Tell Tales - 2

I guess my biggest weakness is that I let others persuade me to do things which I would normally not do. And at times the same weakness becomes my strength as well. Or at least thats how I see it.

Letting people make me do things have made me experience the things that I thought were possible only inside a television screen, or were done by only others and not me. And I did the same again a few days back in Austria. Even though it was just a trip up a mountain range; it was not something I would have done voluntarily. Yet i have to admit that I was excited as well as stressed by it. The things I saw made me amaze, the strength and grandeur of Mother Nature can make anyone feel humble.

Well, so it began on tuesday (6th October, 2009). We got up early in the morning at about 5 a.m. and were on the road by 6:30 a.m. After a drive of about 3 hours we arrived at Obertraun, A small town on the lake Hallstättersee. where we went straight to the "talstaion Krippenstein", that is the base station of the cable car aka "seilbahn" in german.

"Herr (Mr.) Ganser" had an itenerary according to which we were supposed to sleep that night on a hut called "Simonyhütte" at the height of 2203 m. But we found out that this perticular hut was closed, but another hut, not far from this one was open. Hence we did not have to change our plans of sleeping in the mountains. Encouraged with the information we bought the tickets for the onwards and return travel on the "seilbahn" for all four of us.

Our first destination that day was : MAMUTTEHÖHLE (Mamoth Cave)

Even though it does not sound very interesting as it is, but the story behind the formation of these caves is astonishing. This cave features the difference of altitude of 1,199 m between the highest located entrance and the lowest ever reached point.At present about 60 km of the cave has been explored and of which 1km can be visited on the guided tours. Obviously the shear size of the cave is the reason behind its name.

Photo: courtesy Dachstein Welterbe Website.

But thats not all, the more amazing reality is that this whole "inside the mountain" space was once under the sea. Yes, Now high up in the sky, all this was formed 200 million years ago. The space we see today in the cave, was once filled with water.

Amazing is the only word that come to my lips.

The Next destination: RIESENEISHÖHLE (The Giant Ice Cave)

A similar cave to the previous one. With the difference that this one is full of Ice. and not just a bit of ice, but big ice bergs. at this time of the year, the whole cave was not full of ice, yet there was enough ice to open your eyes. words and photos don't do justice to the feeling that you get when you are present in nature's studio. Yet I present some of the photos I took during the trip.

Stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the cave.

(these are the smallest ones though)

This one made me smile thinking that if it was in India

somewhere, they would already be lining up to worship it. :)

So forth and so on. The trip inside the cave lasted for about 45 mins.

Once outside, we made our way to the cable car to go further up and deeper into the mountains. One more change of the cable car and we were ready to do the exploring ourselves.

From where we left the "seilbahn", it was a 3 hours trek to this "Simonyhütte" and 2.5 hours to the "Weiseberghutte" where we were supposed to stay for the night. Knowing that the Simony hut is closed, we still decided to go to it. Just for the sake of it, even when it meant an hour and half of extra trekking.

Nothing exciting happened during the walking up and down the mountains, except the excruciating pain in the muscles of the legs. :)

But, once there, feeling of achievement is good. This Simony hut is situated at 2203 m above sea level. I know it doesn't feel very high, when you read it like this. But trust me it feels high enough when you looks around and see only the tops of the mountains for miles & miles and a glacier at your eye level; Just in your reach. Yet far enough.

Simony hut is a tiny dot next to the glacier (don't try to locate it, even I can't see it from here; But I know it's there)

Simony Hut, almost there; yet far (think about the muscles in the legs)

At last at the "Simony Hütte" as its called in german

The DachStein Glacier

Now starts an hour decent to the "Wieseberg Hut". Which we shall reach by 7 O'clock in the evening.

Wieseberg Hut

And that was the end of the day

The tell tales will continue after a break, giving you the break to read and enjoy.

There is more to the second day of the trip, which might be exciting for some.