With the last days of summer coming to an end we decided to get one last hike in before all the mountains were covered in snow and the only way to get up would be by chairlift.
Led by Adam, our very own Californian mountain man, we set off on a last minute trip to Garmisch where we had a 3 hour hike in the dark to our hut. In New Zealand huts luxury would come in the form of a cooking stove and a window. The Trogelhutte in Garmisch is basically the Hilton of all mountain huts, with 28 beds, a massive kitchen, wood stove and a basement full of beer this truely exceeded our expectations.
We woke up at 7 to make the use of the 9 hours of daylight we had available. The first few hours was easy going as it was all roads and mellow gradients, after our lunch break we arrived at the start of the walking track which looked like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.
even though the half meter wide walking track was covered with ice and the only safety was an iron cable sticking out of the wall we all made it past the scary section reasonably fast. From here we had to rush a bit to reach the top before our deadline.
The last 300 meter scramble up the scree slope was fun since we were all now numb to the heights and the buzz from running and climbing kept us going.
The second photo below is looking up to the Alpspitze from near our hut, we walked up the right side and traversed along the face, to the ridge on the left which had the scree slope tucked in behind.
This had to be the most beautiful and scary hike/climb I have done, it was definitely good to have some experience in the group as well as a lot of motivation and appreciation for what we were doing. Now let's see what winter has to offer.
Led by Adam, our very own Californian mountain man, we set off on a last minute trip to Garmisch where we had a 3 hour hike in the dark to our hut. In New Zealand huts luxury would come in the form of a cooking stove and a window. The Trogelhutte in Garmisch is basically the Hilton of all mountain huts, with 28 beds, a massive kitchen, wood stove and a basement full of beer this truely exceeded our expectations.
We woke up at 7 to make the use of the 9 hours of daylight we had available. The first few hours was easy going as it was all roads and mellow gradients, after our lunch break we arrived at the start of the walking track which looked like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.
even though the half meter wide walking track was covered with ice and the only safety was an iron cable sticking out of the wall we all made it past the scary section reasonably fast. From here we had to rush a bit to reach the top before our deadline.
The last 300 meter scramble up the scree slope was fun since we were all now numb to the heights and the buzz from running and climbing kept us going.
The second photo below is looking up to the Alpspitze from near our hut, we walked up the right side and traversed along the face, to the ridge on the left which had the scree slope tucked in behind.
This had to be the most beautiful and scary hike/climb I have done, it was definitely good to have some experience in the group as well as a lot of motivation and appreciation for what we were doing. Now let's see what winter has to offer.