In July 2010, Theo and Jeff again flew to Austria to hike in the Alps. We spent seven days in Soelden, in the Oetztal valley southwest of Innsbruck. We also spent one day in Munich, prior to flying back to the States.
Above are photos of Theo in Innsbruck and a view of Soelden. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.
We stayed in the Castello Falkner Hotel. The staff, whom we met last year, was kind enough to upgrade us, without any request from us, to their largest suite. It featured a large bedroom, a huge bathroom (with whirlpool, steam shower and a mammoth urn full of flowers in the middle), a livingroom, a small kitchen, an anteroom entrance and a balcony overlooking the river. Here's a view of the courtyard, from our livingroom window.
This is a view to the southwest from our hotel balcony.
On our second day, we participated in a eight-hour guided hiking tour led by Christoph, the gentleman pictured here. We were joined by Sanne (a Belgian) and by Francis and Jeanne (a terrific French couple.) This first hike took us halfway up a mountain and back into some of the valleys. In a small mountain huette (restaurant), Theo had her first portion for this vacation of her favorite Austrian lunch, Kaiserschmarren, which is small pancakes with fruit.
This is a view toward Zwieselstein (Christoph's home), from up on the mountain, as we hiked toward the huette.
At one point, we hiked through a small herd of cows. Jeff scratched one on the muzzle - and they all began to follow us. In this picture, you can see Jeanne, Sanne and Theo, along with the cows.
Here is Theo, along with Sanne, braving a mountain path. They were stopping to discuss the relative merits of trekking poles versus no trekking poles. Theo had some, Sanne did not. They may also have been trying to determine whether to go up or down.
Along the way, we passed a waterfall and traversed a bridge across the brook. Conversations throughout the hike were a mixture of French, English and German.
This particular hike ended with a glass of schnapps at Christoph's house in Zwieselstein, and then an interesting thirty minute trek through canyons along the river back to Soelden.
On day three, Theo, Francis, Jeanne and Jeff took the Giggijoch gondola halfway up a mountain. We then hiked up to the Schwarzsee and back to Rettenbachalm. Eventually we hiked back down the mountain.
Note that we were well above the treeline. It was pretty rocky country, but, for this stretch, we had a road.
Part way up, we discovered this little chapel, in front of which Theo sneezed, while Jeff was taking a picture.
We continued on up to the Schwarzsee (Black Lake), which is just shy of 10,000 feet above sea level, and more than a mile above Soelden. The climb was along a narrow path and very steep at the end. Tough to breathe in that thin air, but a nice view when we arrived. A good chunk of snow in the left foreground....
In this picture, Theo is pointing back down from the Schwarzsee to Rettenbachalm, where we ate lunch.
This is a view of the mountains and glaciers from Rettenbachalm. Jeff took the shot while he and Theo were eating lunch.
Here's a view from Rettenbachalm up the mountain toward Schwarzsee. Note the narrow path along the mountain on the right. It's what we took up to the lake.
On the way back down from Rettenbachalm, we tried, unsuccessfully, to disturb some very contented cows.
Note the cows' casual indifference to Theo's American apparel. Note also that it was a bit chilly up that high, which is why Theo was wearing long-sleeves.
When we got back to town, we hiked along the river back to our hotel. Here's a view of the church and some hotels in the north end of town.
On our fourth day, we drove further into the valley to the little town of Vent.
We climbed up from the town, through some woods, to an open area called Mutsbuhel. Here's a picture back down the valley from that area.
The hike took us through massive areas of wild flowers. Here's Theo in front of a hillside full of them.
Here's Jeff (beardless), looking across the valley to the mountain peak on the other side of Vent. Again, lots of wildflowers ....
The second part of this hike took us across the mountainside to Ramol Alm. This is Theo on the path to that spot, with the Niedertal valley in the background.
After about three hours of hiking, we were back in Vent. We then took a chairlift up the mountain on the northside of Vent and ate lunch at Stablein. Here's Jeff in the restaurant, with panoramic views of the mountains out the windows. Jeff had his only wienerschnitzel of the trip at this restaurant. It was huge and eliminated his craving for schnitzel for the rest of the vacation.
Here's a view of the valley as we took the chairlift back down. Theo has now reached the point where she can do chairlifts without much fear.
On our fifth day, we decided to drive through the Timmelsjoch pass into Italy, then the Jaufenpass and the Brenner pass back into Austria, on up to Innsbruck and then back to Soelden. The Timmelsjoch is called the High Alpine Road, and it has earned its name. Here's a view of one of the valleys from the road.
To fully appreciate the drive is impossible through pictures. One has to physically experience it. The road is composed of many switchbacks. There are fantastic views down into the valleys. The drive itself is exhilirating, if you're at the wheel, or scary as hell if you're in the passenger seat, as Theo was. [To get some sense of the drive, you can Google "Timmelsjoch", using the video feature, and click on some of the biker videos that are set to rock music. You'll get an appreciation for the switchbacks, if not necessarily for the views.]
Here's a picture looking up at the road as it climbs a mountain.
Here's one through the windshield as we approached a switchback curve. If you miss the curve and slide over those low barriers, you'll drop a couple of thousand feet. The white card-like thing in the lower left is our Timmelsjoch ticket reflecting from the dashboard onto the windshield.
