So where were we?
Day 2 of the Dachstein trip:
The day before I slept like never before. The beds was comfortable enough and to top it up, I was extremely tired. SO........ I managed to persuade Mrs. Ganser to sleep in a different room, just by snoring. Of course I found out only in the morning when I enquired about her where abouts, since she was missing from her bed. And her husband said that she moved beds because I was snoring far too loud for her. I had no doubts about his claim. I knew it was true.
:)
Well well, what can I do?
We all got up quickly and were ready for the climb within an hour. The nature was waiting for us.
And this is what we were going to gain access on.
The day's or lets say the morning's aim was to climb this rock. It does look like a rock, doesn't it. Trust me it looked like a monster to me that morning. almost 1000 m higher than where I was standing, So not really justa rock. I was not looking forward to climb it. Yet I went for it. It said on the markers that it would take one and half hours to reach on top of the mountain. So we started the walk. :)
Following the path markers, marked with the austrian flag, on the way.
I was pretty excited about it, since it was one of the rare occasions when I was climbing a mountain without any restrictions from the law or parents. It was tiring, but FUN.
You can't see the left side of the mountain in the above photo, therefore let me tell you that it was deep enough to freeze my balls with anticipation of falling. Not all the rocks were stead fast in the earth, and an occasional one would release itself from the ground into my hand, specially when I would be trying to raise myself a bit with help of this rock.
Thankfully there were a few metal ropes fixed at couple of steep climbs, which made it easier for me to feel like Tarzan. But in the end it was all worth. We did not rush yet we made it 15 mins before the prescribed time. We had started at 8:45 a.m. and we reached up at 10:00 O'clock. That was impressive, I thought to myself.
And this is what we were going to gain access on.
The day's or lets say the morning's aim was to climb this rock. It does look like a rock, doesn't it. Trust me it looked like a monster to me that morning. almost 1000 m higher than where I was standing, So not really justa rock. I was not looking forward to climb it. Yet I went for it. It said on the markers that it would take one and half hours to reach on top of the mountain. So we started the walk. :)
Following the path markers, marked with the austrian flag, on the way.
I was pretty excited about it, since it was one of the rare occasions when I was climbing a mountain without any restrictions from the law or parents. It was tiring, but FUN.
You can't see the left side of the mountain in the above photo, therefore let me tell you that it was deep enough to freeze my balls with anticipation of falling. Not all the rocks were stead fast in the earth, and an occasional one would release itself from the ground into my hand, specially when I would be trying to raise myself a bit with help of this rock.
Thankfully there were a few metal ropes fixed at couple of steep climbs, which made it easier for me to feel like Tarzan. But in the end it was all worth. We did not rush yet we made it 15 mins before the prescribed time. We had started at 8:45 a.m. and we reached up at 10:00 O'clock. That was impressive, I thought to myself.
Here I am taking my last few steps towards the end of the journey
You can see how big this monster must be in real just by comparing the human form in the above photo
(that is Mrs. ganser)
At the Cross on the top
(you will find an entry in the visitor's book with my name on it)
Once on top, we relaxed a bit. Ate some mandarin and admired the scenery, glacier etc. etc. With Nothing else to do, I had to do some thing. So I took a photo with the normal digital camera and a binocular. You got it I improvised binoculars for the lens. Look at the following 2 photos: the first one has Simonyhut in it as it looked to us with normal eyes; and the second one has the Simonyhut as it looked from the Binoculars.
Can you find Simony Hut
And this is through the Binoculars
All the dramas done, its time to go back down. Now, thats scary. You know why? Because while coming up I didn't have to see down and hence was, most of the times unaware of the fall behind me. But now the conditions had changed and I was pissing in my pants. praying to God to give me strength. Nevertheless, we started our decent.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, except for one thing. FOSSILS
You heard it right, Fossils. As I wrote in the previous post that these mountains were formed more than 200 million years ago. At that time these 'now' mountains were under the sea and were 'not' mountains. It took millions of years for the this mountain range to become what it is now. And for millions of years, the carbon-dioxide enriched water in the region, seeped through the soil and travelled underground. Dissolving the limestone rocks, it formed the karrens, sink holes and the caves.
Well these could be found on any mountain range. Can't they? Well I am not sure because I haven't seen many mountain ranges. But what captivated me about this particular mountain range is the availability of numerous fossil prints in their natural state, in the plain site. Obviously when the seas receded or the earth rose; the sea creatures got trapped in the soil and became fossils over the time.
All my life I have treated fossils as some kind of Celebrity, whom you read about in the books or you see in the television or on the big screen but never in real life. Hence, the reason for my surprise and pleasure and EXCITEMENT were these fossils that follow.
These are just a few distinguishable ones. the rocks were full of different shapes and designs.
Do you see what I see?
This is the most amazing one: there is no doubt about what it is.
And this is the rock on which we found them, just beneath our feet
And so the excitement finished. Back at the hut for lunch. tired ......tired.....tired.
Its not finished yet. we still had to trek two and half hours to the cable car. BOOOOOhoooooo.
"Five Fingers" as they are called. Five ramps hanging on the void with a breath taking view under your feet through a glass.
Smiling on the outside and shivering inside thinking about the void beneath the feet
And then we came down to the town, after changing 3 Seilbahn (cable cars) of course. Then went to the nearby town/village called Hallstatte . There we visited the Catholic Church. Everything as normal with a very beautiful graveyard (flowers growing on each and every grave). And then again something to amaze me.
A ROOM full of painted Human skulls and human bones. I was like "Man! What on Earth is This room?"
Apparently, its an old local tradition to take out the skeleton of their ancestors and paint their Skull beautifully and then keep it. ???? Well there are weird traditions all over the world. I just did not expect something like this here.
See it for yourself:
Following are the photographs of the main square of the town. A nice little colourful town of Hallstatt. A beautiful place in the middle of the mountains. A place where you have to take a boat to go to the Railway Station, because its just on the other side of the lake.
This is where my journey in the mountains finished for this years visit to Austria.
If anyone wants to know more useful information about how to get to these mountains: you can visit:
Tel: 0043-61315310
I hope you enjoyed my trip in wonderland.
Now I must go back to my bread and butter, back to work in two days time.
Will be back here after a break, till then
ASTA LA VISTA baby.
