Christmas skiing

Just got back from a fun trip down to Garmisch to spend some time with the family and to get some skiing in so here is how it went.

Christmas day we headed to Lermoos in Austria but after searching for a parking spot for over 30 minutes we decided to head to Bierwang/Bichlach which is only another 15 minutes up the road towards Fern Pass. We took one run on the upper t-bar before taking over an hour to let dad take family pictures of us all sitting next to a hut. The snow conditions were variable because on some spots it would be soft and some spots it would be breakable crust so we stayed on the runs for the most part carving some turns. After a fun day we drove back to Garmisch and ate dinner at a restaurant I have never been to right off of the Hauptstrasse.

On the 26th Mom, Olivia, and I decided to do a short tour before I had to take the train back to Weiden to work so we chose the Stuiben hutte right off of the Bernidein T-Bar which is only a 30 min skin to the hutte but still makes you feel like you are in the backcountry. After making the short skin to the hutte we kept on going until we were standing on the top on the Stuibenkopf. The sun was beating down on me hard enough for me to wish that I had chosen shorts over long underwear but soon we were on top with great views all around us.
I spent 45 minutes on the top waiting for the girls to arrive and eating lunch before we set off down towards the hutte to grab their helmets that we had decided to leave there to grab on the way down. The snow was sloppy in the sun but once we got in the shade it was great boot top powder.
After grabbing the helmets we took off down the scary luge run to the ski run were we took the t-bar up and skied down to the Kreuzek bahn that we opted to take down instead of fighting are way down icy slopes with the millions of beginner skiers. Here are a few shots of the girls skiing that snow in the shade...overall very fun day!

Garmisch: Rain and ski touring

My weekend started with catching the train out of Weiden at 8:30pm which put me on track for a 1am arrival in Garmisch. I made all my connection with one scare that had me running to my track but luckily it was only one track over so I made it with time to spare. Once in Garmisch I was picked up by my parents who were already down there due to job stuff. I quickly fell asleep in my bed around 2.

The Hohe Munde

The next morning my mom had a ski instructing clinic and dad had work so after delivering her to the ski bus and dad to work I was giving the car to go do some ski touring at a resort around Garmisch. I chose to head to Seefeld because it didn't really matter where I went, chances are it would be rainy. Once at the resort I toured the runs once before heading back to the top to enjoy a nice meal at the restaurant. After enjoy some goulash soup i took one more run down to the parking lot and decided to go check out a mountain that I want to tour later in the year, the Hohe Munde. The book I have says the tours all start at a ski lift so I found the signs to the lift and followed them. When I arrived I could see where the the lift should have been because of the straight line of trees cutdown but there was no lift in site. It turns out the lift had been shut down years ago and all that was left was a restaurant at the top and a restaurant at the bottom. The resort had turned into a touring paradise with nice easy runs as well as a pretty steep top section of the mountain. I will be coming back in the future. Once done with checking out the area I got back just in time to pick up mom and head back to Garmisch.

First time on her new AT setup

The second day after mom had headed to her clinic I went to sport-conrads to get her skins fitted to her new touring skis and headed back out to Seefeld to do one tour to the restaurant followed by a nice walk back the the car through a forest. After she had finished up with her clinic we went to a small resort just outside of Leutach for her first ski touring experience on her new setup. The snow was pretty crusty so we just followed the cat tracks up for her to get use to the new boots, bindings, and skis. Good times! On the way down she skied her new skis great even though they are a lot softer than her alpine skis. One tour up and one run down and it was almost dark so we got back in the car and headed back to Garmisch to pack bags for are departure the following day. Once all packed up we picked up dad from work and made our way to the Cure bar for dinner. Always love the bacon-cheeseburgers there so I got one and devoured it promptly. Parents left but I stayed with some new friends to have one more beer before walking home on the iciest road ever! I almost fell a few times and tow a car skid right though a red light as people were crossing the street, sketchy! I made it home without injury and quickly fell asleep.
In the morning we packed the car so leaving in the afternoon would be easier and drive to Ehrwald alm for some rainy ski touring. Needless to say we decided against it after 30 minutes of going up in the pouring rain and drove back to Garmisch. While in Garmisch we got word that the Grafenwoehr post was closing due to bad weather. Sure enough when I arrived back home I checked the answering machine and the commissary had left a message saying that I would need to come in at 1 if I wanted to work today. I don't think they realize that I don't just sit around on my days of trying to think of stuff to do...I already have planned stuff to do and chances are they involve snow 400km from Graf. Coming in at 1 in not an option when I get back at 6.
After clearing out the car I fell sound asleep until 8 this morning. Good weekend but snow and colder temps are much needed!

