Of brilliant blue skies, dazzling green meadows and
icy mountains. By Marlene J. Lucas
When I meet new people who ask where I come from, I say "Austria", enunciating the word to the extent of sounding pedantic. I found the need to do so, because I get the reply, "Lovely place! I've been to Perth (or Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney).” On my last trip home to Vienna, I saw souvenir T-shirts with simpering cows
hopping like marsupials on verdant alpine meadows, captioned with ‘There are no kangaroos in Austria.’ As I point out to my interrogators, I say "No, no. Not the country Down Under, but Austria in Europe." A split-second of silence. "You know ... the waltz, Vienna, Sacher torte, apfel strudel," I hang in there.
With a twinkle in their eyes, they gush, "Aaahh, Mozart, Sound of Music, Salzburg,” which, incidentally, feted 2006 as Mozart Year, the 250th birth anniversary of the musical wunderkind Wolfgang Amadeus. Anything Mozart-related was performed, purveyed and purchased, especially during the high summer tourist season. Much as we dreamed to be part of the literati and glitterati who flocked to Mozart's birthplace, we imagined Salzburg city to be too crowded. We still went to the region, but for a different motivation.
Saddled with a sedentary lifestyle that involved unhealthy food and very little exercise, we focused on getting back in shape, spring chickens we no longer were. That meant doing something more strenuous and sweat-inducing in the cool, fresh mountain air. What better way than serious hiking? Arming ourselves with good trekking boots and a rucksack to carry our snacks, maps, and gear, we set off for Zell am See, Kaprun, Saalbach, Hinterglemm and Wagrain. To ski buffs, these are a few of the world-famous place names in the Salzburg region where downhill slalom skiers swoosh down slick snowy slopes, daredevil snowboarders hot on their tails. In summer, these once snow-capped mountain pastures and hills are home to contented cattle chewing on their cud and the solitary backpacker trudging up hiking trails, some well-trodden and easy, others lonely and challenging.
Our first stop was Zell am See, billed as the capital of the Europa-Sportregion. The name ‘Zell’ stems from the Latin Cella (small room) in Bisoncio, reminiscent of the abbey established by Salzburg monks in 740AD. Zell am See lies on the fringes of the Zeller See (lake), at the foot of the 2,000m Schmittenhöhe mountain. For the more laid-back, there are relaxing panorama sightseeing boatrides on the lake. The sports-minded can get their kicks from watersports, windsurfing, golf, horseback riding, mountain bike tours or beach volleyball. Nature lovers may choose a three-hour easy hike along the lakeside promenade, beginning at Zell am See's city center and heading westward, making a short detour to the delightful Schloss Prielau (Prielau castle), passing the eastern bank of Thumersbach, with its many promenade trails and charming view of Zeller See and the city. The walk continues until you return to the starting point.
We grabbed the chance to see the stunning area from a bird's eye-view. At the Zell am See airport, we hopped into a six-seater Piper plane for a 30-minute reconnaisance flight. The day was great for flying, not a cloud in the sky. We soared over the 3,203m Kitzsteinhorn, zoomed above the renowned Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse. This was the pass that led to the Hohe Tauern National Park with its spectacular, unspoiled landscapes of alpine meadows, woods and pastures, ending before the 3,798m Grossglockner mountain, Austria's highest, that towered above the Pasterze, the longest glacier in the Eastern Alps. I felt giddy staring out at the breath-taking view from a dizzying height. My heart raced when the plane bucked gently, but I was totally overwhelmed by the beauty of the lake's sparkling waters, the rugged mountain peaks lightly dusted with snow, the varying shades of green from the trees and pastures, the matchbox-sized houses fringing the lake.
Not far from Zell am See lies Kaprun, with its mountain reservoirs and summer glacier skiing. This picture-pretty village sprawls at the foot of the mighty 3,203m Kitzsteinhorn. We arrived at the Gletscherbahnen (glacier railways) and jumped on a cable car to the 2,452m high Alpine Center on the Kitzsteinhorn. One can
also aim for the 3,029m Gipfelstation (summit station) panorama terrace and take the glacier tour with experienced Kitzsteinhorn guides well-versed in alpine flora and fauna, glaciers and the world of mountains.
