so, the weekend has passed, but the sore quads remain to remind me of my adventures! saturday saw a visit into the big city, salzburg. while not technically a big city (~145,000 ppl), it was a refreshing change from the somewhat village-esque setting i find myself in at the university. there was hustle and bustle, and slow weekend market gazers. there were tourists who spoke english (!!) and little treasures in shop windows. and, thankfully, there were markets! now it's strange how relieved i feel having saw these markets... it's not as though i bought a whole tonne of food?! but, it is nice to know that it is there for when my tiny fridge that is currently filled with lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and apples, is empty and needs re-stocking. the market definitely brought a bit of wonder... you see, i am very intrigued by the concept of sausages. i truly do not understand the fascination with them. in salzburg, i found that most people were eating these very skinny sausages that appeared to be merely boiled, and simply dunked in mustard (no bun)?? and i am telling you, the market was filled with variety. even though i am not really into the cured meats, there were tonnes of them to choose from, with nice rolls and cheeses, and of course the amazing vegg i saw... and still the sausage?! this i will not understand! however, it was a nice place to visit, and i am sure i will be back. on the way home from the city, i walked to a bio-market i saw on the way in, which was a great stop, as i was able to find quinoa and soy-yogourt... two things i have been missing! the nutritional content of the food available within walking distance to my apartment is fair at best, so this should help!!
ok, so now my heroing adventure on the mountain they call untersberg! i was very excited to head out on the beautiful sunny day, to get the heart rate up with a hike. i had done my research, found the bus i needed to get to take me to the trail head, and of course had selected my trail from a very detailed, interactive map that i had found online. i was to hike reitsteg, which was described as a 'simple, even winter passable ascent', and was shown to have a series of simple switchbacks working their way up the significant elevation gain of 1200m. i was armed with map, and when i came upon the grouping of signs, somehow i got mislead... of course i didn't know this right away?! but i started to wonder with endless sequences of the stairs (pictured)... where are the switchbacks i definitely say in the map? that curve in the stairs does not count?! 
it wasn't until i came face-to-face with the ledge of fear, that i really realized i had messed up! there was no way that ledge was 'simple' OR 'winter passable'!! i knew i had messed up. BUT, the kicker was, i had a goal in sight, and i was going after the cable car station which i could only get to if i hiked up that ledge. i was sitting and pondering my decision (ok, not sitting, cause i was on the side of a mountain and you don't just kick back and relax in that state!), when an older gentleman who could piece together a few english words told me "there is no safety rope on that pass". well, i can't disrespect the wise words of a seasoned austrian hiker who had all but told me "maam, you are forbidden to pass along that ridge... your safety is at risk" (yes, that's an embellishment, but it is funny how a scared mind has no problem at all twisting words to improve the level of safety!). so, i decided for a change of plans. i turned to the left at the 'intersection' and hiked up a freakin scary ridge (where did this fear of heights come from... mom?!) to a break-away point where the sun came rushing in, took my breath away, and i was left to stare in awe and wonder at the view into germany. it was stunning! the wally move did prevent me from reaching my goal (i was about 200 m below the station), but it brought me to a stunning vista... well worth the trek!but this of course was only half the battle... now i consider myself a fairly decent climber, be it biking, running, or hiking, i enjoy the challenge of the elevation gain! and yesterday, i fared pretty well, i was holding my own (this is pretty easy to do when you are hiking by yourself... no one to keep up with, i was definitely holding my own!). but, my state of eccentric conditioning did not match the terrain i was climbing. bottom line, i knew i would struggle coming down... partly because of the difficulty, mostly because i am (and i think always have been) freaked out of going downhills. now i've always known i was a bit of a slowpoke on the descent, but it wasn't until the untersberg, that i realized how slow. people were screaming past me on the way down... i would hear them coming from behind, and i would literally get a chill as they blew past me whistling some austrian tune!! at one point, a guy was 'nice' enough to try to teach me the proper technique to come down with. this of course was in german, but i gathered i was supposed to only come down on my heel, which isn't the easiest thing to do when you are hiking in running shoes (come on people, give me a break, i only had 2 bags including ski equipment!). BUT, i did exercise this new technique, and for a while i thought i had got the hand of it. in fact, at one point i was cruising along pretty well, thinking, heh, i'm running down a mountain, and i'm holding my own. uh, no. at that very same moment, an older gentleman (i'm thinking 60-ish), not so gently passed me at a rate that was seriously embarassing... ok, i still don't have it! i really wish i had made it to that cable car to avoid the embarassment of my slow-poke downhill... maybe it would have been worth risking my life on that ledge?! well, the story has been told, and at least i got in 1.5 hours of eccentric training that will no doubt make my quads stronger for skiing!
the wally lead to wonder, and the view was amazing! i'm starting to get the hang of this rural austrian lifestyle!
pictures of the weekends events can be found here:
It's a good job that gramps was not there!!! I would still be up on the mountain!!!! So you get some of the fear of decent from me!
ReplyDelete