-Owen

Stubai ski and a Garmisch shopping trip...

Just got back from Stubai for skiing and Garmisch for dropping mass amounts of hard earned money... damn ski gear!

Mom and I had a great day in Stubai with over 6 inches of snow in some places and sunny skies the whole day! I brought my camera but as it was the first powder day of the season I quickly forgot I had it and just skied the day away doing laps on the various gondolas. I noticed that my mom has improved a lot in her powder skiing since I last skied with here (2 winters ago!).

Later that day after making the hour long drive back to Garmisch we dropped by a sports store to check out touring boots for my mom which made us in turn start looking at package deals which lead to the inevitable, the purchase of a ski touring package! So stoked to start touring with her. She has always been a great hiking companion and I think she will hit her stride ski touring because her knees don't have to get worked as much on the downhill as they do for hiking thanks to the (hopefully) deep white stuff! Notice how the colors match on her new ski setup...not planned but her jacket also matches. It will be hard to see her on blue bird days!

The new members of our family

After dropping money for the ski touring gear she decided it would be a good day to drop the needed cash on ski passes for the whole family so (FLUSH) there goes €570 or $764 out of my account! It's actually a very good price for the pass because it will work throughout summer for climbing and hiking on all the lifts around Garmisch.

After an exciting shopping spree I took the train home because I had to work in Graf later that night. Accompanying me on the train was what seemed like every school kid in the whole valley but thankfully most of them got off on the first and second stop and after 4 hours I arrived home for a quick nap and then work.

Waking up this afternoon my parents had already arrived and I guess the shopping spree wasn't entirely over, in fact my dad had gone to the same store my mom had bought here skis the day before and found a nice pair of touring boots himself! My boots are definitely the oldest (and cheapest) out of our touring boots but I will use them until they break or no longer function. Today flip-flops cost more than $75 so I can call them a steal for sure!!

It's sure hard to tell which ones are mine...

-Owen

December update

This December a few big things are happening around here:

Last seen walking with dad in the
opposite direction to the same plane

1. My sister arrives back from college for winter break which should be an excellent time skiing but blah because it means I have to go to and from Garmisch by train a lot which I guess is going to be my weekend commute from here on out for skiing so I better get use to it anyways.
2. My parents have found a house and we should find out if they are going to be able to rent it out pretty soon here. They said that the owners are okay with us moving in so it looks like it is going to happen but you never know what could happen. I have only seen pictures but the house is huge and has a massive back yard with a cabin. When I check it out I will post some pictures of it on here.
3. Ski season should hopefully kick off this or next weekend because it is supposedly snowing up on the Zugspitze right now (and here in Weiden as well) so the Zugspitze should open pretty soon. I'm excited for the zugspitze to open but really just want the Alpspitze to open so I can start touring in that area and also enjoy a beer or two at the Stueben hutte.
4. My mom and I have a planned ski trip to Pitztal glacier next Thursday so that should be a fun day trip before ski season really kicks off. I will prob just hang out in the park messing around because honestly I find glacier skiing rather boring unless its route finding and there will be none of that so early in the year.
5. Christmas markets have gone up pretty fast all around Europe so I'm planning my crepe-athon starting at the Garmisch Weinacht Market and continuing to any other markets that I should visit. Crepes are the best things you could possibly eat and Christmas is just the excuse I need to eat five or six a day!

