Following his 2010 attempt, which was aborted in the early stages due to accident, American mountaineer John Harlin is currently trying to circumnavigate Switzerland, keeping on or "within a stone's throw" of the frontier.
For Harlin this is more than just a physical test; it also has strong historical, cultural and environmental aspects. He will climb, or meet and talk with many alpinists, historians, and "border people" along the way. The tales that unfold will form the basis of a book and possibly a documentary.
But if successful, he will not be the first to complete this astonishing journey, which covers a distance of around 2,000km and a total height gain of more than 170,000m.
That honour goes to Swiss Andrea Vogel who realized the odyssey, first try, in a remarkable 82 days during the summer of 1992.
Vogel admits he was lucky: that summer proved to be blessed with some of the best weather on record. He also organized perfectly and had local climbers accompany him on the tricky sections.
In late June 2010 Harlin started his adventure close to Leysin, the Swiss village in which he lived as a boy and where his mother taught biology at the American School and his father founded the International School of Mountaineering (ISM).
About a week later, while crossing one of the crux sections of the entire journey, the long jagged ridge above the Argentiere Glacier leading south to the summit of Mont Dolent, Harlin took a 15-20m fall when rock gave way.
He was held by his climbing partner, fellow American Cam Burns, but sustained five broken bones in his feet and had to be airlifted to Sion hospital, before treatment and eventual repatriation to the US.
With bone healing relatively advanced, Harlin returned in October to paddle and mountain bike the northern frontier. On the 5th he launched his kayak into the Rhine and paddle the Liechtenstein border, all 24km of it.
He continued his water journey to Basel, one of his canoeing partners for this section being Konrad Kain. In 1962 Kain, now 74, had been a climbing partner of Harlin's dad, the pair making a successful ascent, and Harlin senior the first American ascent, of the North Face of the Eiger.
At Basel, Harlin was able to prove his fitness by making a 30km walk before tackling the bike trip across the Jura.
After following the border around Geneva it was back to the kayak for a few more days paddling east along the lake to St Gingolph at the mouth of the Rhone, where he'd begun his journey the previous summer. It was now the 2nd November and the final but most difficult section - the eastern and southern border - would have to wait until summer 2011.
On the 6th July this year Harlin returned to the Liechtenstein border, but this time headed east, accompanied by Andrea Vogel. The pair climbed over the Falknishorn and Schessaplana, the highest summit of the Ratikon, before Vogel left Harlin to continue alone along the Austrian border.
After a total of nearly 60 days on the project, Harlin is now moving west along the Italian border, heading for the most difficult section of the journey, which will involve crossing the Bernina, probably skirting the Bregaglia via the Roma Path to its south, and then continuing through the Valais Alps and eventually back over Mt Dolent to complete the circle.
Using a high-tec mobile phone, Harlin is recording a daily on-line diary. Follow his progress on www.swissinfo.ch/harlin
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