We stopped for a quick walk around the town of St. Leonhards, in Italy. As you can see, it looks just like Austria and the language spoken is German.
This is a view back toward St. Leonhards as we headed up toward the Jaufenpass. These are the Italian Alps.
We topped this day off with an afternoon walk around old Innsbruck.
On the sixth day, we drove to Umhausen and then hiked up to Stuiben Falls. The hike up took about an hour. Here's Theo on the bridge over the brook that feeds the falls, which are to her left.
This is the view from the bridge of the top of the falls, as the water crests the edge.
Here's a view of the falls from platform 2.
This is a view looking down the falls, from Platform 5, which overhangs the top of the falls.
Here's a picture of Jeff and Theo on platform 5. The picture was taken by a young boy (maybe 13 years old). I started to explain how the camera worked, but he just took it, changed a couple of settings, took the picture and changed the settings back. That which is complex to me was apparently simple to him.
.jpg)
Here's Theo alone on platform 5, overhanging the falls. Several years ago, she would not have been willing or able to go out on that platform. Zoloft is a wonderful drug!
After the falls, we continued back up the valley along the brook to this little town of Niederthai. It was just a gorgeous setting.
We then followed this road up to a huette called Bichl, where we ate lunch - Kaiserschmarren number two for Theo, apfelstrudel for Jeff.
This is a view of the mountains from the road to Bichl.
On our way back to Umhausen, we walked through some fields of high grasses. No wonder the cows love the mountain pastures so much.
On day seven, we took another guided hike with Christoph, Sanne and her family (Filip, Simon and Kate) and another Belgian family.
As usual, we encountered cows along the way.
For this hike, the hotel owner and some staff members drove us halfway up the mountain and fed us breakfast at Gampe Thaya (a huette). We then walked along the mountainside for a few hours, stopping for drinks at Edelweisshuette and then wandering back down the mountain into Soelden. Here's a view of Soelden from Edelweisshuette.
Here's one through the windshield as we approached a switchback curve. If you miss the curve and slide over those low barriers, you'll drop a couple of thousand feet. The white card-like thing in the lower left is our Timmelsjoch ticket reflecting from the dashboard onto the windshield.
We stopped for a quick walk around the town of St. Leonhards, in Italy. As you can see, it looks just like Austria and the language spoken is German.
This is a view back toward St. Leonhards as we headed up toward the Jaufenpass. These are the Italian Alps.
We topped this day off with an afternoon walk around old Innsbruck.
On the sixth day, we drove to Umhausen and then hiked up to Stuiben Falls. The hike up took about an hour. Here's Theo on the bridge over the brook that feeds the falls, which are to her left.
This is the view from the bridge of the top of the falls, as the water crests the edge.
Here's a view of the falls from platform 2.
This is a view looking down the falls, from Platform 5, which overhangs the top of the falls.
Here's a picture of Jeff and Theo on platform 5. The picture was taken by a young boy (maybe 13 years old). I started to explain how the camera worked, but he just took it, changed a couple of settings, took the picture and changed the settings back. That which is complex to me was apparently simple to him.
.jpg)
Here's Theo alone on platform 5, overhanging the falls. Several years ago, she would not have been willing or able to go out on that platform. Zoloft is a wonderful drug!
After the falls, we continued back up the valley along the brook to this little town of Niederthai. It was just a gorgeous setting.
We then followed this road up to a huette called Bichl, where we ate lunch - Kaiserschmarren number two for Theo, apfelstrudel for Jeff.
This is a view of the mountains from the road to Bichl.
On our way back to Umhausen, we walked through some fields of high grasses. No wonder the cows love the mountain pastures so much.
On day seven, we took another guided hike with Christoph, Sanne and her family (Filip, Simon and Kate) and another Belgian family.
As usual, we encountered cows along the way.
For this hike, the hotel owner and some staff members drove us halfway up the mountain and fed us breakfast at Gampe Thaya (a huette). We then walked along the mountainside for a few hours, stopping for drinks at Edelweisshuette and then wandering back down the mountain into Soelden. Here's a view of Soelden from Edelweisshuette.Here's our group at Edelweisshuette.
Later in the afternoon, we drove to Obergurgl and took a gondola to the top of Wurmkogl. Here's a view of hikers and hooves, as seen through the gondola window.
Here we're looking up the mountain from the gondola. The top half of the mountain really looked like a moonscape.
This is looking back down the mountain. Soelden and Hochsoelden are visible in the valley.
This blog has been an attempt to share through pictures what we experienced during our week in Soelden. The weather was excellent and the hiking superb. We're thinking of going back to Soelden again next year, although the reception manager told us there would be no better rooms to which we could be upgraded next year.
Later in the afternoon, we drove to Obergurgl and took a gondola to the top of Wurmkogl. Here's a view of hikers and hooves, as seen through the gondola window.
Here we're looking up the mountain from the gondola. The top half of the mountain really looked like a moonscape.
This is looking back down the mountain. Soelden and Hochsoelden are visible in the valley.
This blog has been an attempt to share through pictures what we experienced during our week in Soelden. The weather was excellent and the hiking superb. We're thinking of going back to Soelden again next year, although the reception manager told us there would be no better rooms to which we could be upgraded next year.