As for my life everything is going good as far as making money goes but as far as life goes it's as boring as it has ever been.....ever. Here's my daily schedule

6pm Wake up
7pm Eat something
8pm Drive to work
9pm Arrive and start work
1am to 4pm Get off work and drive home
5am Go on computer and plan ski trips, check facebook, check email, and roam randomly in cyber space
8am Eat something
9am Back to sleep
REPEAT

I guess it's okay because the skiing sucks so far this year and I really shouldn't be spending my money on anything because saving is my goal but it would be nice to have something to do and....that's the update!

-Owen

Stubai Glacier

Last weekend I got out on my first day of skiing this year (a little late!) to the Stubai Glacier with Jeremy. It turned out to be a great time just hiking the park because the T-Bar was broken and I definitely want to go back soon. The park looked almost too good to be true. It was perfectly shaped and all the rails look super fun. There was even a little chill zone on the right side of the park with lawn chairs out for lounging in the sun. Next time I go back I'm packing a big lunch so I can just sit in the sun and do park laps all day! Here are some pictures from their site and a video that Jeremy took will be coming soon as well. Good times!

-Owen

Perfect park!

I will have to go in spring too!

The plan...

The final choice for my next step is that I will continue working in Grafenwoehr making good money and travel down to Garmisch on the weekends to meet up with the family to do a little skiing. The factors making me choose this plan are

1. It is going to be super hard to get a job in Garmisch and virtually impossible to get one that will pay as good as my current job does. 
2. I like the people I'm working with and feel like an appreciated member of the team. An added bonus is that I don't wake up every morning hating that I will have to go to work.
3. The ski season is looking grim at best. Garmisch doesn't even have any snow at the base of the resort right now and the Zugspitze has postponed two openings. Its so bad I have only skied once and almost destroyed my edge on a rock.

As far as places for me to live in Grafenwoehr I have talked to a lady that I work with and it looks like I will be staying in her basement that is fully furnished. I'm not sure how much it cost me but she is nice so it shouldn't be too much. At this rate I should have a large enough savings to do something when next years fall approaches. I will update as options open up.

-Owen

Life in November

Currently I'm in a shitty situation, my parents are moving to the coolest town in Germany and possibly the world (except for Breckenridge) in a month and I just got the best paying job I have ever had. I have put in for a transfer down to Garmisch but will probably not get in because the commissary in Garmisch is ridiculously small and doesn't even have night stockers. The two possibilities for me right now are:

1.  Stay here in Grafenwhoer and continue to make great money and go down to Garmisch on my weekends to ski in the alps. This is not a bad option because I will get tons of time to ski here in Grafenwhoer as well because there are lots of little places just outside of town to ski. The downside of this would be that I would need to pay for rent, food, and other living expenses. 
2. Try to get on as a ski instructor and make shitty money but live in the coolest town ever. The living expenses would be minimal but I would not have as much freedom living with my parents. The upside is that there are people that I can relate with more in Garmisch being from a skiing culture and also the ability to make friends would also greatly increase because I have not met a single person into skiing in Grafenwhoer and I've been here for a while now.

They are hard choices to make but I think I'm going to try as hard as I can to end up in Garmisch because I will at least be able to relate to people down there and my living expenses will be virtually nothing. Wish me luck!

-Owen

Attack of La Nina

Hands down the best ski movie I have seen this year! A great group of skiers with almost too much talent in all aspects of the sport. The only thing this film lacked was in the park/urban skiing but I could care less about that because when you watch an MSP movie you're really there to watch huge cliff hucks, amazing lines, and deep powder and this film delivers in all of those areas. Colby West had a great segment with his usual style if you know what I mean, funny as hell. All other guys threw down BIG with the gnarliest bail being a cliff huck to rock to double eject. Great movie!

