Fresch

This mountain is no stranger to this blog; I last wrote about it around a year ago, and before that in the snow, and before that on a day I still vividly remember 3 years ago. After an unfortunate mechanical ruined our hike & bike plans for another mountain, I decided to show Hoher Freschen to my like-a-brother friend Freddie who was visiting from Australia. I'd been meaning to go up there again for ages.

We trudged our way through angle-deep mud, Freddie wearing mere Vans sneakers and getting seriously judged for it by Austrians. I decided that we try a different way up, also along a ridge, and the feeling of reaching the peak in a half-cloud was as magical as all the other times before. I really enjoyed talking to Freddie about anything and everything. I love how this childhood friendship has continued and it was nice to reflect on how we've both changed and grown up during the 14ish years we've known each other.

Apart from that hike, I've also handed in my master thesis and project (!!) two weeks ago which is the main reason I haven't updated this blog in so long. In the archive column there's a pitiful two posts for 2016 which isn't exactly as planned, but c'est la vie. Masters was tough – mostly so in the last two months – and I'm happy to be out of that extremely stressful period. I still have to do a presentation/ test and, importantly,  pass it in about a month, so not all is over yet. I thought I had worked consistently from the start but I hadn't realised the huge amount of work that lay before me for the practical component after Tuscany Trail. The start of the masters-process was much more 'romantic' and I actually found the theoretical part much easier and more enjoyable than expected. I think I wrote the bulk of my thesis in trains to Berlin and Hamburg, cafes and early mornings in bed while drinking tea. I felt inspired to write most of the time and the topics to write about revealed themselves in (what felt like) an organic process.

My project was much harder. Coming up with a concept and trying to clearly and logically visually communicate a very complex idea was a lot of work. And all the more so in German, which I'm starting to feel I've plateaued and won't ever get any better. I might do a post about my project a bit later on because while I still somewhat doubt it, I think the message is worthwhile and very relevant right now.

I feel extremely thankful for the rich experiences and opportunities given to me. The next few months will be a little in-limbo, hoping to receive the degree and thus a visa to be able to work and stay here for a while. I'm savouring these experiences though (both good and bad) and while I don't know where they will lead me, I know it's part of a bigger plan that I trust God with. 

Clouds & light

Kanisfluh 2044m
One of the Bregenzerwald mountains I’ve always wanted to do, on a drizzly and misty day – hence only two photos. At the top we were in the middle of a cloud so had another completely white view. We were quite a big group and were still getting to know each other (new exchange students) when we did this, nothing like a hike to do that!

Hoher Fraßen 1979m
With a group of 8 lovely boys I hiked through the clouds up to a mountain sitting above the town where I work. I really enjoyed getting to know the Montafon/ Oberland mountains more this year.

Gurtisspitze 1778m
I’ve tried to make the most of the Indian summer we’re currently having (it’s all coming to an end on Sunday when the snow is apparently coming for good) so last Wednesday I went for a mountain bike ride in the morning up to Hohe Kugel (1645m) and in the afternoon went for a hike with Wim, Michel & Taavi up to Gurtisspitze, on the border to Liechtenstein. I found out about the mountain by some Instagram photos of the view a couple of weeks prior. My legs were crying on the way up (especially after some failed attempts at “shortcuts”) but the view with the sun setting was magical.


I just did a clean-up of my SD card and found some memories (real camera photos for a change!) of some more really nice hikes from the late summer. Sorry for the silence on here of late (it’s a new record I think, which is not a good thing). I feel like I’ve done so much since my last post that it’s too much to even try include everything on this blog. I’ll try to catch up.
Life is particularly good at the moment and I think that when everything is going so well, I’m less likely to blog. I’m excited for what 24 will bring. The past year has gone really fast but has been so good.

