Fri 12 Sep

Christine Weiss (whom I know from her student days at the Humbolt University, and who Birgit, Chris, and I hung out with last year in Berlin and who visited me in California last year) and I arrived in Berchtesgaden late Friday night after she had picked me up from the Munich Hauptbahnhof, where I had arrived after coming from Ulm. I had given a talk in Stuttgart the day before and then spent a night in the wonderful Schiefes Haus. We went to the Walche Haus where Maria directed us to her sister's house, Haus Kurz in Engedey near Bischofswiesen. We stayed in Ferienwohnung 2, which was just our size.

Sat 13 Sep

Saturday morning I needed coffee bad but I didn't want to wake Christine (though she told me later that she is a deep sleeper), so I went down and begged a cup from Irmgard. She was very nice to talk with, and later Christine came down and we all had a good time. The two-year old came in and we got to know him (Stephan) and later watched him drive his tractor down the driveway from the barn.

Then we went into Berchtesgaden and Christine was particarly taken by the house on the hill (where the Lochstein Cafe is located.) We had a great brunch at the Cafe Forstner and then went shopping for supplies. It rained pretty much all day but we decided to go into the mountains on Sunday come what may. So since we would probably cook at home on Sunday, we went into Salzbourg for my birthday dinner a day early.

We parked in a Tiefgarage near the Mirabelle Park and walked over the pedestrian bridge to the Altstadt. We had coffee and (wonderful) pastries and then made a reservation for 7:30 at Stiftskeller St. Peter (reachable by a nice walk through the cemetery and view of the catacombs in the cliff). We then climbed up the long flight of stairs near the old stables (now a theater hall) to get a good view. Despite the rain and clouds, we could see a good view of St. Peters and also the alte Bourg whenever the clouds permitted. We had a great meal with surprisingly friendly service. We drove home and opened Christine's birthday present to me, a bottle of Barolo wine from Italy, early.

Sun 14 Sep

In the morning, the weather still was pretty cloudy. Outside our kitchen window was the morning's goal: : the Hochkalter. On a sunny day (the next one), , we would have seen that the Schätenspitze, the highest peak to be seen from our house (but hardly the highest peak on the Hochkalter) would be no easy climb.

Christine prepared a goregous breakfast for my birthday (at least I took it like that). Then we were off to the mountain.

I directed Christine (who was doing all of the driving since she had rented the car in her name in Stuttgart) to the Hintersee, where we could look across the water to the mountain that we intended to climb. Our house lay on one side of the range, and we were now on the other, which is usually prettier. We couldn't really see much because of the weather, but the Blaueishaus, our intermediate stop, was just at the dip (Joch) between the peaks.

We parked and started the long walk up to the first point, the Schärtenalm. I had chosen the Schärtenspitze because it seemed a fairly easy hike. The map had the difficult climbs marked and this one was not. Our first signal that the whole way was optimistically posted was that it was only supposed to be a half-hour to the Schärtenalm. Because Christine is only 30 years old, we practically ran and made this in only one hour, after having passed a lot of more experienced hikers. Despite the cold and moist air, we were drenched in sweat. I had hot chocolate and Christine hot tea. We didn't intend to stay long, but, because we were cold, we were invited inside and then started talking with another couple, and then we were persuaded to try one of the hostess's excellent pastries, and so it was a long rest before we started again.

Then there was the typical steep part, with steps, up to the Blaueishaus. We made this in about another hour.
I and Christine poised for pictures over what could be seen of the Hintersee far below. We only stopped for coffee and hot chocolate and then proceed upwards with no idea of what was in store for us.

When we started up, it was still fairly foggy and we could hardly see the glacier even though it was not far from the Blaueishaus. But Christine promised me that she would make the weather clear at some point that day. Along the way, we saw some of the mountain goats, "Gamsen", indigenous to these mountains. I tried to get closer but eventually they moved away.

It was then that Christine noticed that we had taken the wrong way. We were on what appeared to be a main path to the bottom of the glacier, but there had been a turnoff to our goal, the Schärtenspitze that we had missed. By this time, we were fairly high above the Haus and had to traverse over some rough rocks to get to the path we wanted. We thought that was an adventure until we hit the first of the cables (Seile) .

Usually, such steep ascents with cables are marked on the ground and on the map as suitable only for the experienced hiker/climber: "nur für Geübte". This path was not. I can only assume that the authorities thought that this must be self-evident from the first cable ascent. There were five (5) cable traverses in all, and one ladder. Although I was to do more on another Bergtour latter in the week, this one seemed pretty daunting, mostly because it was unexpected.

Nevertheless, we made it through the last cable and arrived safely at the Spitze.   .

From the top, we could look over the Wimbachklam , in the direction of Ramsau , and also, far below, the Hintersee. .

As can be seen in the picture of me standing on the sharp edge of the Spitze, the weather did start to clear as Christine had promised, but sadly we had to start back down.

The descent was somewhat easier and I took more pictures (for scale, that is the huge Blaueis glacier in the background) now that I knew what to expect. In fact, it was fun , and we even thought the cables were fun now.  
(And actually this turned out to be good practice for my next climb.)

As we descended, the weather cleared more and we could see the Blaueis glacier better and in the encroachng darkness, it became blue, as its name suggests. Eventually, we reached the glacier floor and were on relatively flat ground again and the glacier was prettier than ever. What was really cool was to look back at the way we had come along the cliff. and up to the Schärtenspitze itself . We couldn't believe we had done this as just a jaunt.

Coming back over the glacier valley, we saw the ruin of a rock house that was mostly underground. And we could see our rest point where we could have a very late lunch , and we eventually reached it again.

We had a great lunch (I had pea soup and Christine had lentil soup), took a last look at the Schätenspitze from the Blaueishaus , and started back down. It was a long ways, since we were tired. But we reached the car, and went back home to have a fine meal, and, the next morning, we could look back on where we had been.