Above a sea of clouds
A trail into the sky
At the glaciers
We definitely have enough work to do. Therefore rule number one: Have enough breaks as well. So, Petra and me spontaneously decided to go for a little mountaineering expedition. A short look on the map and it was a definite: We wanted to climb “Hochwilde” (something like “High and Wild”), which is in South Tyrol right next to Oetz Valley, where they found that strange stoneage boy called Ötzi a few years ago. It’ around 3.500 metres high. For all of you who are used to count in feet: It’s fucking high!
We packed the car on a Saturday morning and started heading south. Of course the way there had to be an attraction as well, so we decided to drive over Timmelsjoch, which is a 2.500 metres high mountain pass. Pretty impressive.
Actually we had planed to camp the first night in Passeier Valley, but due to the temperature (around five degrees) we better forgot that and booked a room in a little hotel. Well, let’s say it was all right, but the landlord was a bastard. At least they had a sauna and the village’s pub offered a barbecue-mix to feed me for a week.
Rule number two: You have to be cool to climb a mountain. So Petra decided to wear her Gucci-sunglasses plus a 40 (!) years old bag pack. I decided to just be what I am (haha).
Rule number three: Who wants to climb a mountain has to start early. Since both of us are real outdoor pros we got up at six, had a breakfast and than walked up to Ice-Pass on around 3.000 metres, where we had a picnic in the cold wind. Now we definitely know why they call that spot the Ice-Pass! A few pictures later the most exciting part of the tour began: The way to the summit. Soon the air got thin and the trail more and more cliffy. We even past a spot where they had put a memorial tablet with some of those little Tibetan flags. Somebody fell off right there and died a few years ago. Indeed, it was a good decision not to look down but just to stare on the narrow trail.
At around three in the afternoon we finally reached a little pass right on top of the main Alpine crest. Now we stood on the upper end of the huge Oetztal-Glaciers. Austrian Ice in front of us, Italien stones in the back and a scary trail reaching into the sky. We had to admit: We were finally pretty knocked out and the altimeter already showed 3.300 anyway. Therefore we remembered rule number three: We are in the Alps, not on a playground. So don’t do something you will regret. Who wants to go to the summit, when it’s beautiful where you are? It was enough for the day and we walked down to “Stettiner Hütte”, a fucking packed mountain lodge on around 2.800 metres. I can tell you: MUCH food there! But just the right thing after a day like that. After a day like that it was of course as well easy to fall asleep, although there was that one guy snoring like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The next morning we started at minus one degree and above a sea of clouds. It would have been to easy to just walk down. Of course we had to try that one trail we had spotted on the map the evening before. Well, it didn’t work out. We walked (or better: climbed!) it four 2,5 hours until it finally turned out to be a dead-end. And it really wasn’t our fault. That little trail back down to Passeier Valley just doesn’t exist anymore our at least doesn’t exist where our map says it would be. In the end we had to walk back to Ice-Pass for another two hours just to start walking down to Passeier Valley on another trail from there. It was one of those days where you ask yourself why at all you do that shit. But looking back it was so fucking cool!
See China right in front of you,
cfö.
