I have hiked in mountains before, including trails around Lake Louise and Jasper in Alberta; also trails in the Peaks District and the Yorkshire Dales in England. So after having hiked up and down in the hills around Salzburg [Monchsberg to the south of the city; Kapuzinerberg to the north], I was looking forward to a longer hike in Untersberg, just south of Salzburg.
My plan was to take a bus to St. Leonhard, take a cable car up to the mountain range, then hike along the range and down into Germany and take the bus back to Salzburg. It looked like about an 8 - 10 mile hike. I knew there would be some ups and downs along the hike, and I had a detailed topographical map, along with some descriptions of the trails from several different guide sources online.
I probably should have realized from the reactions of so many people that my planned hike was going to be quite an undertaking.... the receptionists at the hotel, the person in the bookstore who sold me the topo map, my Segway guide, the couple I met walking in the hills the previous day, and the person who sold me the cable car ticket. They all seemed a bit skeptical in their tone, if nothing else. Nobody looked at me and said “you’re joking”; it was more like, “oh, that’s quite a hike!” The couple I had met the previous day warned me that all that going down would make my thighs sore (as it had theirs).
I couldn’t see it. I had done a 16-mile circle walk in the Peaks District last year, with a bad foot even, and it wasn’t all THAT bad. But I should have read the warning signs in their reactions.
When the cable car reached its upper terminal, I realized it wasn’t really the top. I knew from the maps that it wouldn't be the top, and yet I didn't envision how much farther up I had to go just to reach the first peak. But I stopped to take some photos even though it was pretty hazy. In the foreground below, on the lake, you might recognize the mansion that was used in The Sound of Music. And on the right is the Fortress, where I attended the concert Sunday night.
That photo was taken with the zoom lens. Here’s what it really looked like, just to give you some perspective:
You can barely see the mansion. The fortress is on the closer of the two hills. The farther hill is actually across the river. At the far left tip of that farther hill is a monastery for which that hill is named. Those two puny-looking hills are the two hills I wandered around on for the previous two days and was so proud of myself for going up and around on. Well huh! They weren’t much compared with Untersberg.
I had to go up and down over some pretty loose gravelly type rock to get to the first peak, Salzburger Hochthron, where the cross is in the distance in the photo below. The keeners from the cable car were long gone by the time I got there, and most older folks just sat on the cable car side of the yawning ravine rather than go over to the first peak. The path the entire way was just a bunch of loose, irregular marble gravel. Lumpy but loose, so I skidded a bit. I was grateful to have had the walking stick with me. This walk, I could see, was going to be nothing like the one in Jasper, where took a cable car up quite a ways and then followed a well-groomed trail to the peak (which was more like what I was expecting .... Hah! Was I ever wrong about THAT!)
I started out wearing my jacket, a shirt, and a t-shirt. After not long at all (probably right about where I took the above photo), I removed both the jacket and shirt and finished most of the rest of the hike in just my t-shirt.
So I went down the ravine and back up the other side to the peak. It really wasn’t all that bad, but two things combined to make it worse: the elevation, while not super high, had me breathing harder than I expected. And the loose stuff that seemed like scree was very difficult on slopes (and there were NO flat places along the trail, believe me!)
On the peak area (where you can see the cross in the above photo), I looked for a geocache but couldn’t find it. So what’s new, eh?
At the very peak, I looked around, and when I saw the next peak on my planned route, I did an internal gasp. I wish I had taken photos so you could see what I mean (I have a video, but it's 200mgs and will require some editing). The trail there was NOTHING like mountain trails I’d been on before... This one is very rugged (if it exists at all), and much of it appeared to be along the edge of a ridge with a zillion-mile drop. Gulp. I thought, well, let’s give ‘er a shot. After all I’d bought only a one-way ticket on the cable car. 8-)
So I started down into the next ravine on the other side of that first peak. It was really rough going. Lots of rocks and essentially no trail at all. It was worse than the south side of Pen-y-Ghent, the first peak I went up in Yorkshire. I got down to the bottom of the next ravine and realized I’d still be out there at midnight if I tried to complete my original trek plan. So I looked at the topo map and looked around me. I saw a big green line on the map that looked like a wide trail going all the way down. It didn’t look too bad so decided to go down that way. Little did I know what I was taking on, even though I should have. Here’s the map, pieced together from a website:
The cable car is the black line with dots that goes in from the right. Hochalm is the hut at the top where the cable car ends. There’s a semi-serious dip (shown in the photo above) between it and Salzburger Hochthron, the first peak along the ridge. And the "trail" I took down is the green wiggly line. Where I had intended to walk was quite a long way along the ridge, wwaaaaaayyyyyy beyond what is shown on this map.
