What happened until August

So what happened the last days or I better have to say last week‘s?

again sorry that I did not write more but I just don’t have the time. I know it sounds not believable but it’s so enjoying not to sit in front of those mobile phones and stuff and just enjoy nature enjoy the view enjoy sitting enjoy watching enjoy walking enjoy not doing anything at all…. it’s just fantastic.

Maybe I should just let the pictures speak but I think I do that also on Instagram so if you follow me (#markusontheway ) mp.trekking

You have seen a couple of things…

So, what to say or maybe to write…

It is definitely a very very amazing journey. I enjoy these mountains so much… and When I am down in the valleys I like it for a few moments because you can buy fresh bread or some baggels, or some other stuff. you enjoy your room with a shower and with some normality as most people would say. But very soon it starts making me … how to say …nervous or maybe unhappy or I feel “overcrowded”. It is horrible how much noise we make … you can hear roads from miles away, villages, even in the evening are so overloaded with noise… And with light… in the night. You rarely see any stars compared to the millions you see out there in the mountains.

I am so happy to be able to see all this out there, and being in one of those nice tiny little city hotels is always a pleasure, don’t get me wrong, but I miss the silence very soon, and that gives me fresh power to go out for the next hike and climb up on the next mountain range.

So I made it up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up.

Sitting now near Kaprun with a view into the Großglockner region at Pinzgauer Hut.

This day makes it the start of the second part of my journey: I’m going to catch the 3000 m mountains into the Tauern and Zillertal region. I hope the weather will stabilize a bit more, there are still thunderstorms out there every here and then and clouds catching the mountains above 2500 m. Not yet perfect, but we will see.

A view into the clouded mountains of Hochkönig region from the Tennen range a few days back.

Maybe a little look backward in time

Dachstein region was so amazing. I could see how fast the glaciers are melting. Makes me feel sad… most of them will be gone in 30 to 50 years from now

Walked by a sign where Hallstatt glacier was in 1988, amazing how much it melted in the last 35 years, it was about 2 km up there in the range.

It stayed at Simony hut that night with a great view on the glacier

Next day I followed the path downwards to find where all the melting water is gone. Below the glacier there was no water at all. It melted like crazy on the ice itself, the hike was a bit crazy and difficult, so with much respect on my hike down the glacier I missed to shot some pictures 🤨

So all that water was sucked in by the mountain right after and below the ice already.

I walked about 8 km down into the valleys of Hallstatt to find it back.

Nice climb down around the waterfalls

The mountain gave it back to the sunlight, I made the mistake not to hike to the place where it came out, but when I met the creek, it was amazingly huge already.

Ones I made it down, I enjoyed buying some fresh stuff, like an LKW , and also jumped into the lake for a refreshing swim.

Last meters into the lake

Lake Gosau, great place for a bath

I Planned to sleep up in the mountains again so I took a cable car (yes sorry sometimes I’m also lazy) to go up the hill again and just had to cross the area and some nice forests to reach Körner Hut, A fantastic tiny little place with great people, good food and a very nice sleep.

Those views … makes it worthwhile to sleep up there

Next day I had to cross the valley again just to go up into the mountains and find another very nice tiny little hut.

Met some friends down in the valley

The hut was actually the second business of a farmer family. They just rent you a bed, shower was outside with a view all around. They have two cows upthere that they use for the milk and to make some fresh butter and some fresh cheese that they serve in the hut to the people,

You ever tasted freshly out of the oven baked white bread with butter that is just produced… ?

There is not much better things in the world.

Topped it with self made Marmelade … a reason to stay forever. 😍

What I did not expect , this little hut was the entry into a fantastic mountain area: the Tennengebirge. Brilliant three days where waiting for me. So much nature, stone formations, the sound of Murmeltiere warning the gang, Gämsen and not to forget the huge bunch of sheep that enjoyed my leadership for a day… probably a nice job to do…

Maybe because no cable cars run into that area, it was a lonesome range. but also because from any side It is at least a day’s hike, and not an easy one, to reach one of the two huts that you find in the range. My first stop over was the Laufener hut,

Before it took me the whole next day to reach Happisch house. Both huts do not serve food, but you can cook your own, the second even has no host locally, they just trust you do everything right and clean up when you leave.

In Happisch house we were with 5 people the first night, And because the weather was not really good the second day,stormy, rainy, cold and I had some time left I just decided to stay in the hut. which made me the owner of the Happisch house for a day, I was alone for the 24 hours, the only guest. I enjoyed reading Alpine magazines from 1979…. With a fresh interview from Messner returning from a Himalaya expedition 🙈. And newest recommendations of mountain clothing and equipment, real fun to read.

Let the pictures speak:

It was amazing how hollow the whole area was, lots of caves, from small to big, and at the western part of it, there is even a big cave open to public that shows one of the biggest ice caves in the world. I did not pass by, it’s very very crowded during holiday season, so I spared it for another time , you may Google for “ice cave Werfen”

I made it a full day climb down into the Salzach Klamm, a tight , very tight, gap between the mountains where the Salzach river made his run through. Amazing to see what water can do… amazingly powerful carving stones and creating canyons and gaps ( missing some better words here, sorry)