz, thanks for this great site. I loved taking short hikes when I was in Switzerland and this brought it all back. Being rather lazy, I would take the postal buses up the mountains and then meander my way back down ... mostly in the Ticino region, so there was usually a lake at the end of the hike. Heaven.

This site whetted my appetite to go back and try another area. I agree with smcdow about it being one of the most spectacularly beautiful places on the planet.
posted by madamjujujive at 3:52 PM on May 21, 2012