Death (not ours!) in the Valley!
Our trip to the Kaisertal this year started out at a record time, ie. we finally got started at 11 a.m., later than we ever have before. Sigh. Why we are incapable of getting a normal, early start is beyond me. Jessi came with us this year so maybe we can blame it on her. Yeah, that's right, it was all Jessi's fault but only because Karen was too far away to blame.
Since I have to walk around every two hours or so to make sure I don't get blood clots in my legs, another sigh, and of course there was quite a bit of traffic we finally rolled into Kufstein shortly before 6 p.m. (good grief) and started up the 200 something steps shortly thereafter. Fortunately, this year we only went up to the Ritzau Alm http://www.ritzaualm.com/instead of the Vorderkaiserfeldenhuette http://www.vorderkaiserfelden.com/so we knew our hike in would be about a half an hour shorter which was good since it wasn't exactly bright and early.After we made our way up the steps, with at least one person coming down asking where we thought we were going so late, we found a new plaque commemorating someone's death in the valley. You see these every so often in the valley but most of them are old. This one was from this past June when a 76 year old died there of a heart attack after getting up the stairs which is not at all hard to imagine. He was probably so happy he made it up the steps and then keeled over and died.
We had beautiful weather, hiked up the steep incline and made it to the Ritzau Alm at about 8:15 p.m. and it turned out they were serving dinner until 8:30 p.m. Timing! This place is a luxury hotel compared to the Vorderkaiserfelderhuette. KH and I had a beautiful headboard with the names Josef and Sylvia Ankar hand carved into it above our bed and our very own very new looking bathroom! Jessi's room didn't have it's own bathroom but she actually had a TV and a balcony! And we had keys to the rooms and could lock them! We didn't even know this place had rooms until we stopped and asked on our way down from the hut last year and a dark-haired woman told us about the rooms and the prices. That is the other interesting thing; it only costs a couple of Euros more than the hut and actually ends up being cheaper for us because breakfast was included. If you are a member of the Alps hiking club the huts are about half price but then you have to pay to join the club so that only works out if you hike in a Alps way more often than we do.Unfortunately, the food at dinner was really terrible, way too salty and ideally if we can ever get an earlier start I would like to stay at the alm but hike up to the hut for dinner. It could be a hike within a hike. Maybe if we pack the car the night before...In the dining room we ate in (there were two) there was a large familiy portrait and across from it an individual picture of the mother of the family. I thought it was nice if a bit self absorbed that the family immortalized itself so publicly. The girl/woman who waited on us was a pretty much grown daughter included in the family portrait around Jessi's age.
It was a full moon that night and the view was gorgeous, mountains in moonlight are hard to beat. A couple there was going to hike back down to Kufstein at about 10 p.m. under the full moon to take advantage of it. They had headlamps as well and I think it was a nice hike out.
The beds were great and we all slept well and enjoyed the breakfast of bread, cheese, sausage and coffee the next morning. I forget what time we started hiking but it wasn't late. We were heading to the Hans-Berger Haus which is past the Anton Karg Haus because the woman at the Anton Karg Haus screwed up our reservation and we called a few days earlier and got a four bed room at the Hans-Berger Haus as a substitute.
On our way out we stopped and had a look at the little chapel they have there and something was different from last year; the same picture of the woman was up and some writing indicated she had died the previous September in a mountain accident! Good God, she was only 43! Now the picture in the dining room made more sense; it is a memorial. The 76-year-old hiker's death was sad but this one was horrifying. It was her name carved into our headboard and she was also the woman who told us about the place last year in August. About five weeks later she was dead. We certainly weren't going to ask anyone there what happened.
We took the same easy route we took last year heading first to the Anton Karg Haus. This way is pretty easy with only a narrow bit in the middle and even Jess, who is afraid of heights, made it without any problems. There is simply no comparison to the horror of the "high route" although KH and Karen's memories of it don't seem as bad as mine. It only took us a few hours to get to the Anton Karg Haus where we stopped for something to eat. I asked the waiter about Silvia Anker's accident but he said he didn't want to gossip which seemed an odd response to me and indicated there had been some gossip.
The walk from the Anton Karg Haus to the Hans Berger Haus is only about a half an hour and easy. The Hans Berger Haus had obviously just been completely renovated and they had turned much of the dormitory into rooms. KH and Jessi saw our room first and I hear exclamations before I saw it. The room was smaller than the single Jessi had had the previous night with two sets of bunk beds at right angles to each other. All three of us could stand in it at one time, but barely. The toilet was down the hall and the communal woman's shower one floor down. Everything was new, functional but minimal. I prefer the Anton Karg Haus mainly because they rooms are a little bigger and we'll try and stay there next year again if the manager can manage not to lose our reservation. We now know that email doesn't function very well with her and the phone is a better option although I think our phone reservations there the first year we stayed also got screwedup.