There was nothing dangerous or anything about the trail I ended up taking. It’s just that it was a 1200-meter drop ski run. You know how those very steep ski runs look in the winter Olympics? Imagine walking down one of those slopes! After a 100 meters or so, my knees were yelling at me to call a cab.
The top part of the trail was especially difficult because it was mostly that loose marble scree and very difficult to walk down without slipping or falling. I must say, proudly, I never fell once. But I think the walking stick saved me plenty of times.
I got down to about 1500 meter elevation (started at the peak at about 1860) and took a break for a sandwich and some nuts and fruit. I also realized about then that I needed to drink more and drink it faster. So I did. Unfortunately, I ran out of water before the end (despite drinking a lot before I left and despite carrying about 2 ½ litres with me), but at least I got a bunch into me. At around this point, I started seeing more grass and less marble gravel, and of course the grass was much better for my knees. Here’s a typical portion of the trail/ski run:
Even now, when I look at those tiny, tiny little houses at the bottom and realize how far I had to walk down that slope, my knees begin to hurt all over again.
At 1400 meters I came across a set of alpine huts.
The agony was deepening. I sort of wished I might seriously injure myself so they’d have to heli-lift me off the hill. Another hundred meters on, I saw a guy in the distance, running up, then down the hill. I was impressed. He was the ONLY person I saw the entire way until I reached an asphalt road.
I was taking more frequent and longer stops with every 50 meters that I descended. And when I felt safe doing it, I walked backwards to take some of the stress off my knees (a technique Brian and Eric used last year after Maggie and Petru made us walk down a steep embankment at Beachy Head, near Eastbourne).
Here is another view of the “von Trapp mansion”, the monastery, and the fortress.
Finally, at about 1000 meters, I could see a gravel road that I had been expecting, based on the maps. I figured the slope there wouldn’t be nearly so steep as it had been up on the ski slope but I was concerned about walking loose, slippery gravel.
Would this be heaven at last?
Well, it was hard packed, so the going was much easier.
Up on the ski slope, I’d been listening to, and singing along with The Sound of Music much of the way down. On the gravel I listened to and “sang” along with Mozart horn concerti. I think that really helped. All the sudden I realized my knees weren’t hurting, but maybe it was just the Vitamin I, too.
After a zillion descending switchbacks on the gravel (logging?) road, I reached a parking lot and an asphalt road. I figured it would all be easy from then on. But it wasn’t. Instead it was all downhill from there! This was one time “all downhill from there” was NOT good.
So I stopped, finished my snacks and rested a bit. Finally I reached the village at the bottom (Furstenbrunn) where, as luck would have it, a city bus was waiting. It took me right to the heart of Salzburg.
If there hadn’t been a bus there, I’d have tried to figure out how to call a cab, regardless of the expense. I was SO tired from the hike that I started to drift off on the bus. Fortunately, I caught myself and from then on forced myself to stay awake so I wouldn’t miss the stop where I wanted to get off.
The sign at the top of the ski slope said it would take about 2 ¾ hours to get to the village at the bottom. I figured maybe 3, really, given my age and condition. It took me 4. I was worn out, done in.
Side note: the sign at the bottom says it would take 2 ¾ hours to get to the top, too, but one of the guide sites on the internet says to allow at least 5 hours to go up, no matter which route you take. Given the pain I was in, I almost wish I’d gone up instead of down the mountain.
I didn’t make my originally planned hike, but I did make an arduous hike; I certainly didn’t conquer the mountain. But it didn’t completely conquer me, either. I’ll be generous to myself and call it a draw.