A week in the Austrian Alps

[Galeocerdoshark]

As some of you might have already read or seen in the Snark thread, I've been having quite the active holiday in Austria. My SO and I always like to have a bit of variaty in our holidays. We like to hike, but we also like good food, some scenery, a bit of culture... This holiday had it all. To top it all off, I had some good company in the hardware I brought.

Here's kind of an overview of our holiday.

Day 1 we went to one side of the Dachstein mountain range (namely 'Krippenstein'). This mountain range has several high plateaus at +1600 metres. The highest mountaintops are close to but just shy of 3000 metres. On the northern sides there's still a few glaciers left, though they have shrunk by almost 1.5km over the last 100 years.
Here's a view of two of these glaciers.

The sights here are spectacular.

We had a few really nice hikes here, a good lunch with a tremendous view. Great start of our holiday.
The town we were in (Hallstatt) is at the shore of the lake:

In the mornings, we were greated with this sight from our bedroom window:

We had a nice picknick too, and a hell of a view to boot.

The second day we took an Alpine road up the Tauplitz area to have a nice hike on the Tauplitzalm (Tauplitz alpine meadow). We spent a bunch of hours here, had another great picknick and were overall just blessed with good weather, great scenery... just amazing.

To be continued...

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

continued...

The next day we went on a hike that covered a lot of height difference so it was quite tiring. The sights we got were very much worth it though. Many waterfalls with one alrge one to top it off. Pictures don't do it justice.

Here's the larger one. There's people on the road to the left, for scale.

We took a bit of a resting day and when fully rested took on another hike. This time we went to the Gosau lake (Gosau see) which gives a different view on the Dachtstein mountain range. A few different glaciers are visible here.

It was getting late so we had a nice lunch there on the shores. Some salad that needed some extra ham... No problem for the Kephart.

A smaller and lower altitude (700m) lake we visited was the Ödensee. Due to its shallowness the water was STILL FLIPPING COLD but oh well it was super nice to have a short swim in there with some amazing scenery all around.

The surrounding forest was fun too. People have been creative in a dried up river bed.

I did bring some other gear too...

And again, sights were beautiful.

to be continued again...

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

And the last one...


As I said, we switch things up and there was time for some culture as well.
The local museum has an interesting collection of bronze age items. The mountains here are riddled with salt, originating from when the area was still beneath the ocean's surface during the Triassic. Some ammonites and other fossils that are occasionally found in the hills also attest to this. Anyway, the salt has been mined for ages and this coused the region to be a hotspot for trade for the early Celts. The immense amount of graves and ash sites that have been recovered yielded many of these items and gave a unique look into the Celt's way of life. Due to the high salinity environment, many things like cloth, bonnets, shoes,...of 800-400 BC and older have been found almost in pristine condition. Monstreous landslides wiped out the existing towns however, and filled up the entrance to the mines. It wasn't until several 100 years later until production was resumed again. Here's some items for you knife nuts...

Since the rocky ground isn't really suitable for burial ground expansion, the local graveyard was reused over and over again. This tradition is still ongoing though you have to explicitely write down in your will that you still want this to happen... Want what to happen?
Well, 10 years after you're buried, you'd be dug up, your bones cleaned and sunbathed before being painted and added to the "Bone Hause". Not my type of tradition but oh well .

The last day we had really bad weather, but after the rain cleared up a bit, we wanted to check out the south side of the Dachstein mountains. A 3 hour round trip but again, the sight was worth it...

That's kind of it, I guess? Hope you enjoyed it!

 

[Wasty]

Wow, these pics are beautiful.
One can see that you really enjoyed it Thanks for sharing.
The fresh air + hiking makes one hungry, better have a good knife for food prep with you!
You were definitely not underknifed and Austria is still very liberal with its knife laws, so that's a good one

I usually go there once a year for a long motorcycling weekend, so I've been there too.
But this year due to Rona, I'll stay at home and explore my backyard..

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

Wow, these pics are beautiful.
One can see that you really enjoyed it Thanks for sharing.
The fresh air + hiking makes one hungry, better have a good knife for food prep with you!
You were definitely not underknifed and Austria is still very liberal with its knife laws, so that's a good one

I usually go there once a year for a long motorcycling weekend, so I've been there too.
But this year due to Rona, I'll stay at home and explore my backyard..