The views from the Hans Berger Haus were lovely and the food was great too. There seemed to be quite a few people staying for a few days and on the meal plan. There were also climbers with helmets and ropes pointing at rock faces tallking about climbing routes so KH, Jessi and I did that a bit too although I suspect no one fell for our ruse. Because we had taken the easy route we had lots of time to relax and we played a few hands of a simple German board game that night. In the dining room inside we had an assigned table for that evening and for breakfast the next morning as well. Next year I think I'll bring a deck of cards and maybe something to read as well. Last year it rained on us on the way in and out of the valley. This year it was beautiful the entire time and our hike out was uneventful and pleasant. Since the tunnel opened in 2008 we did notice a bit more traffic and the cars all have license plates on them now. We also saw some bikers and I thought perhaps they had sneaked up the tunnel since it is forbidden for them to use it but maybe they carried their bikes up the 200 odd stairs.
Since getting back we have googled Silvia Anker and she died on a new climbing route that had opened shortly before she tried it. I have no idea what gossip could be associately with her death although it seems she was climbing alone and I suspect that is not a good idea. I'll include a link to the route she died on. I certainly wouldn't try it but it sounds like she had lived in the mountains all her life. The route she took is called the "Kufsteiner Klettersteig". If you scroll down you can see some of the pictures which make it look very scarey to me. Someplace I read she died of head injuries from the fall. It really is just tragic. http://www.roberge.de/ You may have to click on "Klettersteig" on the left and then scroll down to Kufsteiner Klettersteig to see it. Apparently the main initiator of buiding the "Steig" was the husband of the woman who runs the Anton Karg Haus so perhaps that explains some of the reluctance of the waiter there to talk about it. Her death has made me even more grateful that nothing terrible happened to us on our killer hike in 2007 particularly as the tunnel wasn't open then.We got to Garmisch the on Saturday, August 9th and relaxed in the cabin for the week and played golf on the three hole beginners course (generally badly although Jessi make a remarkable 30 foot putt), hiking and taking a day trip to Chiemsee and the Shoe Barn (I got two pair although I actually didn't need any ;-)). Oh, and we met Ewan and Linda at the fest in Partenkirchen and Ewan now is a tour guide for AFRC.Now we think we'll go back in January because Katie wants to try snowboarding so I've reserved a cabin for Jan. 2nd. However, we'll only go if her school work is o.k. since KH and I aren't dying to see all the snow although we'll probably enjoy it. We just gotta get chains since KH doesn't have snow tires. And I imagine we'll go back next August if you guys can make it.
Since I have to walk around every two hours or so to make sure I don't get blood clots in my legs, another sigh, and of course there was quite a bit of traffic we finally rolled into Kufstein shortly before 6 p.m. (good grief) and started up the 200 something steps shortly thereafter. Fortunately, this year we only went up to the Ritzau Alm http://www.ritzaualm.com/instead of the Vorderkaiserfeldenhuette http://www.vorderkaiserfelden.com/so we knew our hike in would be about a half an hour shorter which was good since it wasn't exactly bright and early.After we made our way up the steps, with at least one person coming down asking where we thought we were going so late, we found a new plaque commemorating someone's death in the valley. You see these every so often in the valley but most of them are old. This one was from this past June when a 76 year old died there of a heart attack after getting up the stairs which is not at all hard to imagine. He was probably so happy he made it up the steps and then keeled over and died.
We had beautiful weather, hiked up the steep incline and made it to the Ritzau Alm at about 8:15 p.m. and it turned out they were serving dinner until 8:30 p.m. Timing! This place is a luxury hotel compared to the Vorderkaiserfelderhuette. KH and I had a beautiful headboard with the names Josef and Sylvia Ankar hand carved into it above our bed and our very own very new looking bathroom! Jessi's room didn't have it's own bathroom but she actually had a TV and a balcony! And we had keys to the rooms and could lock them! We didn't even know this place had rooms until we stopped and asked on our way down from the hut last year and a dark-haired woman told us about the rooms and the prices. That is the other interesting thing; it only costs a couple of Euros more than the hut and actually ends up being cheaper for us because breakfast was included. If you are a member of the Alps hiking club the huts are about half price but then you have to pay to join the club so that only works out if you hike in a Alps way more often than we do.Unfortunately, the food at dinner was really terrible, way too salty and ideally if we can ever get an earlier start I would like to stay at the alm but hike up to the hut for dinner. It could be a hike within a hike. Maybe if we pack the car the night before...In the dining room we ate in (there were two) there was a large familiy portrait and across from it an individual picture of the mother of the family. I thought it was nice if a bit self absorbed that the family immortalized itself so publicly. The girl/woman who waited on us was a pretty much grown daughter included in the family portrait around Jessi's age.
