The Bavarian Alps. Part 1 - September 2014
I'll cut to the chase and just say that life presented an opportunity to travel to Europe, and the location of choice was southern Germany, more specifically the Bavarian Alps.
Fussen and the fashionable Cummel
We arrived at the train station in Fussen. Cummel, the most fashionable mountain guy ever, was there to meet us. Jason and Cummel have been friends for something like 20 years, and he had offered to take the week off work and cruise around Germany with us. So there we were, two Americans and Cummel the German EMT, walking through Fussen, roller bags bumping along the cobbled streets. Fussen is amazingly beautiful and on this sunny evening we could see the surrounding mountains. "What do you want to do," Cummel asked? Standing on Cummel's terrace, Jason and I both pointed towards the mountains. We wanted to climb something, and there were a few obvious peaks visible from Cummel's house.
We went out on the town. No wait, first we had a celebratory beer or two - this is Germany afterall. We cheers-ed to friends old and new, and to mountain adventures. After this, we went out for some dangerously good Italian food. At dinner, we talked about plans for the next day. We decided that we would go to Austria, just a 15 minute drive across the border. Cummel laid out the plans for the night and the next day: "We will go out tonight. We will make a party, not a big party. No Schnapps, just beer. We will have small party so that tomorrow we can climb the mountain!" I sat there wondering what mountain it was we would be climbing. At this point, we were about 4 beers into the night and we still had a stop at a bar planned. Well...when in Rome, or eh, Germany....
We found ourselves at the bar. It was becoming obvious that Cummel knows everyone in Fussen. He invited many friends to join us in the rapidly approaching morning. "See, Krissy McFagan? No Schnapps. Tomorrow we climb!" I agreed and we clinked beers for about the millionth time that night. I liked this guy's positive outlook, and it grew more contagious as the night went on. Oh what's this, another beer? Clink! "To climbing!!!".
Unless you consider eating pretzels at 3am an alpine start, we didn't have one. In fact, we didn't even wake up early. I believe my feet hit the floor at 9am. I was feeling marginally crummy, and Jason and Cummel looked like they felt just about the same. Cummel must have been texting from bed. From his prone position he announced, "Some friends will be over soon to join us," then he popped up. I thought, What? Are we really climbing like this? It turned out that no, we would not be climbing. Instead we were going to stop by a bakery and then go hiking to an alpine hut. A much mellower and safer option for the day.
Our hike was beautiful of course. A tram ride took us into the alpine, and we hiked on from there. On the way to the hut, there was a small peak. Everyone wanted to stand on top of something, so we veered off the main trail and made our way to the top. The hike got steep, and Jason, Cummel and I did a little scrambling towards the top. The summit of almost every attainable peak has a cross mounted at the high point. Naturally we posed amongst the throngs of weekend hikers for our summit shot.
By the way, alpine naps are the best
During our time on this peak, there was a helicopter rescue. Cummel assisted with the sick man before the chopper touched down and described his condition as "Very boring, nothing to worry about but this man absolutely can not walk down from here. Oh look! My colleagues!" Later on I asked Cummel if he likes working on a helicopter. He doesn't always work on one, usually he is in an ambulance, which he prefers. Helicopters can be too dangerous, and if you're not fiending for high risk work, there really isn't a big draw to being on one.
The hut was a perfect spot to relax before heading back to the cars. As it goes, you can hike into the mountains in the Alps, visit one of many alpine huts for cheese, sausage, beer, radler, you name it, and sometimes even a place to sleep. On this note, the Alps are most certainly winning.
Gondola access glider action
We returned to Fussen and ate a simple dinner before passing out. The lack of sleep combined with too much beer, then walking under the hot sun was a tiring combination.
We arrived at the train station in Fussen. Cummel, the most fashionable mountain guy ever, was there to meet us. Jason and Cummel have been friends for something like 20 years, and he had offered to take the week off work and cruise around Germany with us. So there we were, two Americans and Cummel the German EMT, walking through Fussen, roller bags bumping along the cobbled streets. Fussen is amazingly beautiful and on this sunny evening we could see the surrounding mountains. "What do you want to do," Cummel asked? Standing on Cummel's terrace, Jason and I both pointed towards the mountains. We wanted to climb something, and there were a few obvious peaks visible from Cummel's house.
We found ourselves at the bar. It was becoming obvious that Cummel knows everyone in Fussen. He invited many friends to join us in the rapidly approaching morning. "See, Krissy McFagan? No Schnapps. Tomorrow we climb!" I agreed and we clinked beers for about the millionth time that night. I liked this guy's positive outlook, and it grew more contagious as the night went on. Oh what's this, another beer? Clink! "To climbing!!!".
Unless you consider eating pretzels at 3am an alpine start, we didn't have one. In fact, we didn't even wake up early. I believe my feet hit the floor at 9am. I was feeling marginally crummy, and Jason and Cummel looked like they felt just about the same. Cummel must have been texting from bed. From his prone position he announced, "Some friends will be over soon to join us," then he popped up. I thought, What? Are we really climbing like this? It turned out that no, we would not be climbing. Instead we were going to stop by a bakery and then go hiking to an alpine hut. A much mellower and safer option for the day.
Our hike was beautiful of course. A tram ride took us into the alpine, and we hiked on from there. On the way to the hut, there was a small peak. Everyone wanted to stand on top of something, so we veered off the main trail and made our way to the top. The hike got steep, and Jason, Cummel and I did a little scrambling towards the top. The summit of almost every attainable peak has a cross mounted at the high point. Naturally we posed amongst the throngs of weekend hikers for our summit shot.
The hut was a perfect spot to relax before heading back to the cars. As it goes, you can hike into the mountains in the Alps, visit one of many alpine huts for cheese, sausage, beer, radler, you name it, and sometimes even a place to sleep. On this note, the Alps are most certainly winning.
We returned to Fussen and ate a simple dinner before passing out. The lack of sleep combined with too much beer, then walking under the hot sun was a tiring combination.
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