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Home  >  Blog  >  Climb Ev’ry Mountain

Climb Ev’ry Mountain

Trish Burgess Posted on03/09/201329/06/2017 Austria 25 Comments

There are a few ways to obtain some respite from intense heat. You can dip yourself into water, go underground or move higher up. We did the first on many occasions, considered the second when there was an option to see an old mine (decided against this: have been in caves and mines in the UK) but twice opted for the third idea of finding lower temperatures by seeking higher ground.

The title is a misnomer: there was no way we could have climbed anywhere. We hadn’t the energy to ‘ford ev’ry stream’ either. We did however have cable cars at our disposal and some of them were free with our special Kärnten Card, saving us about 16 euros each a time. The only fly in the ointment was persuading Dougie to conquer his fear of cable cars. This innate fear of dangling from wires came about after a trip to Matlock Bath in Derbyshire where the Heights of Abraham scared him so much he refused to go back down after the trip up, preferring to make his way down the hill on foot (See my winning post about this: This way to the Devil’s Arse)


Although he was eventually cajoled into trying cable cars again, if only for the benefit of a drop in temperature, Rory and I couldn’t convince him to face his other fear, that of multi-storey car parks. I’m not sure whether this panic is brought on by concrete posts, tight spaces or awkward ramps, but my husband would rather avoid them.

He prefers his car parks to look like this:

Here we are parked at the Heinrich Harrer museum, Huttenberg (Dougie very happy)

This was a pity as it would seem from the information given that there was indeed a multi-storey car park at the bottom of Gerlitzen, the mountain we were planning to ascend. To avoid any further stress, we parked at the lakeside, another 600 metres or so away. When we eventually reached the cable car station, feeling very hot and sweaty, we realised the ‘multi-storey’ car park was little more than two large areas, one under a roof, one in the open air, with a very wide, accommodating ramp between the two. Dougie admitted he could have quite happily given this one a go.

To his credit, he did manage the two cable-cars which we needed to ride on to reach Gerlitzen, 2000m above sea level and he even agreed to go back down the same way, which was handy.

The view at the top was beautiful but even more welcome were the breeze and cooler temperatures. High on a mountain in Austria I was inspired to channel Julie Andrews once again and belt out The hills are alive with the sound of music to the bemusement of all the paragliders who had congregated at the summit.

Note to self: Julie Andrews did not carry a camera case when she sang The Sound of Music

Paraglider about to take off. Lake Worthersee in the distance.

Our second cable car experience came some days later when we drove to the base station at Arnoldstein to ride the very steep Dreilanderek Cable Car. We were very keen to try this as the mountain summit is a unique meeting point of three countries: Austria, Italy and Slovenia. When we jumped off the cable car at the top we weren’t greeted with a cooling breeze. There weren’t any paragliders either, which should have given us a clue that this mountain wasn’t going to provide us with any break from the hot sun. The heat was enveloping and our tempers were frayed. In order to reach the very top we would have to walk a good bit further. The photo below shows the distance we would have to hike:

Shall we clamber up this in 40 degree heat?

We had a big family ding-dong at this stage in the proceedings. Rory and I were dead against walking any further and complained about heat, inadequate shoes and lack of crisps. Dougie held his ground and at each moan from us pointed out an old lady with a walking stick or a young child wearing Crocs. All ages and sizes were tackling the walk, so we really should too. In the end we caved in after he stirred our emotions with the words:

 

 

“What would Heinrich Harrer do?”
Ok, so HH climbed the north face of the Eiger and walked for 18 months across the Himalayas in all weathers.
We were shamed into it.
I am so glad we were. The summit is indeed a special place. We had reached the peak of Pec mountain, where the borders of Austria, Italy and Slovenia meet. A meeting of four languages (Slovenian, German, Italian and Friulian) belonging to three major language groups (Slavic, Germanic and Romance) this border area has become a symbol of peace and friendship among nations which were once divided, ‘both politically and psychologically’. Representatives of each country meet here at a special event every September and in 2004, when Slovenia joined the EC, the celebrations were, apparently, ‘magnificent’.
We took great pleasure in stepping in and out of the three countries, particularly Slovenia which we had planned to visit by car but had demurred on account of a significant hike in the insurance premium on our hire car. This way felt more like an adventure and was free.
It was an enormous achievement to reach the peak and appreciate the significance of where we were. To think we had been so close to not bothering at all. We would have missed experiencing the three-border mountain and would never have seen the stunning view over the Julian Alps with the lush green of the valley floor winding at the foot.
        Climb ev’ry mountain, search high and low, follow every by-way, every path you know.