-Owen  

European Outdoor Film Festival

Just got back from the European Outdoor Film Festival which was pretty good but definitely not the best assortment of movies I've seen.
The climbing portion was pretty bland as the producers chose to pick three European sport climbing girls and toss them into the dessert crack climbing scene.  These girls could crush on any crag or gym in teh world with face moves but putting them in the dessert on a crack climb that I could climb on lead was just a little boring. There was even one point in the movie when the climber asked for the belayer to "take" and she sat there almost giving an interview on how hard the climb was before resuming the climb. My mom was even a little bit confused by this because when she is climbing with me and asks for me to "take" I almost always force her to continue the climb to the belay station.

The best movies in the whole show were the snowboarding movie by Travis Rice showcasing him and friends ripping spines in Alaska (No shit) and a mountain bike movie that was super artsy and just all around fun to watch that looked like it was shot in Whistler or the Pacific Northwest Somewhere.

The most confusing movie in the whole show was by far was a movie about a trash bag that was narrated like wildlife documentary on National Geographic or something, yaaaaa...
Here's the trailer for the Film Festival

The saddest movie in the show was a kayaking documentary of kayaking the Congo in which one kayaker got taken out by an alligator.


The most boring movie was "Baffin Babes" in which some girls from Sweden and Norway cross country ski across Baffin Island. As you could imagine they could have just gone back and forth across a 1 mile strip of Baffin Island and we (the viewers) wouldn't have had a clue. Now that I think of it, I doubt they would have had a clue either, the scenery literally never changed throughout the movie. This trip would be shitty to do and for me it was great to only waste 20 minutes of my time watching this ordeal instead 2 months!

Next up is a review of MSPs new film "Attack of LaNina", so stoked!!

A trailer of the Outdoor Film Festival...

Franknejura climbing

I have had been having a blast climbing the last couple of weeks all around Frankenjura but most recently we have stumbled across Hirschbach, a small town 25km from Vilseck that has a ton of climbing all around it. My first time climbing there was on Saturday and I think it will turn out to be my go to spot for the upcoming winter months. The rock is good and there are a ton of routes from 6 up so it should keep me busy for a long time to come. Here are a few pictures of Mittelbergwand and Schlaraffenland, obviously not taken by me...

Zugspitze climb

The plan is to catch the 5:40 train out of Weiden to Munich and from there on to Garmisch for some climbing in the good weather they're having. The main goal of the trip is to climb the Zugspitze and hike down to Ehrwald. Once there I well hitchhike my ass back to Garmisch in time for dinner.

Once I got on the train from Weiden I was told by the ticket checker that my ticket wasn't active until 9 but he let me ride the rest of the way to Regensburg for my transfer. I made the transfer to a train to Munich but my luck ran out when the next ticket checker told me to get off at the next stop(Landshut?) and that is where I am now, sitting in an Internet cafe not paying for Internet waiting for a 9:00 train to Munich. Playing stupid American is getting harder and harder everyday! It's only 7:40 now so I have some time to kill people watching.
Back on a train, this time heading to Garmisch with blue skies overhead!
The mountains just became visible as well as the first mountain cows with their big bells.
Started hiking at 4 going through the Hollental gorge and past the hut. Once past the hut I got pretty lost trying to find the start of the kletterstieg in the dark with only a headlamp so I waited for the sun to rise and sat on my backpack.
30 min later I was on trail passing the first section of kletterstieg up onto the last flat section before the glacier. The glacier was a sheet of ice so I put on my crampon compatable boots with crampons and went up the 5 switchbacks to where the kletterstieg resumes.


The crux of the whole route is regaining the kletterstieg after the glacier ends because it is 20 feet over a blank section of rock. Once over this section the route goes easily for the rest of the route up to the summit. It took me way too much time on this last section and was passed by one guy. The last 40 meters were covered in ice but I didn't feel like putting on crampons so I took very carefull steps to the top. Once at the top I ate a bratwurst at the Muenchener Haus and started the long descent to the Knorr hutte and then to Ehrwald Alm via the Gatterl. It was a super long hike but well worth the effort with great views the whole time. By the end I was super tired and knew that I need to be in better shape for ski season! Next up is card training so ski season isn't a complete jolt for my body...

