Blogging
From Abroad

Hello everyone! I must start by apologizing for my long delay in posting, I feel just as busy here in the good ol’ USA as I did over in Austria (-: Since I am back here, I will no longer be writing blogs for WVU, this is my final blog and it makes me sad. However, I have enjoyed writing these blogs so much that I have decided to start my own blog: http://ericspursuits.blogspot.com/ where you can read all about my latest adventures. This long blog is about how I spent my last week in Austria.

This last (and easily best) adventure in the wonderful country of Austria started on a bad foot. Hannes (he is a blogger here at WVU now too!), myself and a friend of Hannes- Bernie, had been planning a trip for weeks to trek around the Groβglockner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fglockner), Austria’s highest peak and site of some of the most majestic alpine meadows and pastures. The original plan was to hike from mountain hut to mountain hut. Just days before we were to leave for the Groβglockner the weather forecast was terrible, at all the altitudes we would hike at they were predicting thunderstorms and snow accumulations getting deeper the higher you went.

This was pretty sad news for us, so we decided to travel around Austria by train instead. The ÖBB (Austrian federal rail company) had a special offer of 50 Euros for a summer youth rail pass to travel almost anytime on any train all around Austria. This was a tremendous deal! So we went South of Vienna and visited Klagenfurt, the capitol of the state of Carinthia and Graz, the capitol of Styria (also near where Arnold Schwarzenegger is from).

A cafe built in the middle of Mur River, called the “Murisle” and passing through downtown Graz.

These cities were fun, but deep down all I wanted was to escape to the high mountains (-:

Sure enough, the few days we spent in the cities were all it took for the weather to semi clear up and make hiking possible!

Albeit wet hiking (-: Note the proper Milka chocolate we consume for our hike.

After stopping at several youth hostels we made way for the mountains above Lienz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lienz). Some miss communications with the Alpineverein (Austria’s Alpine Club) led us to an alpine hut which could not support us for the night )-: So we took directions from the young gal hut-keeper and made fast tracks for another hut.

Upon leaving the forest we were greeted with this panorama, absolutely stunning isn’t it?

This next hut was run by a young couple of which the gentleman was an avid hunter and collector of fine Schnapps (-: There they showed us an advertisement for an exquisite alpine hut called the “Karlsbaderhütte” located just across the valley. This advertisement was actually one photo, so captivating we knew immeadiately we HAD to go there! Read on, I took a photo of the exact spot where the advertisement photo was taken…

Along the trail we stopped to pick up wild mushrooms (the name escapes me) and the hut-keepers were gracious enough to cook them into scrambled eggs for our breakfast, mmm… they were delicious! We disembarked from our friendly hosts and took the ski lift back down to Lienz. The journey down offered an exciting glimpse of the snow the storm had dropped the previous days at the higher elevations.

Note the drastically different landscape changes as one proceeds higher in altitude, pretty cool!

After getting back down into Lienz, we knew we had to find a ride to the trail head to get to the Karlsbaderhütte. After shuttling onto a bus briefly, we started thumbing as we walked up narrow roads. Sure enough, a few minutes later a lovely German couple on holidays in Lienz stopped to pick us up. Boy did they have an auto! A brand new E-class “combi” (wagon in English) Mercedes and subtle classical music to boot! So basically we cruised in style, saving several hours hike and effort- they even payed the toll (-:

30 minutes after leaving the nice Germans at the trailhead, we turned around to be greeted by this view (-:

2 hours later we caught our first view to the “Karlsbaderhütte”, rugged landscape isn’t it?

Nowhere else have I seen such vivid wildflowers than in the eastern Alps!

We reached the hut, took a short break, which included a light meal and beer, then disembarked for one of the peaks surrounding the hut.

Indescribable…

What else is new- snow on July the 15! A good sign that LIFE IS GOOD (-:

Hannes and Bernie appear to be loving life too (-:

Of course proper mountaineers always make summit poses!

After awhile we had climbed all the accessible peaks to us. It is important to note that the only reason we did not climb the rest of the peaks was due to lack of gear )-: For the other climbs were quite steep and required “via ferrata” gear, explained more thoroughly here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_ferrata. Also, note that on Wikipedia via ferrata was invented in the Italian Dolomite mountains, of which we were essentially in!

Eventually, our legs soon to give out and we knew the only solution was a soak in this stunningly beautiful alpine lake located right out back of our alpine hut. This water was so clean you could drink it, with your hands!

Who would have thought a water source could bring such bliss?!

Remember earlier when I said I would show you the advertisement that brought us here, well this is it (minus Bernie climbing across the slack line). Unbelievable isn’t it?!

I crossed this narrow line right after Bernie, and wow- it was scary! It may not look it, but you were high above that water! Did I mention that the water was darn near freezing temperature too, I mean it was fed actively by that snow drift seen earlier!

What better reflections than at sunset…

Absolutely, irresitably, magnificently, (insert like adjective here) location!

We slept deep like bears that night, to wake up and begin hiking again! I had some of the most amazing dreams of my life that night…

I could not help but pause for a pose here (-:

We came upon this via ferrata trail and decided to follow it for awhile- it seems Hannes is enjoying himself!

Only in the Alps have I seen such random summit gardens, how does it grow like that?

Cool guy Bernie pauses for a Kodak near the rock towers and enveloping landscape

After a quick stop at another alpine hut for much-needed nourishment, we started walking down, a beautiful photo takes me almost by surprise (-:

Sheep greet us on the trail too

A departing shot from the place that rocked my world- the Austrian Alps, a sublime place I will never ever forget and a country that changed me as a person (-: