Innsbruck- Rock Climbing

This week Jon has been with us to guide us on a week of rock climbing and hiking in the Tyrol Alps surrounding Innsbruck. We're staying in an apartment in Innsbruck. Day 1: The first day we got up drove just 10 minutes and made the first cable car up to the top of the ridge over looking the city. We got all roped up and did about 4 hours on the via ferrata (in German is is called Klettersteig). The views were absolutely amazing looking over Innsbruck on one side and mountains as far as the eye can see on the other. The kids did really well. We move in pairs, Jon leading Casey, me leading Molly and James leading Julia. The adults have a via ferrata kit which is attached to our harness that we clip on to the wire. The kids are then roped to us. The hope is that no one will fall, if someone did fall no one would die, they would just fall as far as our rope. So you could get hurt, but not badly (hopefully). We move very slowly and carefully and help the kids through the tougher parts. We scaled a knife's edge ridge and crossed a suspension bridge. It was a really beautiful adventure and we were exhausted afterwards!

Day 2: We drove 35 minutes west to the town of Silz and climbed a route called "The Crazy Eddy"! This route was more difficult than the day before with steeper sections to climb straight up and more actual rock climbing required. I did not like this part at all but was able to make it through. There were some times when I was really scared and couldn't find a hand or foot hold to move, but somehow I was able to finish. It was a relief when the route got easier after an hour or so. We crossed a wire bridge which was like tight rope walking but with a wire above to hold on to (and attach harnesses to). Because the kids could not reach both wires Jon took them over one at a time. Casey and Julia crossed by hanging on to an extra rope he attached to the top. They just walked and held onto that rope with their hands. They were also attached to the wire above and to Jon. When Molly went she wanted to do a zip line style. So she just sat in her harness and Jon basically dragged her across hanging from the top wire. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be going across because the wires were vey taut so there wasn't too much wobbling involved. The worst part was next when we rappelled down a 100 foot cliff face. Watching my kids drop off the edge was vomit inducing for me. I was such a nervous wreck but trying to be calm. I was also nervous to go but felt fine once I took a few steps down. We ended the climb with a different feature we haven't seen before called a spider's web. Basically they attached chains to the side of the mountain in the shape of a spider's web and Jon hooked up a rope to belay the kids as they took turns climbing up and rappelling down. They loved this and felt so free and safe so it was fun for them. We had been eyeballing a nice beach on the river from our climb and we went to it once we got down. We had sandwiches and James and Molly swam. We hung out at the beach for awhile just relaxing as everyone was pooped. We stopped down town for a little while then came home for dinner and more planning.

Day 3: We drove 45 minutes west to the lake called Achensee. We took a gondola up to a valley up high that has 5 different peaks you can climb using via ferrata. We had the information from a climbing guide book we had bought and thought we would set out to attempt all five peaks moving from right to left. We had to hike about an hour to the start of the first peak. We could tell that there was a very large group climbing up behind us and we were eager to get on the wires before them so we were not held up by such a big group. We made it but the kids were tired from the effort. Anyways, the views were incredible everywhere we looked. The first peak was not very hard and turned out to be quite crowded so we had to do a lot of waiting around. James was saying that it was like a via ferrata amusement park where you can come up and choose which ride you want to take. People were climbing up the way we were trying to descend. We moved on to the second peak which was about a 30 minute hike away. This peak was a sharp tooth looking peak sticking up and it looked incredibly daunting. When we looked up and saw climbers on it and I was afraid of trying it. We had a snack at the base and I was very nervous about attempting this route. It was incredibly exposed, steep and unrelenting. There were no places to take a break and catch your breath. While we were waiting to go up a couple who was attempting it turned around and down climbed. We decided that I would lead this one so that Jon would be in the middle to help talk both me and James through any tough sections. I started up and just kept moving, keeping my eyes focused on the space just in front of me and trying to remember to breath. We all made it to the top of that tough climb with Molly and Casey close to tears but having conquered fear and pushing past it when it easily could have paralyzed them. We kept going on a much easier section to the cross at the summit and then down climbed to a grassy saddle between the peaks. I don't think James and I exhaled until we got there. We used all of our mental and physical energy so we decided to skip peak 3 and walk around to do peak 4 which was so easy it was just like a hike. After that we hiked back down to the gondola station where we celebrated with delicious pancake type things and french fries. Afterwards we took a dip in Achensee and then headed back to Innsbruck. Not a lot of photos from the climb because no safe spots to stop and get your phone out.

Day 4: We woke up to a rainy day which prevented us from doing a long climbing day. We packed up and drove south east about an hour into a valley and town called Mayrhofen. We are staying at a cool guesthouse right on a really loud moving river. We chilled in the hotel until the rain cleared and then did a climbing route right behind the hotel that it totally geared towards kids. It had all sorts of high ropes course type elements that they really enjoyed and we allowed them to move on their own with their owns clips instead of being roped to us. They had fun doing it for 2 hours. We're getting packed to head into the mountains tomorrow for three days/two nights of hut to hut hiking.