Sunday February 5
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The cold snap
had begun, and some serious below zero temperatures had already been
reached. Luckily for the group their flight from Heathrow was the last one
before a series of cancellations. Unluckily for the group the cargo hold
door was frozen shut on arrival at Munich! Two hours after arrival the
luggage eventually appeared, and the three hour transfer to Bach through
the beautiful Alpine landscape began. |
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Monday February 6
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| It was even
colder than the previous week, and
Robert Heel, hotel proprietor, and our snowshoe guide for the week,
suggested late starts for the week to allow the sun to warm up the air a
little. At 10.00 we had a short
introductory talk & then snow shoes were distributed. This was
followed by a morning walk for us to try out the snowshoes, and for Robert
to assess the group. After lunch in the hotel
he took us on a harder afternoon walk on the far side of the valley, and
this we did so quickly he extended the walk towards Klapf, but not before
plunging with Gerwyn down an incredibly steep slope in deep snow!.
Monday walks (total)
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| Distance |
9.5 km |
| Ascent |
310 m |
| Descent |
310 m |
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Monday's 'acclimatisation' walks - a GPS track overlaid on a very
green Google Earth view of Bach.
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Setting off from Bach Church
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Tuesday February 7
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Tuesday's walk up to the Wasealm
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It
was a cool -20ºC in the morning, so
it was good to go steeply uphill towards
our first remote hostelry - the Wasealm. This involved some steep slopes
up through the spruce trees , with a short stop to imbibe a small shot of
schnapps that Robert had brought up in his rucksack. As we arrived early
at the hut we continued up the hill for half an hour, befire returning and
enjoying the first of many steep descents on snowshoes/backsides/headfirst
to general merriment. Lunch obviously involved another schnapps, and
the first of many Goulasch soups.
On the way back, down the track/sledge run,
Robert did a sharp turn to the left and steeply down through the wood -
halfway down Simon realised his rucksack was still in the hut - an excuse
for severe winter snowshoe training back up and down the hill!
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Wasealm Walk
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| Distance |
8 km |
| Ascent |
390 m |
| Descent |
390 m |
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Wednesday February 8
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| As Wednesday was the day off for the
hotel, Robert took a break from guiding: it was Simon's turn to do a mystery tour!
We headed up to the Saloberlifte, on the bus up the valley beyond the 'free zone' and into the
open mountain areas above the forest. A real contrast to the wooded slopes
below - open vistas and crowded in places with downhill skiers.
We had more fun, off-piste, in the
snow and then lunch in the gästehaus overlooking the flat snow where the
lake should have been. After lunch we toured round the lake and then
headed back to the Jägerhof bus stop, visiting the lofty chapel and cross
overlooking the ski area en route.
In
the evening we walked gingerly on the icy road up to the Alpenblick hotel
for a hours serious bowling. Well, serious drinking of glühwein and the
occasional straight ball. |
Walk to the (hidden under the
snow) Körbersee
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The group above the
Saloberlifte
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Körbersee Walk
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| Distance |
10 km |
| Ascent |
370m |
| Descent |
460m |
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Thursday February 9
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Walk along Grünauer
Wald Höhenweg
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This was supposed to be the big day! We had
an early start
to get the 9.29 bus from Bach church and a short ride to the Alpenrose
Hotel, Elbigenalp, which was interrupted by a phone call to Robert to say
that due to the low temperature at the Bernhardtseckhütte (-27ºC) the diesel in the
piste machine had frozen, so no lift to reduce a 100m climb! So, Plan B.
This involved walking down the valley towards Grießau, and
then heading straight (and I mean straight) up to join the path climbing
along the valley side and through the forest to Grünau.
Although lower level it was a pleasant
walk, which ended for lunch at the Laterndl - the local night spot with
loud music and an ice rink, and insufficient supplies of goulasch soup!
After lunch we headed back over the flat
snow-covered meadows to the hotel.
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Grünauer
Wald walk
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| Distance |
11.1
km |
| Ascent |
235m |
| Descent |
225m |
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Climbing out of
the valley
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Friday February 10
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| Another attempt at the 'big
day'! This time the short ride to the Alpenrose
Hotel, Elbigenalp was not interrupted by a phone call - so we set off up
the track, confident that our luxury transport would be available. After
half an hour we reached the rendezvous point and, after a few anxious
minutes, the red machine rumbled into sight.
Seven of us had the first lift, rapidly
being overtaken by two more on the back of a skidoo. The remaining five
came on the red devil's second trip up. |
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Boarding the piste-basher
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After a short coffee break we headed out
into the freezing wind to climb up the Muttekopf ridge as far as was safe.
Despite the superb views, it was not a place to linger. back in the hut we
had a tasty cheese fondue lunch.
Lunch over, we headed back down the
track, short-cutting in places, and back to the road. Here half the group
went back to the hotel in the mini-bus, whilst the rest trudged (speedily)
for a further hour back to the hotel.
The long walk clearly wasn't enough as
we headed out again after dinner for a short torchlight walk - the wind
blowing out the torches at regular intervals - as an excuse to have yet
another glühwein.
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| Bernhardseckhütte Walk
- to the hotel |
(excl.
machine help!) |
| Distance |
16 km |
| Ascent |
655m |
| Descent |
1035m |
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Climbing up to the
Muttekopf |
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Saturday February 11
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Jöchelspitze
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Bach Panoramaweg walk
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Our final day's walk was a
new route, due to the likelihood of the Gibler Alm again being full (Saturday,
half term). We took the bus up to the Jöckelspitze ski area (how did
the bus get up there without chains?) and set off along the valley side.
There was plenty of evidence of previous avalanches off the steep grassy
valley sides - luckily there was little still left to come down. The climb
seemed never-ending, but at last we reached a level (ish) area in the
forest, with deep snow on the roofs of forest cabins.
Inexplicably, Robert continued to head
uphill! At last however we headed back down, starting off with our
steepest, slipperiest, descent yet - well some people tried it!
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We zig-zagged in and out of our uphill
route, and ended up back at Bach Church, and our final lunch back at the
hotel. Not content with the mornings walk a number of people were seen to
creep out for yet another snow-shoe outing - such enthusiasm!
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| Panoramaweg
walk |
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| Distance |
7.8 km |
| Ascent |
360m |
| Descent |
515m |
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Pausing to enjoy the sun?
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Sunday 12 February
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The journey to Munich was a
sunny, scenic ride with no delays. The Heathrow problems of last week were
obviously over, as all London flights were going, so quite a relaxed
checking in process. The excitement for the Manchester flight, however,
was landing in fog with visibility down to around 100m - impressive! |
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