The Alps is one of the greatest mountain ranges in Europe, stretching from Slovenia to France. It is a favorite vacationing spot for hikers and skiers alike. For our composer, the grandiosity of the Alps could only be matched by a composition of mammoth proportions played by an equally grand orchestra. The work requires 120 or more musicians and unusual percussion instruments. The score calls for a thunder sheet, thunder machine, and wind machine. On the surface, this tone poem follows a party scaling one of the larger mountains in the Alps. However, it could be viewed as a musical adaptation of the Nietzschean ideal of complete reliance on one's own personal will than religion.