Paul recently wrote a blog post regarding Austria, it can be found on his blog Paultheclimber titled “And So we Venture to Austria” and is a very good read, if you havn’t already read it 🙂 it detailed his climbing success in Silver Park (Silvretta) and the dismal weather in Zillertal hence our very brief stay in Austria.
I therefore don’t want to repeat him too badly so prepare yourselves for lots of photographs….
Austria
The Cloud Line in Silvretta
We started in a beautiful place called Silvretta, where the climbing was at high altitude and the views were stunning.
Silvretta walk with the Village Galtur in the distance
Ski Lift Back To Ivan
We spent a very drunken evening in the small town of Galtur at the base of the mountains, a lovely little ski village with huge wooden guest houses and intricate wooden designs on the exteriors, we drank way too much red wine in a very posh hotel and inconvenienced an Austrian man by stealing his hat for a photograph in a typically drunken way.
3, 4 maybe 5 glasses of Red Wine!
Rather Drunkedly Claiming an Austrian Hat, and a Cuddle from and Austrian Giant!
We also spent many days and evenings taking in the veiws and enjoying (might not be the best word) the walks Silvretta had to offer;
View from the Crag Silvretta
Too Young Too Die
The Moon, A Headtorch and a Few Beers
Last Day at Silvretta
By an incredible stroke of luck we were able to arrange to meet with friends from Germany; having met these guys in Font on a couple of occasions we had never been lucky enough to meet up again, and it had been two years since we had seen each other. Travelling from Germany they arrived late on the Friday night and we spent all day Saturday running round the hillside pointing them at climbs.
Paul and Gogi even took on the Photo bloc, which turned out to be a hard mantle with a terrible terrible landing. The landing left spotting almost impossible and our protective padding looked more like a joke than remotely useful. This was probably not the best climb to try at the end of a busy day, and exhausted Gogi was almost over the top with his leg and knee over and starting to pull when his batteries ran out and he started to peel backwards, after a quick shout for help Paul was on hand pulling Gogi over the top of the boulder by his arms, much to the relief of the lonesome spotter underneath. Safely on top Gogi adopted the foetal position for a couple of minutes, before everyone relaxed and started laughing with relief.
Paul had a very successful time with his climbing, however my climbing was not as successful, the rock was razor sharp and I struggled to commit to holding onto the holds for fear of slicing a finger, I also had minimal energy left by the time I even got to the climbing after the hike. The lack of energy was something Nicole and Gogi witnessed when I took a very high fall from the top of a boulder landing arse first into Gogi’s chest. Luckily the mighty Gor did not budge an inch despite me hurtling at him out of control, and I bounced of his chest into Nicole who stopped me tumbling any further. I have never been so grateful for a good spot.
After a brilliant weekend Nicole and Gogi headed home. They left after much discussion about meeting again in Switzerland or Germany and they left Cookie with a massive smile on his face after bringing us some traditional German Booby shaped biscuits, which Cookie seems to have claimed for himself.
Cookie Monster and his German Booby Biscuits – He’s very protective of them…
After Silver Park we headed to Zillertal to meet with Jase and Claire and explore the famous climbing area. We were unlucky with the weather and in almost two weeks had mainly rain, with such dense forest it meant the climbing took days to dry and so it was almost impossible. We spent a few days playing in the one open meadow area, which was very pretty and full of menacing cows.
When returning to the vans one night we had our first experience with a menacing farmer too. We returned to find a newly erected fence penning in Ivan and Juan, the fence builders found this amusing and quickly pulled back the fencing to let us out, but the farmer was less than impressed. We took our leave and spent one day exploring a smaller open area in the opposite valley.
A Rare Gap in the Rain Zillertal
The temperature dropped and with the rain came the snow, the snow line on the surrounding mountains was creeping lower, so we all decided to hot foot it to Switzerland in the hope of catching the last bit of summer.
One thing we noted was Austria definetely had some of the funniest signs we had seen….
How did they know?
The Warning Signs – Beware the Evil Waves
My favourite of all… No Monkeys Past This Turn Style. 🙂
Switzerland
Cool Cloud Formation Above the Vans
We have been in Switzerland for a couple of weeks now, and we have enjoyed some brilliant sunny mornings lazing on the grass near the vans, slack lining and reliving youth by trying handstands and cartwheels, we then climb in the afternoon till dark, when we previously visited Chironico on this trip the temperature was over 30 degrees and we couldn’t contemplate climbing so it is nice to be back in better conditions.
It is well know that i hate slab climbing, and Claire is so good at it she makes it look like a piece of cake, With this hate for slabs in mind she likes to point me at the scariest biggest slabs she can find 🙂
I hate slab climbing…
Lets Climb this Massive Slab
As the weather gets cooler we are finding fewer insects, but we have been lucky?? enough to find these creepy crawlies during the last few weeks of morning sunshine.
We also have a new entry for the funny sign catergory …
Best Health and Safety Warning Ever
The forest has a new threat to climbers, instead of the weather it is …. chestnut season and the forest is full of chestnut trees as all the spikey covered chestnuts are falling from the trees it is only a matter of time before one of us gets hit with one of the tumbling spikey balls, and if we don’t get hit by accident you can guarantee one of your climbing party will be throwing them at you in the hope you believe a tree did it!
What can you do with – A Glittery Hat, A Stick Brush and A Rest Day….
- Collect Chestnuts Of Course
Scribbles from the Roadside 
Reblogged this on Just Go Places.
Amazing shots….Austria is endowed with so much of natural beauty….
you’s are still having a brilliant time by the sounds of it. those signs are brilliant (monkey one is my favourite :))
mam sent me your email – very funny stuff (kay & cows dont mix do they?) xxx