Family trip to the Frischmannhütte

Kris, Rowan, Elijah and I headed to the mountains at 8 am Saturday morning. We had no traffic and got to the little town of Köfles on a mountainside in the Ötztal in 3 hours. The boys had packs this time, and as usual felt a bit tired in the first few hundred meters. In fact, Elijah said "Daddy, I'm tired" less than 10 seconds after we set out with great fanfare!

But it's almost always just a problem with boredom for these fellas. We came into a forest with boulders to hop on and he forgot he was tired. There was a monotonous ski slope that gave them some trouble, but as I've seen before, they got onto the steeper switchbacking trail above and had no problem maintaining motivation. Well, as long as the parents are creative! "No pooping on my red hat," said mommy. "No pooping under my blanket!" chuckled Rowan. "No p---" you get the idea. That was a joke that lasted for hours. Plus it got the boys some exercise on prepositions.


I'm a huge Jethro Tull fan...Rowan brought the flute!


Elijah points to the car, and Rowan to the hut

After a long time we reached a high pass called Schartle, then began a magical mostly traversing journey along an cute little irrigation canal, bringing glacial blue water down to some cows in the valley below. We stopped for lunch along the water, and looked to our hut, the Frischmannhütte, on the other side of the valley. We made a long traverse to the head of the valley, crossed a raging stream, then continued to the hut, getting there at about 5:30. Wow, that was a pretty big hike!








We would sleep in a common room with about 8 other people. That was a first for the boys, but they did great. Dinner was served early, like 6 or 6:30, and was very good. I had "Rahmschnitzel," fried pork with cream sauce and rice. The boys had spaghetti which always works.

Later, we put the boys to bed and went down into the "Stube" so I could get a beer and Kris some wine. I saw a guitar on the wall and decided to be sociable and join in the music-making. A whole group from northern Bavaria were there with a father and son with their own accordians. They happily accepted my strumming and we spent a couple of hours going through dozens of songs. They have amazing memories. I just played along by ear...some songs had two chords, some three...rarely four. Kris loved it, and we kept drinking, though we could never keep up with this group! We got some good German practice, and finally, after a encore rendition of "Kleine Harmonica Spieler" we went to bed. I was bragging I'd get up real early and climb the Blockkogel before anyone else finished breakfast. No one believed me, least of all me!







But I managed it. For some reason I was awake at 6:00, kissed Kris goodbye and stumbled out. I didn't feel I had time to even drink water, put on contact lenses or snatch my iPod. Normally those are the three essentials for a morning hike!

I scurried away, hiking to the back of the valley then steeply up a long scree cone, past some startled sheep, then onto a scenic ridge to meet the sun. Another 30 minutes and I was heading due south on the north ridge of the Blockkogel, really loving the variety of the route and the views. On the summit I looked down into the Pitztal, and across and out to many snowy peaks. The air was exceptionally clear. This was great, because it can sometimes be very hazy in good weather. It felt like summer was turning, and must be enjoyed before it slips away.


Goodbye hut...


The Blockkogel

Views to the west...

Back at the hut, Elijah was keen to explore some rocks across a stream. He led us further and further to my weak protests that mom was ready to go. The boys loved finding spider webs and destroying them with rocks. Rowan climbed down into a little cave once it had been sufficiently cleared of spider webs.


Fighting spider webs...

Sporting my injury from the Langkofeleck two weeks before...

The hike back was made interesting because cows were coming from the lower and upper pastures to the hut. We had to wait on the side of the trail for them to pass. After a while, this got annoying, but finally at the raging creek we were done with that. It seemed a long way down, especially in the steep rock and forest slope above Köfles. Kris and I were tired! But finally we made it, and had a nice drive home, fortified by McDonalds near Munich.


Traffic jam...


The Blockkogel and our hut on the right.

Beautiful mom and kids!

Bye Austria!

More photos here.

Family trip to the Westfallenhaus

I'd threatened to take the family for an overnight trip to a hut for at least a year, and finally the stars lined up. Kris and I schemed to keep the cost down. Membership in the alpine club made lodging half price, but dinner and breakfast was still pretty expensive. In the end, by bringing our own breakfast we got in and out for about 60 euros. Not bad for a family of four for dinner, board and lunch the next day. We also had our own room. Next time we'll save more by sleeping in the common room, but the boys were so enchanted with their bunk beds!

There was a lot of traffic leaving the city, but eventually we were in Lüsens and making an early afternoon hike. The weather was beautiful, but a bit cold, and fresh snow decorated the peaks from about 2900 meters elevation.

The boys were good hikers, but prone to sudden bouts of extreme tiredness. It took something interesting to wake them up. Once I ate some berries and tried to get them to try them too. They were blueberries, and that got us through a steep section.



We found a good picnic place on a knoll and ate looking across at the waterfalls I'd climbed in previous winters. Kris made delicious salami sandwiches, and a tubular container of Pringles (TM) was a great idea. The boys played with their Lego men a bit. These are a great idea...if each kid is allowed to bring two Lego men, it is enough of a toy to satisfy them the whole weekend. The man can be placed in a natural environment of rock and heather, where he can experience alien attack, avalanche, menacing helicopters, and all manner of similar fun!





We rounded a corner then made a long pleasant traversing hike up to the Westfallenhaus, which looked impossibly distant. Sheep grazed the mountain above us. We arrived in late afternoon, and immediately booked a private room. The boys fell in love with the bunkbeds, and we all hung out in our beds for an hour or so. Kris invented a game where the boys had to leave the room, then come in and find where she'd hidden a Lego man. That was great fun.

We had dinner, then walked around the hut, where the boys found a dog to play with, and we all munched on cookies. As it got dark, we went in and went to bed, the boys so happy in their top bunks.




Early in the morning I woke up, put on contact lenses, grabbed my iPod and a candy bar, and snuck out to hike up the Schoentalspitze. I think it took 1.5 hours up, and there was snow on the summit block that had to be negotiated. A cold wind competed with the weak morning sun on top, and the view made me linger. Getting my fill, I hurried down, sometimes running thanks to some good loud music that fit the trail. Back at the hut we ate breakfast, and I took the kids for a nature hike while Kris relaxed in a sun chair. We found a big boulder and set up a space station on top, piling smaller rocks as places to hide. Then I napped in the meadow while the wars raged on between various factions of a broken alliance.










It was time to head down! At the hut I played guitar for a while, teaching a little girl how to play the all important "power chord." We hiked down, doling out treats of chocolate when things got boring. Kris invented the "no pooping on (a surprising object)" game, which still entertains us regularly!





We stopped in Garmisch for a couple hours of swimming on the way home. I jumped off the high-dive and landed funny, such that my teeth hurt for an hour! The boys loved the slides.

It was a great first-overnight hike!

Torre Comici "Casara" Route (IV+, 7 pitches) (attempt)

In the morning it was raining. So much for one of the hard routes. It was also very cold. Finally, around 11 weather lightened up enough to make the hike back over the Col-de-Medo Pass for the Torre Comici. It was an easy climb, but at least a chance to get something done with my last day. We endured a long and tiring scree climb to reach the base. Jesse was pretty tired, and I definitely understood where he was coming from!



I had the first lead, up a IV+ dihedral and chimney. Near the end of the pitch, my fingers got really cold. With the wind whistling, me blowing on my fingers, and trying to negotiate the crux moves, things didn't look great for continuing. I reached the belay and Jesse said his motivation had just crumpled away. Realizing that we were looking at some only moderately-enjoyable hours of cold and mediocre climbing, I had no problem with leaving. I rapped and cleaned the gear, we zoomed down the scree and like that, my trip came to a close. Jesse would do some hiking and then continue a grand summer of climbing that is still going on.


Looking down on "Frozen Fingers Chimney"


The way beyond. Ech. Not very inspiring!


At least the anchor was good! (Yes, for the Dolomites, this is "bomber")

It had been great fun. I was really happy to meet and climb with Jesse. We had many great conversations and saw totally "eye to eye" on the meaning of and practice of the climbing game. I'm eager for him to come back. I'm positive we'll bite off some big chunks of our shared bigger goals. Including Saturday's Totenkirchl climb (described in another report), we'd climbed more than 70 pitches in 9 days.

Berg heil!

Paternkofel, Northwest Ridge (Bolte/Wolf), IV (7 pitches)

We slept in Saturday, somehow unable to get up and do some harder climbing. We had either the "Kleine Cassin" on the Pruessturm on the agenda or the "Egger-Sauscheck" route on the Kleine Zinne in mind. But those were hard and we felt lazy. We decided against the Comici route on the Punta di Frida because of the way it goes halfway up then you walk off (unsatisfying).



Above is a picture of the "Kleine Cassin," with some people on it.

Ultimately, we just wanted something like a hike, and the Paternkofel fit the bill. Taking a single rope and a few pieces of gear, we hiked over to near the route. Jesse went a good way, and I chose a poor way to climb the scree slopes to the start. Basically he had to wait 30 minutes for me to arrive, a bit dirty and shattered! Another party of four was 3 pitches above.



Above, the Paternkofel as seen from the Drei Zinnen. Our route takes the left skyline to the summit, ignoring the towers further left, rather going straight up from scree.



After our day yesterday, we found this terrain so easy, it was like walking. We swarmed up the first two pitches in 10 minutes and caught the party as they worked on a grade IV chimney. I spied a better line right of the chimney, led up that, then continued into the next pitch so that we wouldn't crowd them at their belay. Jesse made a crux grade V move at an overhang (our topo says to go around far right...see...we don't pay as much attention to it anymore!), and then we enjoyed several very nice pitches on the ridge crest. A final scenic scramble got us to the summit. We'd done that route in 2 hours, actually beating a Dolomite guidebook time for the first time ever! (BTW, this route is not the North-Northwest Ridge in the Koehler and Memmel guide (III+), though they eventually join up.)





Typical tourists!


What a great view up here!


Another view...with years of climbing in it!

We descended the Sepp Innerkofler via ferrata that leads to the Rifugio Locatelli, then had a great spaghetti lunch. It was fun playing around in the war tunnels, and speeding down the via ferrata to the consternation of folks methodically clipping and unclipping carabiners. We saw some lakes in front of the Drei Zinnen and resolved to hike there for a swim. Jesse didn't want to descend too much, so he tried a different way. His heart wasn't in it though, and he eventually took the path of least resistence, going back to the Aronzo Hut for a rest. I could tell he was going to do that by his comments and the extreme aversion to hiking uphill he'd acquired since lunch!




I hiked down into a lovely basin with cows, then back up to a great plain of stone in front of the Drei Zinnen. Eventually I reached the lake, stripped and jumped in. Oh my god that's cold! But refreshing!

I got out and sat looking at the walls a while. I took a nice nap, and eventually figured it was time to head back. There was only one day left on the trip, we'd better see what we can do with it. I went back over the Col-de-Medo pass, ending up well pleased with our easy but spontaneous day.