One of the most important aspects of planning your journey through the mountains is food planning. As an Alpine style hiker you have to carry all your gears including clothing, camping gears and food. Food is energy for the hiker but adds weight so it's therefore important to optimize your food based on the estimated duration of your journey.

Duration of your hike depends on many factors - distance, fitness level, weight of your backpack, elevation gain, season, terrain, weather, etc. When exploring a new route there is more uncertainty on trail and terrain ahead and estimating of the traverse becomes more complex. Generally, as one becomes more experienced, hiking different routes in different terrains and during different seasons one becomes much better at estimating the duration of his hiking journeys to plan the optimum food ration.