We were up early in the morning, ready to leave at 8:00 and I had ideas of maybe even climbing up to the Südspitze of the Watzmann if we got to that trail early enough and felt good. But the weather saved me from myself.

Just as we were packed and read to leave, the weather changed suddenly and dramatically. A strong wind started blowing clouds of heavy fog over the hut. Someone told us that the trail to the Wimbachgriese, our next destination, was not well marked and it would be dangerous in heavy fog, so we waited.

We had made friends the previous evening with Bruno and Pauli, from Berlin. Bruno is interested in the history of Berlin before the war and has a cache of old city plans. Pauli is 8 years old and very cute. Christine and I had played many games of "Mowmow" with Pauli the night before. They were also going to Wimbachgriese so we started out over the snow with them.

We went back by the sheep and then we saw a Marmut, a large rodent that inhabits the mountains above the trees. It makes a shrill whistle that can be heard for kilometers and this is how it communicates with other marmuts. We had often heard them whistling to each other warning of our approach on this trip. Usually they would dissapear in their holes before we got close enough to see them, but this one was unusually brave and we could clearly see him standing up. Through my binoculars, he looked just like the stuffed one in the dining room at the hut.

We went on down the path, getting further away from the hut, until we hit the turnoff to climb up to the Hundstodgatterl, the pass over the ridge. This is a steep rocky climb and Pauli fell a few times. It was very rough going for an eight-year old but he made it. At the top, there was a beautiful view of the valley on the south side of the Watzmann into which we were about to descend. On the left was the Grosse Hundstod and ahead was the Watzmann.

After a pleasant short lunch, including some chocolate we had bought, we started down the valley. The first part was steep enough but not dangerous. What was really cool was that they was snow most of the way down. I sat down and glisanded all the way down in the snow. Yes, my backside was cold and wet but that would be an advantage later in the day. Pauli also did this a short way. But to go all the way down requires some technique. You use your walking poles to keep you straight and your feet to control your speed and to kick oncoming rocks out of the way.

Then the way down got really steep, over loose rock. It was a bit dangerous. I gave Bruno a rope so that he could tie Pauli to him. Christine and I went on faster. Eventually we got to the bottom of this seemingly endless dry waterfall. Bruno said he used the rope once.

After this, we walked uphill a bit towards the Diensthut that we had seen in the distance and which unfortunately does not offer any public service because it is ideally placed for assualts on the south and east sides of the Watzmann. We rested at the crossing where there were more lying signs: for instance indicating that the Ingolstädterhaus was only 3 1/2 hours at most from here. That's uphill and we had just taken 4 hours to come down.

From here, we descended along the base of the Watzmann across alvalanches to descend to the great Gries: perhaps a former great glacier but now a huge drain bowl for the surrounding mountains. There are stunted pine trees that grow only here in the eastern Alps. Walking across the crushed rock is like walking over snow.

Within the hour, we reached the Winbachgriesalm - another easy 5 hour day. We had the usual treats followed by beer, Pauli massaged our shoulders, and we observed more lying signs. We also observed a family of foxes that visited the hut for scraps in the late afternoon. They came and went so often that we thought there should be a warning sign for their crossing.