Almost

Up to Shilthorn Mountain (2970m, I can't ever seem to break the 3000m mark!) in the Bernese Oberland (Switzerland) with Allison at the start of my summer holidays. It was a dreamy 3 days, staying in a mountain hostel in Gimmelwald that you can only access by cable car or hiking. We hiked up to Shilthorn on a sunny morning and were greeted by cablecar loads of tourists at the top station (made famous by an old James Bond movie). It was a magical view over the Jungfrau nonetheless with noteworthy strudel at the restaurant. It's always hard deciding whether to take my camera with on hikes and usually I opt for the probably more necessary extra jacket or water bottle – hence it's mostly been iPhone photos on here of late.

Wild

It had only to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles for no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental. It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.

- from Wild by Cheryl Strayed

I was reading Wild in the evenings during this hike and took a photo of this page on my kindle. It seemed so fitting, perfectly describing my sentiment of walking for entire days. It was a thrill to wake up in the mornings with the sun rising over mountain peaks at the same level. Kallie was visiting from Australia and, being a mountain enthusiast like myself, it was the perfect opportunity to use my new ‘alpine club’ (yes) membership to stay in huts and do a longer multi-day hike in the Rätikon region on the other side of Vorarlberg.

Of course, it's always more than good to come 'home' to Dornbirn. I love the local mountains that I've now gotten to know so well, all the other accessible nature -  rivers, canyons, waterfalls. Also the great people, some who I've only met quite recently but really make me feel a sense of belonging here.

Peak III

I've been up even more mountains lately.

Hoher Freschen, take 3. This time, in contrast to last time, it was a lovely, sunny day (less snow than expected for once) and we showed Maddie, Isabella, Thibaut & Isa the impressive ridge line and could enjoy the view that we didn't get to see last time. Both Maddie and Isabella wrote lovely accounts of this hike too, see them here and here.

My brother visited a few weeks ago and one morning we walked up Bocksberg. It was overcast in town but we had blue skies above the low-hanging clouds. It was really nice to spend time with my brother and show him my life here.

About a month ago I went on the craziest hike I've ever done, Zitterklapfen. Even though it isn't particularly high for this part of the world (around 2400m), it's know as the hardest mountain to hike up in the Bregenzerwald (fitting for such a scary-sounding name). The hike started quite tame but after a few hours (and steep sections) we came across a 65+, very experienced-looking Austrian who told us (in thick dialect) to turn back before anything happens. We told him we'd turn back if it gets too bad, he shrugged, mumbled something along the lines of "your funeral" and kept going down. True, we didn't have ropes or poles or spikes and Stefan was in running shoes and jeans, but how bad could it be if some old Austrian man had already been up there that day?

...more snow than expected. Once we scrambled up a long stretch of steep, loose stones we had to cross a very long and steep snow field. Once finally on the other side, there was a lot of (unsecured) climbing, the kind of thing I thought you might need climbing equipment for, but in the end we made it to the top. The tricky bit was descending the way we came, and we (half) jokingly considered calling a rescue helicopter. The rock climbing down was okay, but once we made it back to the snowfield the snow had become considerably slipperier in the sun. Not knowing much about avalanches, we decided to go one at a time to be safe. As I was walking across, last in line, I suddenly slipped and slid few metres down on my stomach. Luckily I could dig my boot in the snow enough to eventually stop falling and, very shaken, made my way back to the stones.

My dear housemate, (the German) Anna, left 2 weeks ago. On her last week here she had the day off so we drove with Maddie and Thibaut into Brandertal to conquer Schesaplana. First we hiked up to the amazingly blue Lünersee, then further up to Totalphütte for a drink, and onwards through the snow to the 2965m high peak sitting on the border of Switzerland and Austria. Apart from a risky climb through vertical snow just before the peak, it was a really lovely, stress-free hike with even lovelier people. I'm already missing Anna a lot, it was so nice to live with someone who I had so much in common with.

Sometimes I think I’ve gotten better at saying goodbye and then there are weeks like the past few where I get knots in my stomach before even meeting with the person to be farewelled. People whose smell you’ve gotten used to, who you know when to talk to and when to have silence, whose mood you can sense before they say a word. All my exchange friends have now left town and it'll be pretty quiet until the next group come mid-August. This time I’m the one who’s staying and I've gotten a taste of what it feels like for the people back home when I leave.