A view of today's hike to the peak (at rear) from the town of Seefeld
Enormously impressive slabs—one can't take the eyes off them for long (Hohe Munde Ostgipfel & Westgipfel).
Jenni reaches the peak with intermittent, swift gusts of winds, quite intimidating
A view of the opposite side of the climb, summit of Seefelder Joch
We find ourselves in Austria after landing in Switzerland. Normally, one would think that’s quite possible
because we get lost very easily. However, this was an instance of no matter how hard we tried, we made it to our
destination without diversions. It was an efficient journey but it lacked something—the excitement, frustration
and interest of seeing parts that are not normally on the map—in other words, being lost. Seefeld in the Tirol
is where we are for a while before we take a neutral position in Switzerland and then onto Italy. At time of
writing, we understand that these three neighboring countries live in harmony with each other. At the conclusion
of our trip, we hope the status quo remains. We certainly don’t have a hidden agenda.
At Joch Peak, a delightful view to yet another side
Snow field below the area's highest peak after we descend 800 feet or so
Bewildered at the summit after experiencing a tough climb and exquisite surroundings
Once again, the plane trip proved to be frustrating. We don’t know what it is but things don’t run (fly) smoothly in the air these days, certainly not for us. There were times on the first leg, from Seattle to New York, when we thought swimming the Atlantic might be more practical. We won’t bore you with the details but the logistics of this trip, including cancellations by the airlines causing further problems with connecting flights, became a nightmare. In the end, we arrived at our destination early. We’re still trying to figure how that could be.
Our editor feeling quite chuffed after a fast 3,000 feet elevation gain, 2 hours.
We have a better understanding of the Swiss, having spent some time in that beautiful country. When a Swiss
national sees a mountain, he immediately considers how to get a cable car or train to operate from base to peak.
They have become so adept at it that they undertake this as a hobby for other countries. Although we have only
had a brief look into Austria, we note that they are tunnellers. Wherever you go, they're tunneling. We passed
through more than twenty, one being at least 5 or 6 miles long, maybe more. It seems they will not go over a
mountain but rather, through it. This brings us to the Italians. What do they do when faced with a mountain? Unlike
their neighbors, it seems they study the problem and then change the government. Admittedly, they have not
pursued that policy as vigorously as in earlier days. Perhaps they have run out of mountains—we shall soon see.
Standing proud and tall and damn intimidating
Overpowering range that has similarities to Mount Shasta, we think
“Gee whiz”. After looking around, it’s one of the comments we uttered. Today, we headed for what is termed a
difficult hike. We thought after days of inactivity, we would get ourselves back into gear quickly. Often we
find the first hike sets the pace. We stood and gaped at times as well as gasped for breath on the way up.
The hike to the summit of Seefelder Joch is steep and quite long, eight-miles round-trip with an elevation
gain of 3,000 feet. Anytime we exceed two thousand, we know we’re into a good climb. We had intended climbing
further to another peak but there was far too much snow and wind. At times, the gusts were vigorous causing
us to lie down to avoid taking off or blowing over the side. We are not exaggerating.
Snowman a little into descent, following editor's footsteps
Particularly prominent & impressive with the target top left
To say we were enormously impressed by a complete surrounding of multi-shaped mountains topped with snow is
an understatement. Here we go again, you might be thinking. It’s hard to think of a more beautiful place but
there probably are…we suppose. When we reached the summit, where the views were spectacular, we whooped with
joy as we climbed the final feet to arrive at an altitude of 6,860 feet. In front of us stood another range
that only came into view as we peaked, quite unbelievable. Because of heavy snow towards the top, we made
our own path up steep banks for the last 700 feet. Besides incredible views from the summit, the sights
on the way up and down were excellent themselves including looking down into the villages.
As we gain elevation, the view of Seefeld or Leutasch, nestled below the mountain ranges, comes into view
We’ll obviously relate a lot more about the towns, villages and countryside in general over the coming days.
We’ll conclude by mentioning again that this is one very impressive area.
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
Yet another view from the top as we experienced 360 degrees access
Looking into the valley from the peak of Seefelder Joch
Always one more...one for the road
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