grundstil.blog

I haven’t hiked in a while. A real while. More like not in years. There were some day hikes and some nice small tours but overall, I didn’t move my feet much. Since I moved to Munich, the city where every third or even second positive aspect you’ll hear about it is the great nearness of great nature which is just great, I haven’t made much use of it. First of because I didn’t have time, second of because it takes getting up early and third because everything, every-fucking-thing is expensive here. But I collected my pennies left over from rent and beer and went out to buy some thermo-active apparel that didn’t look like dog-poo or too German (which would have been overly functional, “praktisch” and with loads of reflectors).

oh, the joy of a brand new day.

I found a nice mixed group of international hikers who see the joy in hiking in two things: Struggling up on peaks and having a drink about it. With this group of complete strangers I set out to hike up the Kampenwand from Aschau. Interestingly, I learned from my dad that this was the exact trail my mother hiked some more 30 years back: From Aschau to the Kampenwandhütte. I didn’t know this, but I’m sure she watched me carefully, had her laughs when I sliped, pushed me up when I didn’t want to walk on and held her caring hand over me when I, half blinded by fogged glasses, climbed over slippery rocks.

oh noes, the volcano gonna blows. quick, frodo!

So we set out from the nice village of Aschau in Bavaria, ascended through abandoned ski slopes towards the Kampenwand. It’s December and all the lifts and signs are ready for snow and skiiers, but temperature and missing precipiation messes up the Christmas shopping for the locals. Too bad for them, good for us. Only way beyond 1400m did snow show up and joined in with fog to remind us, yes, it’s really December and no, this all might not be the best idea. But we reached the hut. On the way up we lost a hikeress, though: She decided to part company and ride back to Minga. On the way to the hut we made stopover at the “Liftstüberl” hut and disturbed an exceptional grumpy keeper in his hibernation (waiting for snow, remember?). We ordered Kaiserschmarn, which he grumpily made himself adding good shots of Gran Marnier, drank microwaved Glühwein and emptied his local beer reserves. Arriving at the final hut a group of us set out for the summit of the Kampenwand. An easy enough “walk”, despite some snow and rocks which have been rounded by decades of contact with hiking boots and hiker hands.

<insert clever comment here>

After the short trip to the top and back, a west-coast Canadian left the group to walk down the mountain and ride back to Munich. It was dark already, so hats off to his balls. The evening was spend accordingly: Booze, food, games. Good food I have to add.

The next day bought a strenuous hike from the hut over another peak down the hills back to Aschau. Strenuous (what a word!) it was at least for me, the others happily poked the ground with their poles, sucked on their pro water systems and managed to reach Aschau with nearly half as much mud on their boots and pants as me. I even had some on my backpack. A fellow hiker told me I looked I came from war, some elderly ladies at the train station inquired where the heck I’ve been, on the train others looked even more grumpy at my sight thant they normally do throughout the day.

is it a piece of art or the new camouflage of the bundeswehr?

That was my little hike. Good times on foot. Best times on peaks. Next one is planned, snowshoes this time. I have no clue how to survive an avalanche or how to search for victims of one, so I’m in for a lot of fun. And all the while I’ll get myself some pro water sucking system and pro poles.

I nearly forgot: Although my mojo left me and photographing is all but a shadow of the joy and fullfilment it once was, I of course endangered my equipment in rough weather, by sharp rocks and missing balance to take some pictures of this hike. Enjoy!

ready to leave?

And because a nerd is a nerd and stays a nerd, I brought my GPS logger along (Hi Vinh, no, you can’t have it) and logged when I didn’t forget to turn it on:

Hike from the 4th of December