We went for the short half-hour hike from the Alpine Center to the Gletschermoräne (glacier moraine – an accumulation of earth and stones deposited by a glacier). It was late July, and we actually saw skiers coming back from their run on the glacier lake. Then we wandered on to the Krefelderhütte trail down to the 1,976m Langweid glacierjet station. The whole hike lasted three hours under the dazzling blue heavens which were partly cloudy – perfect trekking weather. Mountain flowers caught our eye with their myriad colors – alpine anemones in buttercup-yellow, cornflower-blue gentians, wild azalee in bright red and pink. We stumbled on animal holes, peered at dark birds of prey circling above. The trail was well-marked and travelled, but this time we had the magnificent view to ourselves. Still a long way down to the parking lot, we took the Langwied glacierjet as fatigue caught up with me.
Kaprun also boasts of its annual two-day Burgfest (castle festival), with reenactments of activities from the dark Middle Ages. Visitors could hobnob with Kaprun gents and their ladies attired in authentic costumes from days of yore, ogle at participants of the knights' tournament, listen to minstrels sing their bawdy tunes, or gawk at jugglers and fire-eaters.
The 320m long, 32m deep Sigmund-Thun Klamm (a gorge named after Sigmund, Earl of Thun, a Salzburg nobleman who died in 1898) is another must-see. In the late Ice Age (around 14,000 years ago), the Kaprun valley was covered by a huge glacier. As the glacier melted, it left behind a deep groove through which the Kaprun river flowed into the valley. We walked along a serpentine, wooden footpath through the gorge, the rushing waters thundering below us.
Westward from Zell am See, we headed to Saalbach (which also borders the well-known vacation paradise Hinterglemm), where we found a homey pension we used as our base for the next hikes. We took the Kohlmais Gipfelbahn (cable car) to the adventure trail of the 1,794m Kohlmaiskopf mountain. Our starting point was the 1,804m Schönleitenhütte (Hütte or ‘hut’), backtracked to the Wildenkarhütte, wended our way through woods and meadows to the Thurneralm and the Asteralm, finally catching the mid-station cable car back to the parking lot. The entire hike lasted about four hours. We surely slept well that evening.
The next day, in Hinterglemm, we rode with the Hochalmbahn (high mountain pasture cable car) to reach the Hochalmhütte, about 1,200m high. We tramped to the Rosswaldhütte where we stumbled on a delightful little chapel, continued to the 1,819m Reiterkogel (Knight's hill). We sat on a bench to swig our water and munch on Wurstsemmel (sausage buns), pumpkin seeds and cashew nuts, admired the spectacular view of endless evergreens and mountains spread out before us. We cleared away our meal, then trudged down to the 1,580m Wetterkreuz. Marching through the grassy pastures, (deftly avoiding the lurking cow patties), we sucked in the invigorating, nippy mountain air, only to sneeze as we sometimes got a whiff of the pungent scent of freshly-fertilised fields. The twitter of birds, the trill of a brook, the ting-a-ling of bells hung from grazing cows lent a dreamy touch to the idyllic setting. A covey of clover-chewing cows cast curious glances our way as we hiked past them, careful to keep our distance. Our aching legs followed the trail which brought us back to Saalbach after almost 4.5 hours.
That evening, we were surprised by a hefty thunderstorm, quite frequent up in the alps, but we were safely ensconced in our rooms. We broke camp early the next day, leaving behind the Pinzgau region and headed southward towards Pongau, another hiker's heaven. We sought cosy lodgings in Wagrain, touted as the ‘most flower-rich
village’ in Austria, with its all-weather Wasserwelt Amadé (a huge indoor and outdoor swimming pool complex). Joseph Mohr, the Austrian parish priest-poet who wrote the words to the world-famous Christmas carol Silent Night, is buried under a 400-year old linden tree in the town's cemetery. We drove to Kleinarl, not too far south of Wagrain, parked at the 1,220m Schwabalm and set off for the Tappenkarseehütte, 1,820m high. Legend talks of a mythical Lindwurm, or dragon, hiding within the tarn's dark depths, nursing terrible injuries from a bold attempt to kill it. There the dragon lurks, gnawing at the lake's massive rockface until it breaks through and unleashes the icy waters on the valley below.
