5am: Waking
up to the sweet sound of Rammstein, getting up and dressed and telling my
brother to get up. A little breakfast and then we’re on our way.
6am: We
reached the parking lot at 1541metres above sea level (m a.s.l. in the
following texts). Four other people are getting ready for their tours and so do
we.
6:08am:
Target located! I’m starting to question my sanity. This isn’t the first time,
but last time we made it in three days (that was planned) and that was really easy.
6:42am:
Still quite dark, but the view is great. The path – not so much. I mean, look
at that.
7:09am: We
reached the last trees and had a great view up to the Zittelhaus, the house at
the summit
7:53am: The
first stop: Neubau at 2175 m a.s.l. Had tea and hot chocolate before going on
again
9:21am: A
short break. Don’t know, how high we were. See that small white place in the
woods? That’s where we started.
10:29am:
Next stop Rojacherhütte at 2718 m a.s.l., we drank a bit before going up the
crest. That meant climbing, so we put the trekking poles into our backpacks.
11:06am:
No, that’s not the path. That’s the way down if you slip and fall, so don’t so
that.
11:11am:
Now, that’s the way. Looks better,
right? Getting up there was actually pretty easy.
11:19am:
Yeah, that’s also the way. That was a bit hard, but getting down was a real
challenge.
12:36: We
made it! Zittelhaus at 3105 m a.s.l. Not over that crest on the right, but over
the glacier in the middle. Walking up that thing was horrible. Walking down there was a nightmare.
1:31pm: Had
a long break with the people we met a the parking lot in the morning. Now
enjoying the view.
2:59pm: Did
I mention the glacier and getting down? We took the longer way down. Longer as
in we need less time and go further down the snow-covered ice. I slipped and
managed to ram the hiking pole in the snow so that I only fell about two
metres, but that was enough and that whole thing almost made me have a panic
attack, which is why we crossed the snow to reach the crest again. Climbing down
wasn’t easy, but everything was better than that nightmare. This is what it
looked like from the crest, it was worse standing on it.
5:12pm:
Neubau again. We’ve been hiking for more than eleven hours now and we still had
quite a bit to go. Everything hurt.
5:59pm:
Twelve hours. We reached the first trees knowing exactly that it’d take about
another hour to get back to the car.
8pm: Home
(or, well, at the house we’re staying). Showered. Feeling a bit more alive
again. That tour was hard and I’m never going over a glacier again.
