Hiking and Climbing in Tyrol -98
In August 1998, from 9th to 23th, a great group of young people from all over Europe gathered to spend two wonderful weeks in Austria. "Rund um die Reichenspitze" or "Hiking and Climbing in Tyrol" was a Rotary Youth Summer Camp, organized together by three Rotary Clubs in Austria. Rotary clubs Schwatz, Rattenberg and Kufstein were these hard working clubs who spent a big amount of their time and money to make this camp possible. Thank you very very much to all of these clubs!
A more detailed diary follows with photos, places and people. Enjoy your trip to the Alps!
Our group consisted of 17 youths. Michele Bandini from Italy, Ido Batchko from Israel, Jessica van Rüswick from the Netherlands, Joan Galbani from Spain, Yonca Colakoglu from Turkey, Fahrettin Yücel Nalinci from Turkey, Raffael Blattner from Switzerland, Silvia Sager from Switzerland, Tiago Vicente from Portugal, Marta Fanha from Portugal, Xavier Bouteille from France, Deborah Biard from Belgium, Golan Maayan from Israel, Nina Larsson from Svewen, Stavros Zacariadis from Greece, Jan Terje Hakedal from Norway and me, Tiina Skogberg from Finland.
Most of the people arrived on Sunday. In the evening we all cathered together to meet the host clubs and our fellow camp participants. As Tiago wrote in the diary "(different) ages and countries were no longer what split us but what would keep us together for an unforgettable stay at the Inn Valley". During this first meeting we got to know each others a bit more and also lerned about the next two week's program. Everyone had a hostfamily for the first couple of days and I shared my room with a Swiss girl, Silvia.
On Monday we woke up early and met the leaders and other youths in Schwaz. It was supposed to be an easy training day for the next week's hike on the Alps, but most of us found it hard enough just to walk up to the little church on top of a smaller mountain! Lack of excersice...We went through Wolfsklamm to Georgenberg and to the castle of Trazberg. After lunch (Wienerschnitzel of course) we felt a bit more fresh. After visiting the castle we noticed that surprisinly the way down was much easier than the way up had been! In the evening the hosts showed us some nice pubs in Schwaz and so the night fell as we were still talking about the exciting day with a glass of beer.
Tuesday 11.8.1999
If we thought that the Monday's trip was a hard one...we realised we had seen nothing when we met on Tuesday morning! Today it was time to walk over Proxen, Kellerjoch and Kuhmesser to reach Gasthof Loas. We walked and walked and walked...on the dirt roads, through the forests, on the Alp fields until we finally reached the top. Our leader was very clever not to tell us where we will end up because it seemed so far away that half of the group would have said no thanks! We walked 5 hours and went up +1100m this day. In the evening we moved to Rattenberg where I had the pleasure of spending the next days in a hotel with 5 boys :)
On Wednesday we had a "day off", sightseeing in Innsbruck. We saw the Golden Roof and walked up to the church tower. After all we had had plenty of excercise during the last two days.
Thursday was another nice walking day, a little easier this time. Fist we took a chair lift up to Rofan (cheating...) and walked a bit until we found a suitable place to do some rockclimbing. I had never tried it before but thanks to our great leader, Martin, I made it to the top, half way pushed half pulled...We all had great fun, some enjoyed climbing and some concentrated on the beautiful scenery. Too soon it was time to leave, the storm was on the way and that can be a bit dangerous on the mountains. Of course we left a bit too late and it was pouring rain all the way down when we sat 50m up from the ground on a chair lift! Most of us were totally soaked when we finally reached the bottom of the mountain. In the evening we had a barbeque party at Martin's place so we had lots of fun again...eating, drinking etc.
On Friday we moved to Kufstein and the whole group stayed in Andreas Hofer -hotel. In the afternoon one member of the Kufstein club, Andreas Heidegger took us to a bicycle ride to a lovely small lake where we swam, enjoyed the sun and lunch organized by the Kufstein club. In the evening we found our way to the Starlight disko (getting lost is always much funnier than going the straight way) and afterwards continued partying at the hotel.
On Saturday we walked around the town (not everyone was able to make it due to the intensive partying previous night) and visited the Planetarium. We learned about the town history and saw some important locations, not to forget the great Organ that had a lovely sound (not!)...