Mother Abbess would have been extremely pleased.

 

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25 Comments

  1. Funky Wellies Reply
    03/09/2013 at 3:59 pm

    Looks like you were all talked into (forced into) something you would rather have avoided, with great results!
    A bit surprised that the paragliders did not invite you to join them for a bit of "inflight entertainment"? ;o) xx

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      03/09/2013 at 4:06 pm

      Now that would have been a tandem jump to have watched!

  2. Expat mum Reply
    03/09/2013 at 6:11 pm

    You lot have me in stitches!

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      03/09/2013 at 10:20 pm

      I'll take that as a compliment :-))

  3. Troy Reply
    03/09/2013 at 6:49 pm

    I always thought that the advice "Climb every mountain" was unrealistic and "Ford every stream" was positively dangerous.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      03/09/2013 at 10:20 pm

      And 'follow every rainbow' is just asking for trouble.

  4. Steve Reply
    03/09/2013 at 8:21 pm

    What glorious views and light. You can practically smell the cleanliness of the air.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      03/09/2013 at 10:22 pm

      The air was indeed clean, though we weren't particularly fresh by the time we had staggered to the summit.

  5. Sarah Ebner Reply
    03/09/2013 at 10:04 pm

    Great post – and lovely pictures! Your favourite things (see what I did there?)

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      03/09/2013 at 10:24 pm

      I've been wondering how many Sound of Music puns I can get into this set of blog posts. Have done a Do-re-mi one already. Sixteen going on Seventeen just isn't going to work.

  6. Mari's World Reply
    04/09/2013 at 6:55 am

    Stunning place! I used to live in the mountains in Italy, the scenery was very similar, the air was pure and the winters were freezing but I loved them and still do.
    Love your Sound of Music sanp 😀

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      04/09/2013 at 8:27 am

      It was stunning, Mari. My photos don't do it justice – there seems to be a heat haze affecting many of them.
      How fabulous to have lived in the mountains of Italy. I remember looking at the Dolomites when we visited Lake Garda and we said we must return and visit them properly.

  7. Sarah Reply
    04/09/2013 at 7:48 am

    Maybe you would have been keener to walk with a spoonful of sugar (or is that Mary Poppins…?).

    What fun to dance in and out of 3 countries just by doing the Highland Fling. Fantastic views there, what a good job you made the effort to walk despite the heat.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      04/09/2013 at 8:29 am

      Now if Mary Poppins had been set in Austria I could have had great fun with 'Let's Go Fly a Kite'!!

      We were very proud of ourselves and Dougie relieved he had convinced us to give it a go.

  8. BavarianSojourn Reply
    04/09/2013 at 10:09 am

    Well done Dougie!! Some of those cablecars can be quite petrifying, even for an old-timer like me. I still have nightmares about the backward glance I took stepping off at the top of the Zugspitze!! 😀 Love your singing pic Julie! 🙂 x

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      04/09/2013 at 11:30 am

      It will make Dougie feel better to know he's not the only one. He's fine if he thinks there is a chance of survival if the cable breaks. It's when the gap between car and earth is too wide that he has a wobble.

  9. Mums do travel Reply
    04/09/2013 at 11:31 am

    I'm glad you made it to the to the peak of Pec mountain, it sounds fab, even though it was a long, long way to run (geddit?). It's a good job that you walked instead, given the heat.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      04/09/2013 at 12:53 pm

      Yes, I geddit! Pleased to see you joining in the 'how many Sound of Music links can I get in this post'!

  10. wellfedfred Reply
    04/09/2013 at 8:00 pm

    It's a shame about the merry duet "My Feet Are Killing Me, Mine Hurt Too," having been cut from the second scene early in rehearsals, or I would have been bellowing along as I read this post.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      05/09/2013 at 7:39 am

      Haha! Sounds like an authentic Hammerstein lyric to me 🙂

  11. Curry Queen Reply
    04/09/2013 at 9:48 pm

    Great post – and I love your sound of Music pic! The scenery looks utterly fab although I don't envy you the uphill slog in the heat!

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      05/09/2013 at 7:42 am

      It was a slog, CQ, and, knowing my level of fitness, would have been tough even in lower temperatures!

  12. Bryce Reply
    17/09/2013 at 8:06 pm

    Now I must agree with hubby that's what I call a car park although methinks hubby may taken my parking space.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      22/09/2013 at 1:13 pm

      Ah, terribly sorry about that. Of course, you realise, if you had already been parked, my husband would have had all manner of difficulty deciding which was the next best spot.

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