Hut to Hut Hike

July 24: We just returned from 3 days/2 nights in the mountains doing a hut to hut hike. We started in the town of Mayrhofen which is a home base for lots of action in the Zillertal Alps. On Monday we drove about 20-30 minutes south to the Schlegeisspeicher (which is a dam). We parked the car and headed out on our hike. There had been a rock slide in the area which blocked the route but we were able to pass by having a construction worker take us through the area where the workers were clearing the rock. We walked on a fairly flat section around the dam which was a beautiful blue color and into the valley. All around us were green mountains with high, jagged peaks, many of which were snow covered or had glaciers on them. We reached a point where we finally started ascending. The kids were carrying their own packs this time but we tried to keep them light. There were so many beautiful waterfalls all around. The hike was steep and we had some complaints but the kids forged ahead. We took a lot of breaks and ate a lot of snacks. After about 3.5 hours on the trail we arrived at the Furtschaglhaus hut at 1:30pm. We checked in at 2:00pm and had a long time to just chill at the hut. We rested, played cards on the deck, explored the river, rested, read, etc. One unusual event happened during our down time at the hut. A hiker had fallen when a rock he was on gave way and crushed him. He managed to get down to the hut with help from his group but he was all bloody on his face and they called a helicopter to take him out so we got to see the helicopter come in and land and the hut and take off. We ate big bowls of spaghetti bolognese and then got in bed early, around 8:30. We had a room for 8 people that we shared with two Finnish hikers who were very nice and quiet.

Tuesday morning we woke up and got packed up and had some breakfast on the deck of the hut. It was chilly in the morning before the sun came over the peaks. We started hiking at 8:30am and were quickly shedding layers as the day heated up. We knew we had a long and difficult hike ahead of us. We started a 3 hour ascent over a 9,000 foot peak. We stopped many times to admire the beauty surrounding us. We spotted sheep, marmots, waterfalls, we walked through snow fields (only two weeks ago this route was still closed due to too much snow). We had to scramble up rocks and finally made it to the peak called schonbichler horn at just over 9,000 feet. We stopped for a long rest and then began the descent to the valley below. We walked along a nice ridge line and passed through many snow fields. We had a bunch of snow ball fights and took a lot of rests. We could see the hut we were headed to from the peak. The kids did such a great job. No complaints, no whining about their backpacks, and they just kept trudging. Molly and I had a mantra to keep her moving about "how do you eat an elephant?"..."one bite at a time". We finally trudged into the hut at 4:24, exactly 8 hours from when we started. The sun was strong and we all had sun burn on our right arms. The Berliner hut is one of the oldest in the Alps and is so grand. It is much larger than the rest of the huts, there is this enormous wooden dining room, a beautiful deck with a raging river, two roaming pigs that the kids had fun with and beauty as far as the eye could see. It was really something to behold. We had a room to ourselves which was great and delicious food to fill us up after a long day. We played all sorts of board and card games, rested, walked around the property and got in bed by 8:30-9:00.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast on the deck and hit the trail around 9:00am. We had an easy descent on a nice, smooth, wide trail which was a nice relief for our feet and knees after a long, rocky descent the day before. We got to the bottom of the trail in under 3 hours. James got a ride back to our car and came back to get us. We scrambled back up the trail a ways to a beautiful waterfall area in a gorge that ran alongside the trail. Everyone (except me) went for a dip. Then we drove back into Mayrhofen to grab lunch and checked back into the Guesthaus Zillertal. We vegged for a long time as the day was unusually hot then we took the kids to the alpine slide for awhile. We went for another quick dip in the very fast moving river then headed out to a farewell dinner in town with Jon as he is leaving very early in the morning. The week with Jon has absolutely flown by. He is returning the car to the Munich airport tomorrow so we will back using the trains to make our way west to the next farm. Not sure what wifi will be like there but I fly home on Aug 1.

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.