Climbing in the Austrian Alps
Rotspitze, Rofan, Austria
Last night, I was sitting in the Zurich Flughafen (airport). My flight to Heathrow was delayed. It’s pretty impressive that of the eight flights this trip, that was the only to get delayed.
I was sore. Seeing as though I had some time, I decided to stretch. Man did that feel good. I did some of the poses we practice in my Yin yoga class. The guy sitting next to me looked at me kinda funny. I wanted to turn to him and say, "Don't mind me, I'm just really sore and need to stretch. You see, I went rock climbing in the Austrian Alps yesterday." How cool does that sound? (!!!)
Saturday was a long day. But I loved every moment of it. The 'bus' left Thomas' house at 9. We headed out of the city and grabbed some food on the way. We got our first glimpse of the Alps after a half hour or so. Then as we entered the valleys between the foothills, we drove past the most beautiful lake. I wish I could remember the name. It was gorgeous, all cozy and nestled in between the green mountains.
A little while later Thomas pointed at this huge mountain with a large rock outcropping on the top, "That's what we're climbing" he says. Ummm, k.
 The view towards Rotspitze in the Rofan region of the Austrian Alps. |
 The side of Rospitze we repelled down. |
We parked, packed our gear and bought tickets for the gondola (its just like the Tram at Snowbird). After we got to the top, it was about a bit less than a hour's hike to the base of the climb. It was a spectacular sight.
Manik tieing his shoes before the climb.
Thomas chose 2 routes for us to climb. He and his girlfriend, Doris, took the one on the left. Manik and I, the one on the right. Unfortunately I'm not as gifted as other people I know and I can't even begin to describe the view from the climb. Amazing doesn't do it justice, but that's the best I can do.
Doris seconding the climb after Thomas on the second pitch. What an amazing view.
I lead the first pitch (I think it was a UIAA 5+) and Manik lead the second. I lead the last pitch. The last pitch really zig-zagged across the face, and the rope drag was nuts. I got quite the workout on the top taking up all the extra rope so that Manik could second. The repel down was great. Luckily a 2nd group of climbers were on the bottom and were able to take a GREAT picture of all of us.
Thomas, Manik, myself and Doris after our climb.
We repelled down on Thomas' double ropes. And before he began to pull the ropes down, he looked up and thought the ropes were twisted, so he untwisted them. Or so he thought. The ropes ended up becoming really twisted together. Thomas tied himself to one end and hung off of it. The other end of the rope creeped up the smallest bit. He decided he needed more weight, so he tied himself and Doris to the rope, and they ran down the hill. Again, the other end of the rope only moved a few feet. So up and then down the hill they went.
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| Thomas and Doris bringing down the rope | |
After 20 minutes or so, the rope came down. We packed up our gear and began hiking back down towards the gondola. The last gondola ride down was at 5, and we knew we'd missed it, so we continued down the mountain.
 The view of the Alps and the lake silouhetting Doris. |
 Thomas, myself and Manik on the way down the mountain. |
Luckily Manik and I had our headlamps, cause it got dark pretty quickly, and by the time with an hour left down the mountain, it was pretty much black. So after three and a half hours hiking down, we made it back to the van. Quite the day.
We ended the night at a big Bavarian restaurant, where we had beer and a nice little diner. I love how everything tastes better after a big hike.
 Thomas and Doris |
 Manik and myself |