Austria AKA The Alps
There are lots of bicycle roads and even where aren’t any, you can easily make our way among the cars. Excepting one time, in Austria we barely heard the sound of a horn. That one time occurred when we accidentally got to the clearway. Well, from there we were literally banished by the sound of the horns.
Although the Alps are beautiful, we have to mention that, here and there with bicycle and backpacks is damned heavy to cycle. We climbed one 20 km long pass almost every single day. Of course, the slant was a separate pleasure.
When we rolled down from the Alps we agreed: one more time very gladly, but never with bicycle.
We rode in the turquoise Dráva valley 70km on bicycle road up to Lienz, facing many cyclers on the way, we were riding along the Austrian-Slovene border , which were separated from each other only by tall rock crags , we suffered upwards the Hochalmstrassen and the Grossglocknerstrassen, climbing the Alps’ two cruelly heavy pass, but naturally we were rolling inwards with a rare big delight. We sau the Krimml waterfall, which supposedly is the 5th longest on the Earth. We took a bath in the Dráva river, in the light blue water of the Wörther- lake. Előd was planting a tree, while I put fire for the bacon frying in the valley of Dráva. During these three weeks we were sleeping under the sky, watching the Big Dipper every evening.
The climax was the climbing of the Grossglockner peak, an experience for a lifetime.
Hiking the Grossglockner
The moment has come to accomplish a new dream. The goal is to reach the 3798m high Grossglockner peak, Austria’s highest point.
We started to inquire about the climbability of the peak and we got the most depressing news. At the Information Office they told us that the snow is two big and only with a guide can we climb the mountain. At the base of the mountain we got better news: is possible to borrow the necessary equipment for mountaineering (ice axes, crampons) and although the big snow, it's possible to go and that the weather will be kind to us.
First day:
In the early morning we lent and packed in the necessary equipment, then with our bikes we cycled around 10km. We have reached the Grossglockner house at around 2100m, we left the bikes here, and then at 3 pm we began hiking. The daily goal was to reach the Erzherzog Johann hospice, which, according to different information, can be achieved in 6 hours. Until 3000m, we didn’t meet much snow; here we got to the ridge as well. Going further at around 8-9 o’clock the fog greeted us and because the signal began to become increasingly scarce, we decided to stop and we shirr in a small hole, which was engraved in the rock. Here we had dinner, drank a hot tea and went to sleep with the hope that the next day will be clear and we can move on.
Second day:
At 5 am we woke up and the sky was really beautiful, only in the far distance was the mist present. We headed towards the shelter of the Erzherzog Johann, this time with the crampons on. Everything went well, the snow was frozen, we could go on, but the fog came back again, and it completely interfered us. While there was no fog in the distance, we saw the shelter, and although there was no indication, we could hike well.
However, in the fog, we only had guidance by the compass, common sense and a photograph of the house. The real challenge started from this moment. Finding the shelter in total fog, in the absence of road signs, in the melting snow which greatly hampered the progress.
By the mountain and the weather we were set up to hard physical and psychological ordeal. We progressed more or less at random, more and more slowly.
Many times all around us edges and due to fog we could hardly progress. At a given moment, Előd slipped off and slid 10m down. Luckily the snow had melted so much already, so that it accumulated during the sliding and luckily it stopped him. We had 15m rope between us. After several hours of search we still didn’t find the shelter, which we should have reached long time ago. We started freak out psychologically. Our ego said that this is not good, let's go back. But we didn’t give up, we went on, looking for the shelter, we knew that it had to be somewhere close. But it wasn’t. We gave it a last chance, one last try and if not, then we go down the mountain. We saw no more than 3 meters ahead. And the last attempt worked.
With our soggy boots, worn out psychologically, at the last minute, we reached at 1 pm the Erzherzog Johann shelter. We were happy, not a little. The peak was 2 hours walk from here, but we have decided that there is no point to launch a peak invasion in the fog, therefore, we warmed ourselves at a hot tea and we had a good sleep.
4 other Hungarians reached the shelter at the same time as us, but they came from other directions. They decided to go for the peak. 3 of them did it, but because of exhaustion one of the ladies decided to wait for them at the shelter. They left at 2 pm and since the route is 5 hours long, they made it in 6 hours. They arrived to the shelter at 8 pm and they wanted to go back into the valley, which trip would have been at least 6 hours long in complete fog. At least they changed their minds and slept at the shelter. That was a very good decision.
Third day:
We woke uo at 5am and waited to see what would happen. Slowly it started to clear up, so quickly we got ourselves and launched peak invasion 7:30am.
We could go ahead very good in the frozen snow, and at 9:30am we reached the Grossglockner (3798m). On our way we had a good weather, but at the end it became cloudy.
After a little rest and taking pictures we headed back, at the shekter we took the rest of the gear and headed for the valley. We arrived at the Glocknerhaus in the evening, sliding down with more or less trouble. We got there totally exhausted.
Summary:
We have never lived through such an ordeal on a mountain, and although there were some dangerous situations, our guardian angels had been there and took care of us.
It was a fantastic experience to climb the mountain. We thank the spirit of the mountain, to let us be there and that we came back intact.