Everyone was feeling a bit nervous and excited when we woke up in the morning. We had spent all evening (some all night) trying to fit everything we need in one week into our backbags...and naturally make it as light as possible. In the morning we were taken to Krimml by bus and from there we walked along beautiful waterfalls to Krimmler Tauernhaus (1622m), 3 hours of walking and +550m up. It was there when most of us finally realised that there was no going back - from now on we had to be a group, to help and to support each other on our journey. It was also the place where we said goodbye to warm water for a week! How nice is that...
It was an early wake as it is common in the mountains to get up early and get going before the sunrise...We walked over Rainbachscharten to Zittauer Hütte (2329m). It was about 5 hours of hard walking through the forest and rockfields and even through some icy snow. We went about +1100 up and -400m down that day. The route itself was difficult but oh so beautiful and our group divided into many smaller groups each making their way at their own speed. Some of us, including me, had a chilly swim on one of the Alp lakes on the way. Refreshing and so cool! When we got to Zittauer Hütte we were feeling tired but no too tired for some fun. Martin lead us for a shorter walk (1 1/2 hours)in the evening, we climbed up to the snow and had fun like kids sliding down the icy snowy bits in between the rocks. After that all we needed was a great dinner, some card games and singing and we were all ready for bed.
Tuesday we woke up early again and started walking towards Richter Hütte. We went over Rosskarscharten(2690m) and some of the group climbed to the top of Rosskopf (2845m). It started to get really windy and cold and during the break I even had to use the woollen cap I had brought with me. When we finally got to our next Guest House after 5hours and +720m up -650m down, we had to say goodbye to Martin and Elisabeth, his doughter. It was a very sad goodbye because we had learned to know and like them both a lot during our stay. After dinner and some games we fell asleep almost instantly.
Wednesday opened as a foggy wet looking day and continued to be so until the end. We went over Gamsscharten(2373m) to Plauener Hütte(2373m), 600 meters both up and down. The group divided into smaller groups again and in the wet fog we got lost a few times and even had some nasty falls due to the wet rock and low visibility. After getting lost few times and loosing the other people got our minds a bit down...but suddenly we noticed the cabin right in front of us. The fog was so thick we couldn't see the cabin until we were right next to it. The rest of the evening we spent trying to get all things dry! We also managed to get the spirit ub by singing together and playing some games after dinner.
On the morning we couldn't believe our eyes. The sun was shining and the scenery was so beautiful! We had seen nothing the day before but now the scenery was really worth looking. We only took off for a short tour today, it had been planned to reach the higher top and go to the glacier but unfortunately the icy conditions at the top didn't allow us to do so. So, we started to walk up the mountain closer to us until we had walked about 30 minutes. Then the group divided into half, the ones who didn't want to climb (it did include some climbing not just walking) went back down. But the brave ones continued. After Peter and Martin had made us a safe way through the icefield we all began to go up holding the rope just in case. I have to admit that when I was trying to climb the wet icy cold rock without seeing anybody in front of me I nearly lost my courage. Even though the route was safe it was still a scary experience for a beginner like me. Hanging on to the ropes and metal pieces someone has placed on the rock to make it easier, not wanting to look up and too afraid to look down...only the helpful voices from down below made me continue all the way to the top. But it was worth the trouble! On the top of Richterspitze (3052m)we took traditional "schnapps" before starting the way down...and believe me the way down was not a slightly bit easier than the way down!
On Friday we left the beautiful Plauener Hütte to walk over Hl.Geist-Joch (2658m) to Kasern (1566m). It took about 5 hours, 300m up and 600m down. It was a nice pleasant walk down the hill to a small Italian village. There we stayed a while waiting for a bus that took us to Ahrntal. We stayed there for the night in a small hotel. On Saturday it was time to get on the buss again and drive to a city called Brixen in the Northern Italy. The scenery was really beautiful and so was the city. Most of us went shopping while some enjoyed the old town festival spirit. After we got rid of all our excessive money we had a great lunch in oe of the old city's restaurants. There was no pizza but plenty of pasta and desserts. After that we drove back up to Austria and found ourselves in Kufstein again. In the evening the clubs had organised a small farewell dinner. Most of the time we spent writing addresses to each others and of course taking photos. Too soon it was time to go back to the hotel, where we stayed all in one room and said goodbyes when it was time for someone to leave for home.
Great big thanks to all the organizing Rotary clubs and to all the new friends I made during this trip!
