What childhood mountain-climbing experience helped inspire An Alpine Symphony?

The inspiration for An Alpine Symphony stems from a childhood experience Richard Strauss had as a young teenager. He and a group of friends set out before dawn to climb a mountain, reaching the summit five hours later, only to be forced back down by a sudden, violent thunderstorm.1

Strauss later recounted that he had improvised a musical depiction of this adventure on the piano shortly after the event. This early memory served as the foundation for his mature symphonic poem, which musically recreates the narrative of a day-long mountain climb in the Alps.1