Prague, Czech Republic

This weekend we headed to a city I had never been to, Prague!
We drove out of Weiden with the minivan packed to the gills at 10:30 for the drive arriving in Prague in only an 1.5 hours. After checking into our hostel (Czech Inn Hotel) we walked down the street and had some beers at a restaurant before walking further into town along the route 22 streetcar. We decided to check out an astronomical clock before eating dinner, having a few more beers, and heading back to the hostel. Just before the street car we made our way through a park saying before that it, " doesn't look that bad". Right as a we passed by a group two guys starting swinging and got the other one pretty good on the eye before his friends ran over to help him out. It ended in a short time but was entertaining anyways.
The next day we walked all over the city and I quickly got bored and remembered why I had disliked checking out new cities in the first place, they all look the same after you've seen 15 of them. We still had a good time at an overlook above Prague and drinking beer. Here are a few pictures.....

Tour guides

Nice city

Lennon wall

best shot of the trip by me

Hello dad!

Ehrwald alm to Knorrhutte/ Zugspitze platz Via Gatterl

Group of old farts

This last weekend started as a shocker, I had been left by the people that said they would give me a ride all the way to Garmisch (255 miles) after waiting for over 2 hours for them. After this surprise happened I drive home to Weiden and walked from my car to the train station to catch the fastest train from Weiden to Munich which ended up leaving only 10 minutes later. After one more connection,  half of my book, and a few more miles sitting on the train I arrived in Garmisch at 11:30. I needed to eat something so we went to a mexican restaurant just outside the train station. By the time I had gotten my food and my parents had finished their drinks it was 12:20. Arriving at haus lily I packed my bag for climbing the zugspitze but motivation was running low because of the lack of sleep. I woke up at 3:30 to the sound of rain falling on the roof so I went back to sleep thinking it would turn into a rainy day. At 10:30 I woke up again to blue skies and knew that I should have just gone for it when I had woken up the first time.  After breakfast and a trip to Sport Conrads to check out new ski gear we were on our way to the Ehrwald Alm in Austria. The plan for the day was to hike around the side of the Ehrwald Alm and onto the Zugspitze platz but with our unusually late start I didn't think we would make it all the way.

The last rise before the border

After an hour of hiking we passed a hutte that was closed and I sped up my pace hopeful that I would make the "Gatterl", the ridge that divides Austria and Germany. After an hour and a half longer I made it to the border which was marked with a large Germany sign and a bunch of older markings made on the rock.

The border!

 I went a little further to check out the Zugspitze platz because I had never seen it from this angle. From my angle I could see all the way down the valley to the Saschen hutte and all the way up the other way to the Knorr hutte and the top of the Zugspitze. It was a very cool vantage point and I cannot wait to ski it in the coming months! On the way back the rest of the group caught up as I was coming back and decided to sit on the first ridge before making the hike back to the base of the Ehrwald Alm. We drove back to Garmisch and had a great meal at the Local cure bar before calling it a night. Fun day!

Friendly Cow!

Ski Movie Month!

September is the month all the new ski movies come out so I wanted to post some of my favorite trailers for this upcoming year! Watching ski movies in September or any other month without snow is unhealthy but I do it anyways!

First up is "Attack of La Nina" By Match Stick Productions. This movie looks absolutely insane and also focuses a little more on the POWDER so it is definitely on the to buy list!

Second up is "Breaking Trail" By Powderwhores. This movie looks exactly like what you would expect from the a film company called The Powderwhores. A group of excellent skiers earning their turns but new this year they have included AT skiers in their film to give it a new feeling and new athletes. Looks like a good soulful film!