Thanks! Yes the virus thing was somewhat of a concern but we planned (and did) on mostly hiking through the forests and mountains so there's not a lot of souls you encounter. We rented an apartment too, so no hotels with buffet food or anything. It went well.

 

[viking313]

Beautiful pictures....glad you enjoyed you time in the Alps...

 

[turbosquirrel]

awesome pics! Looks like you had a great time outdoors.

 

[The Warrior]

Best. Thread. Ever.

Awesome man, this is more like it. It needed it's own thread. Stunning freaking area man, would love to see that myself. Thanks for posting.

By the way, nice photos!

 

[Jonny1280]

Looks absolutely amazing!
Thanks for sharing G-shark.

 

[Xr6x]

Absolutely Gorgeous!!! Thanks Much for taking the time and sharing your trip with all of us
GREAT JOB G=SHARK

 

[Mass1632]

It looks amazing out there. Peaceful and serene. It doesnt get much better than that. Great pictures along with great detail. Those are some interesting old celt tools there.


Thanks for posting this thread!

 

[tanglediver]

I was hearing an old song in my mind while watching your slide show. Very nice country you get to visit there! Breathtaking swim, eh?

 

[Aikiguy]

This is what we needed. I am absolutely amazed by the scenery there. Towering mountains, pristine lakes, waterfalls, hikes, museums...sounds like a dream vacation. Glad the weather held out for you. Thanks for taking us along!

 

[daizee]

Wow!!

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

Beautiful pictures....glad you enjoyed you time in the Alps...

We sure did! Thank you.

awesome pics! Looks like you had a great time outdoors.

Absolutely. I wouldn't mind staying there a bit longer.

Best. Thread. Ever.

Awesome man, this is more like it. It needed it's own thread. Stunning freaking area man, would love to see that myself. Thanks for posting.

By the way, nice photos!

Nah not the best thread. No chopping down trees with the niner or anything.
Once this is all over, get yourself a plane ticket and go over there!

Looks absolutely amazing!
Thanks for sharing G-shark.

Thanks and you're welcome!

Absolutely Gorgeous!!! Thanks Much for taking the time and sharing your trip with all of us
GREAT JOB G=SHARK

No problem, my pleasure!

It looks amazing out there. Peaceful and serene. It doesnt get much better than that. Great pictures along with great detail. Those are some interesting old celt tools there.


Thanks for posting this thread!

They are. I like the fixed blade knife there's curved inward. It sparked some curiosity for sure.

I was hearing an old song in my mind while watching your slide show. Very nice country you get to visit there! Breathtaking swim, eh?

Literally! I let my legs get used to the cold for a few minutes before diving in. Still, everything tingled and I swam back to shore to let my torso get used to the frigid water as well. Once that was done, swimming was quite alright.

This is what we needed. I am absolutely amazed by the scenery there. Towering mountains, pristine lakes, waterfalls, hikes, museums...sounds like a dream vacation. Glad the weather held out for you. Thanks for taking us along!

Only the last day the weather was crappy but overall we were definitely blessed by some rays of sunlight. Not too much, but that's great for hiking.

Wow!!

Haha, thanks man!

 

[GeofS]

Very beautiful pictures!

 

[knoefz]

Great pics, love the alps!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bkg]

As some of you might have already read or seen in the Snark thread, I've been having quite the active holiday in Austria. My SO and I always like to have a bit of variaty in our holidays. We like to hike, but we also like good food, some scenery, a bit of culture... This holiday had it all. To top it all off, I had some good company in the hardware I brought.

Here's kind of an overview of our holiday.

Day 1 we went to one side of the Dachstein mountain range (namely 'Krippenstein'). This mountain range has several high plateaus at +1600 metres. The highest mountaintops are close to but just shy of 3000 metres. On the northern sides there's still a few glaciers left, though they have shrunk by almost 1.5km over the last 100 years.
Here's a view of two of these glaciers.

The sights here are spectacular.

We had a few really nice hikes here, a good lunch with a tremendous view. Great start of our holiday.
The town we were in (Hallstatt) is at the shore of the lake:

In the mornings, we were greated with this sight from our bedroom window:

We had a nice picknick too, and a hell of a view to boot.

The second day we took an Alpine road up the Tauplitz area to have a nice hike on the Tauplitzalm (Tauplitz alpine meadow). We spent a bunch of hours here, had another great picknick and were overall just blessed with good weather, great scenery... just amazing.

To be continued...

Absolutely beautiful