It was a full moon that night and the view was gorgeous, mountains in moonlight are hard to beat. A couple there was going to hike back down to Kufstein at about 10 p.m. under the full moon to take advantage of it. They had headlamps as well and I think it was a nice hike out.
The beds were great and we all slept well and enjoyed the breakfast of bread, cheese, sausage and coffee the next morning. I forget what time we started hiking but it wasn't late. We were heading to the Hans-Berger Haus which is past the Anton Karg Haus because the woman at the Anton Karg Haus screwed up our reservation and we called a few days earlier and got a four bed room at the Hans-Berger Haus as a substitute.
On our way out we stopped and had a look at the little chapel they have there and something was different from last year; the same picture of the woman was up and some writing indicated she had died the previous September in a mountain accident! Good God, she was only 43! Now the picture in the dining room made more sense; it is a memorial. The 76-year-old hiker's death was sad but this one was horrifying. It was her name carved into our headboard and she was also the woman who told us about the place last year in August. About five weeks later she was dead. We certainly weren't going to ask anyone there what happened.
We took the same easy route we took last year heading first to the Anton Karg Haus. This way is pretty easy with only a narrow bit in the middle and even Jess, who is afraid of heights, made it without any problems. There is simply no comparison to the horror of the "high route" although KH and Karen's memories of it don't seem as bad as mine. It only took us a few hours to get to the Anton Karg Haus where we stopped for something to eat. I asked the waiter about Silvia Anker's accident but he said he didn't want to gossip which seemed an odd response to me and indicated there had been some gossip.
The walk from the Anton Karg Haus to the Hans Berger Haus is only about a half an hour and easy. The Hans Berger Haus had obviously just been completely renovated and they had turned much of the dormitory into rooms. KH and Jessi saw our room first and I hear exclamations before I saw it. The room was smaller than the single Jessi had had the previous night with two sets of bunk beds at right angles to each other. All three of us could stand in it at one time, but barely. The toilet was down the hall and the communal woman's shower one floor down. Everything was new, functional but minimal. I prefer the Anton Karg Haus mainly because they rooms are a little bigger and we'll try and stay there next year again if the manager can manage not to lose our reservation. We now know that email doesn't function very well with her and the phone is a better option although I think our phone reservations there the first year we stayed also got screwedup.
The views from the Hans Berger Haus were lovely and the food was great too. There seemed to be quite a few people staying for a few days and on the meal plan. There were also climbers with helmets and ropes pointing at rock faces tallking about climbing routes so KH, Jessi and I did that a bit too although I suspect no one fell for our ruse. Because we had taken the easy route we had lots of time to relax and we played a few hands of a simple German board game that night. In the dining room inside we had an assigned table for that evening and for breakfast the next morning as well. Next year I think I'll bring a deck of cards and maybe something to read as well. Last year it rained on us on the way in and out of the valley. This year it was beautiful the entire time and our hike out was uneventful and pleasant. Since the tunnel opened in 2008 we did notice a bit more traffic and the cars all have license plates on them now. We also saw some bikers and I thought perhaps they had sneaked up the tunnel since it is forbidden for them to use it but maybe they carried their bikes up the 200 odd stairs.
Since getting back we have googled Silvia Anker and she died on a new climbing route that had opened shortly before she tried it. I have no idea what gossip could be associately with her death although it seems she was climbing alone and I suspect that is not a good idea. I'll include a link to the route she died on. I certainly wouldn't try it but it sounds like she had lived in the mountains all her life. The route she took is called the "Kufsteiner Klettersteig". If you scroll down you can see some of the pictures which make it look very scarey to me. Someplace I read she died of head injuries from the fall. It really is just tragic. http://www.roberge.de/ You may have to click on "Klettersteig" on the left and then scroll down to Kufsteiner Klettersteig to see it. Apparently the main initiator of buiding the "Steig" was the husband of the woman who runs the Anton Karg Haus so perhaps that explains some of the reluctance of the waiter there to talk about it. Her death has made me even more grateful that nothing terrible happened to us on our killer hike in 2007 particularly as the tunnel wasn't open then.We got to Garmisch the on Saturday, August 9th and relaxed in the cabin for the week and played golf on the three hole beginners course (generally badly although Jessi make a remarkable 30 foot putt), hiking and taking a day trip to Chiemsee and the Shoe Barn (I got two pair although I actually didn't need any ;-)). Oh, and we met Ewan and Linda at the fest in Partenkirchen and Ewan now is a tour guide for AFRC.Now we think we'll go back in January because Katie wants to try snowboarding so I've reserved a cabin for Jan. 2nd. However, we'll only go if her school work is o.k. since KH and I aren't dying to see all the snow although we'll probably enjoy it. We just gotta get chains since KH doesn't have snow tires. And I imagine we'll go back next August if you guys can make it.
posted by Terry at 3:51 PM
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