Our steps took us on a 3.5km long trail past the Jägersee (hunter's lake). We meandered through a forest until we reached a stony, steep path. The climb was quite torturous. Ancient trees spread out roots that looked like charred, gnarled fingers out to trip me as my wobbly legs strained to ascend. Although the air was cool, pearls of sweat lined my forehead, but I gritted my teeth and slogged on, rearranging the rucksack straps biting into my neck and shoulders. My teenaged daughters, with the stamina of young alpine goats, forged ahead and sat on a bench, waiting for their slowpoke mother to catch up. A small but lively waterfall thundered down the mountainside, and I braced myself to cross the smooth, slippery stones on its tiny stream. Suddenly, my foot slipped, splashing into the surging iciness, my watertight boots saving my feet from getting wet. My husband came to rescue me, but I had clung onto the guiding steel chain that was obviously put there to prevent hikers from literally going over the edge. I tried not to think of the terrifying
100-meter plunge down the mountain.
After what seemed like an eternity, we reached the Tappenkarseealm, 1,768m high. As a gentle breeze rippled the lake's dark green waters, I half-expected the Lindwurm to raise its head at me. The sky was a bewitching blue, the rarefied atmosphere making my head spin. Our goal was to reach the Tappenkarseehütte, another half-hour hike away. Before I broke down, we arrived at the rustic inn there where we quenched our thirst and hunger with hearty delicacies like Leberkäse mit Spiegelei (a kind of sausage meat with a fried egg), Griessnockerlsuppe (a bouillon soup with semolina dumplings), and Frankfurter Würstel (hotdog sausage). We gulped a fizzy, herbal drink called Almdudler (high pasture yodeler). Fortified, we headed back to Kleinarl. It was growing late in the afternoon and a thin fog laced through the trees. The trek, this time downhill, was much faster as I was helped along by gravity. Reaching the car at Schwabalm, I sighed with relief. My t-shirt, pullover, jacket were drenched with perspiration. The whole adventure had lasted six hours, and I looked forward to a long, hot shower to relieve my aching bones.
The next day was drab and rainy, but that did not stop us from taking the panorama lift up to the picturesque, 11th century Burg Hohenwerfen, a former archiepiscopal fortress in the village of Werfen, 46km south of Salzburg. We took a guided tour of the chapel, the dungeon and torture chamber, the weapons room. Despite the rain, we mounted the winding staircase to the belfry and gazed at the magnificent countryside of the Salzach valley. The foul weather made us miss the chance to see the daily performance of professional falconers with their trained birds of prey.
That evening, we retired early, as next morning's excursion was to the world's largest Eisriesenwelt (giant ice cave), a 40km long
system of caves within the Tennen Gebirge (mountain range), also found in Werfen. I thought this tour was hike-free, but we had to march 30 minutes up a steep footpath from the parking lot to the cable car, take another 15 minute winding trail to the cave entrance, where a professional guide awaited us. Hand-held open-flame
carbide lamps lit our way, as electrical lighting was not installed to preserve the caves' natural surroundings. The cave had a year-round constant 0°C temperature. I was cold to the marrow despite my
jacket and the exertion of climbing 400 steps along the 800m trail in the main display cave. Our guide provided historical and scientific background to the 40-60 million year-old gigantic ice figures (a polar bear, a mammoth, stalagmites, a massive curtain of ice), which he illuminated with dazzling magnesium tapers. The descent from the highest point within the cave (1,775m) was much easier, my breath no longer coming in painful gasps. The whole visit lasted three hours, and I was glad to be back in the car.
The last mountain we scaled was the 1,849m Sonntagskogel in Wagrain. The day was damp and drizzly as we followed the winding trail up muddy meadows, dodged a stubborn steer blocking our path, crossed hurdles meant to keep the cows within their pastures. We rested our tired feet and calmed growling stomachs at an inn in Sonnalm, before we hiked back to Wagrain, the whole tour lasting three hours (not counting the pause to eat).
This hiking tour was definitely an eye-opener for me. After an intensive two weeks of marching, climbing, eating less, I noticed I felt fitter and firmer. So much so that my husband promises to take me hiking again this summer!
Notes
Stay on marked trails, as shortcuts destroy the vegetation. Latch gates of fenced pastures when going through.
Do not pick alpine flowers (most of which are protected), nor disturb the local animals.
Make use of a good hiking map of the area. Start out early. Take note of the weather forecasts and reports (thunderstorms) and turn back if weather changes for the worse. Inform your hotel or lodgings of your whereabouts before the tour. Inform yourself of emergency mountain rescue telephone numbers.
Do not over-exert yourself. There are many hiking tours, walks and strolls that cater to everyone (Easy for children, older persons; challenging for experienced hikers). Use a walking tempo that suits your level of fitness.
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