Last but now least is "Solitaire" by Sweetgrass Productions. This movie seems to be the most artistic movie so far and highlights a lot of the culture and mountains in Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. A must see!

Enjoy and get ready for winter!
-Owen

Meiler Hutte!

Just got back from an epic fun hut trip with my mom. Here's the story!

Mom Readies for the Hike

We cruised out of Weiden on Saturday making our way to Haus Lilly in Garmisch. We dropped our stuff in our room and made our way into town to my favorite outdoor store of all time, Sport Conrad. My mom ended up buying a pair of boots, and I was left to stare at all the gear hanging all over the walls. After that we made our way to a bookstore where I found a book on climbing in Kochel, an area outside of Garmisch that I know now has only ridiculously hard routes. After a spontaneous shopping spree we made our way to The Local Cure bar where we enjoyed a meal of bacon cheeseburger and fish in chips. After that we were too tired to do anything but fall asleep in our beds. The next morning we woke up around 7 and were at a bakery enjoying breakfast by 8. We were thinking of going to Hobis bakery but saw how crowded it was and decided to head to another bakery where the lines were small and the tables empty. We enjoyed breakfast sitting at the tables before heading to the ski stadium to lace up the boots and embark on the first part of our hike, the Partnachlamm. The Parnachklamm is a huge gorge that goes right to the base of the ski stadium and funnels lots and lots of water throughout its winding path. Unlike the tourists we made our way through the gorge without taking too many pictures, but I still got a few! We ended up being one of the first groups through the klamm making it a nice and fast transition onto our trail in the direction of the Meiler Hutte. We decided to take the most direct trail on the Kalbersteig, and it proved to be a great deal of rise. Once we gained the major hiking/mountain biking trail, it was only an hour or so until we saw the first hut on our way to the Meiler Hutte, the Schachen Hutte.

Schachen

This hut was King Ludwig's hunting lodge and it looks fit for a king even today! I don't know that I would even call it a hut! I guess back when he was the king he had it covered in Persian rugs and a bunch of other crazy stuff inside. There was a tour of it on the hour, but we decided to set off again after a quick meal. The next stop would be the Meiler Hutte! It was quite a rise before the trail leveled off again, but the views couldn't have been better! The sky was completely blue and that was amazing since on the drive to Garmisch it never stopped raining, and we had to go 45 km/h at one point because it was raining so hard! Happy for the sun. As mom fought the hills, I went a little ahead and caught up to a guy with his white dog. As we were passing some sheep they all started to chase after the man and his dog because they all thought that the dog was another sheep! Looking back the sheep looked like a gang guarding their land. I was lucky enough to snap a shot of them all looking at the dog like he was one of them, funny!

Mob of sheep!

Just after we passed the gang of sheep, the hutte came into view, straddling the border of Germany and Austria. It is one of the best huts I have ever seen! It looks like an ancient border crossing for wary travelers and I guess it still is. By the time we made it to the hutte I needed a beer and that is just what they had waiting for me! On the rocks bordering the hutte there were even a few bolted climbing routes! I wished then that I had brought my climbing gear, but that would have to wait for another day. The next time I'm in this area I hope to have my climbing gear with me because the rock around us looked very inviting! After a while we had a few more beers and paid for our beds.

First View of the Meiler Hutte

The cost of a bed for the night makes me love Europe more than ever: 8 Euros per night! For the rest of the day we drank beer, ate food, and got to know other people in the hutte! A great way to end the day was watching the sun dip down below the Alpspitze on the terrace of the hut with the others that were spending the night there.

Sunset

After that we went into the hut and read a few magazines before heading off to bed. There were a few snorers or "snorkelers" as one of our new German friends called it but it wasn't loud enough to keep me awake so I fell asleep after 30 minutes or so. In the morning we ate breakfast which consisted of 3 pieces of bread with various spread, and we got back on the trail. Instead of going back into Germany, we headed down the valley to Leutasch with the intention of checking out a new area. It was down, down, down from then on. We walked through a beautiful valley from the start to the end and by the end,  I was in need of a knee icing! We had lost a crazy amount of elevation and most of it was on loose gravel.

The valley of the walking dead!

 I'm proud to say that I never fell down. My mom reported that some of the steps were so high for her on the way down that she just sat down to get to the next step and even then her feet didn't touch! When we got to the end of the valley we took a bus to Mittenwald and a train from there to get us back to Garmsich. This hike was one of the most fun hikes that I have done. Now that I know how easy it is to do a hut hike, I think I will be doing a lot more hut trips in the future.

One more thing: This was my new pack's maiden voyage, and I already love it more than any pack I have had! Many more trips to come!

Pack with my hut shoes!

Czech trip

Soooo on Friday after getting done working out in the gym my mom came up with the plan to check out the huge sandstone spyers on the border of the Czech Republic and Germany. The timing was perfect because I had just finished up my job stuff for the week and didn't have anything seriously planned for the weekend so we planned to leave by 8 or 9 in the morning to head out. That didn't happen because, long story short I woke up at 11:30 (Darrow Alpine Start)! We quickly printed papers off line and packed our stuff into the van and where on the road by 2. As soon as we left we got hit by two really bad rain storms, so bad in fact that cars on the autobahn were going 40km/h. After getting through the two rain storms we got stuck in a stau just outside of Dresden for 45 minutes so by the time we got to the Elbe Valley it was nearly 6. We ended up going all the way through to Czech on accident but it turned out okay because we found a climbing place that had a guidebook of the area, a guidebook that I would later find out is the most confusing guidebook of all time!

Guest houses

After coming back from Czech and into the town of Bad Schondau we pulled over to where my mom said were,"the cutest guest houses", looked for a Zimmer Frei sign and got a room for the night. The total cost of a spur of the moment guesthouse stop for two? A whopping 50 Euros for both of us! A good price and it even included breakfast. After getting our stuff into the room we made our way out onto the town to search for some food and eventually settled on an Italian Restaurant.

Funny story: After eating, we made our way back to the guest house along the road and a bunch of semi old run-down houses. After walking for a while I spotted a mouse and started chasing it along the fence line while my mom stayed behind because she is, "deathly afraid of mice".  After a while the mouse stopped and I got passed it and it turned around started running back towards mom who then did what any freaked out person does and jumped INTO THE ROAD, screaming as she went! Luckily for her (and me) no car was coming but her scream turned a few lights on in the houses we were walking by. With a great night ender (for me!) we hit reading our books and fell asleep knowing that tomorrow we would be checking out the sandstone towers of Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland! 

Egg hats!

 We woke up at 7:30, early enough for me a to take a shower and be ready for breakfast. The breakfast was a standard european, with four pieces of bread, a selection of meats and cheeses and a hard boiled egg but what was different was how the egg was presented. Instead of letting the egg get cold, there was a little hat placed over the top of it. My mom liked this so much she bought one from the guest house owner! Already excited about finding the egg-hats we kept the energy going and started packing the car back up. In ten minutes the car was packed and we were saying farewell to the guest house owners. We were now on our way to the main attraction: the sandstone towers! We drove out of Bad Schondau, past Hohnstein and into Bastei! The drive was short but the scenery was great. I don't think we would have made it all the way if I was driving because of how much rock there was on the sides of the road but in no time we were pulling into the parking lot.

Towers!

Walking down to the towers we couldn't tell that we were even at an overlook because of how thick the trees were, but when we got to the first viewing platform everything became clearer. There were towers going on and on far out into the distance. The Elbe river flowed by and instantly I thought that this might be the most beautiful climbing area I had ever been to! As we made our way to the different viewing platforms, I could see that there were little white books at the top of most of the larger towers for climbers  to sign after climbing them.  We walked around to the different platforms for an hour just looking at all the different shapes and sizes until we noticed that there were more and more older people showing up. 

Your new background?

We   quickly made our way out of the tourist zones and back to the car as the road became gridlocked with tour busses. I guess the best time to check out the towers is in the early morning because after that the viewing platforms get way to crowded. We decided to head back to Bad Schonau to check out a local climbing shop that I had seen while searching for a restaurant the night before. They were packed with the newest gear but among the caribiners, nuts, and cams they were selling 3ft lengths of cordolette because in this area you can only use knots as gear because metal is too strong and makes marks on the rock. The guy at the shop was nice and showed me how to use the knots as pro and showed me a book about many of the first guys to climb the towers. It was amazing to see that they had been climbing like this since the 1960s. We were in the shop for 30 min and walked out with a wood spike to push the knots into the cracks and a large knot on a rope that was called a "kinder Kopf or kinder head. I looked it up later and the same knot is known in the US as a monkey's fist. I walked out of the store with a rekindled motivation to at least see the towers further up the valley so we took off across the Czech border again. We passed the first spot that I had planned on going to, and then we went to the second turnoff in an area called Labske. Before making our way up the trail, we packed everything we had into the stow-and-go and made our car look not worth the time to break into. After that we were off walking up a trail into the ever-thickening forest. Passing large boulders that alone would have been worth the trip, we pushed up. After 30 minutes of uphill walking, we finally caught a glimpse of white sandstone through the trees but kept walking. Five minutes later it was apparent that we were walking at the base of the sandstone towers. We stopped to get a drink and I heard someone in the forest  and some metal hitting the rock so I headed up along side the tower and around the base until we made our way through a canyon like section and to the climbers. The climbers were German and looked to be having a great time throwing knots into the rock and not questioning whether they would hold a fall or not. They enjoyed the view from the top of the second pitch of a climb that topped out on top of a tower. 

The hill

I wanted to get to the top of a tower too but with my mom in tow I new that climbing would have to wait for another day. We kept walking along the base until we found a climbable slope that looked like it headed to the top of a tower. We huffed it up the steep hill for 30 minutes clinging to trees and rocks along the way until we made it to the top and got to see the view.  The panorama was amazing. Views as far as the eye can see into the Czech Republic and on the other side we could see Germany in the distance. The hike was  definitely worth it but after snacks and water it was time to head down. Going do we chose to follow a path around what we had just gone up which ended up going right back to where we had begun on the path. 30 minutes later we were loading our stuff back into the car and thinking about the long drive back home to Weiden.  

The View

On the way out we decided that we needed gas, but instead of getting gas at am Esso that was 10km down the road we decided to find one as we went on the autobahn. We ended up going quite a ways and by the time I had typed "Esso" into the GPS we had 25km until empty. The GPS said we were 20km from the station so it would't be a problem. What we didn't realize was that when the GPS says that it is 20km away, it means that the turn off is 20km away. As we made the turn and started looking for as Esso the GPS flicked to a new number: 6km. We only had 5km until the tank was empty so this was a surprise to us but we kept driving. As we got to the turn off at 6km it said that that gas station would be in 3 kms. At this point the car was running on nothing. The distance to empty was 0km and it had been this way for a good 2km. I was on the edge of my seat and my mom was running red lights (literally). We got to the top of the hill and could see the Esso sign in the distance. 

The car rolled into the gas station and collapsed. After gassing up we went in to pay and the guy told us that we were lucky because in 18 minutes he would be closed! After that we made our way all the way back to Weiden without incident. This was a great trip but next time I plan on climbing a tower or two!!

-Owen

Olivia is off to College in Missoula

At 3:30 in the morning the family got up to make the drive to the airport for Olivia and my dads flight to Seattle via Amsterdam. It was a quick drive but I still got a few pictures of them in the airport. They are flying to Seattle to see the cousins and from there they are driving to University Of Montana to drop Olivia off. Hope they have a in trip and that Olivia enjoys school!

Olivia looking stoked to be traveling

They might have to agree on a direction

Love you guys!