Wednesday 8 January 2014

Mt. Dobratsch revisited

Hello!

At the beginning of our vacation we already visited Mount Dobratsch once, but did not make it up to the mountain top, due to heavy winds. Today we found perfect weather conditions and hiked all the way up to the top:

Fences to protect the villages in the valley from avalanches.

Another valley which glaciers formed over thousands of years:
 The old mountain chapell at 2100m above sealevel and a modern construction in front:
 The birds were cute at the beginning:
It did not take long and they made me feel quite nervous, getting closer and gathering with their folks:
... knowing that I would unwrap my sandwich in their presence - which I did not.
Larry David Moments - yes, always, please. Alfred Hitchcock Moments at 2100m? No, thank you. Under no circumstances! The steep abyss in front and in our back did not rise the comfort either:
 Shew, shw, away with you, please!


I might add the hike starts at 1700m above sealevel.  You make the first 900m by car. Not bad.
Which leaves you with approx. 450-500m up to the top.
This is probably the most scenic parking lot you can find in the southern hemisphere of Austria. Wow. wow. wow. What a beauty. The mountains in the back, not the AUDI!
Snow in front, fog in the valley, imitating snow. Sun on the top of the mountains - a very typical situation you find on many winter days in Carinthia.

When you dive into the fog on your way down to the valley it feels very bizarre, so dark all of a sudden. There is this saying "the sun always shines above the clouds". Here you can experience it life.

8 comments:

  1. Those birds were beautiful and absolutely harmless Yellow-Billed Alpine Chaughs. They were probably just curious or hungry, maybe both. ;-)

    Beautiful hike! Wished I could get away for a few days (looks longingly at calendar).

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    1. It takes a Brit to know a bird :-)
      I am so glad we made it to Carinthia, I long for nature, at least twice a year.

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  2. It's interesting to see so many birds at such high sea level. Practically in the middle of nowhere. The view is truly spectacular!

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    1. Hi Ana! Maybe that's what frightened me a bit: how the birds appeared in the middle of nowhere.
      For the first time we made it to Kranskja Gora and hiked in Slovenia. The villages - even the touristic Kransjka Gora - are truly charming. You find a lot of old buildings, whereas in Carinthia most of the old substance had been removed in the late 1970's. I want to see more. We will be back, with more time on our hands.

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    2. I was up at the Dachstein in July, and watched butterflies flying by. I was told it's the upwind, and that the poor darlings won't make it back down, they'd frozen stiff by sundown.

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  3. wow, beeindruckende bilder. manche scheinen, als wärst du da oben irgendwo im nirgendwo total verloren. diese stimmung gefällt mir sehr.

    wünsche weiterhin einen spannenden urlaub und gebt acht auf euch!

    liebe grüsse
    hey|dru

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    1. liebe hey|dru, du siehst, was ich empfunden habe: eine gewisse unheimlichkeit, da oben, im schnee. schon toll und es begeistert mich. aber es kann auch schnell kippen, insbesondere wenn man so spät startet wie wir es tun. dafür ist das licht aber soooo schön. vormittagssonne kann da nicht mithalten.

      spannend war die heimreise durch blickdichte nebelwände, auch unheimlich, irgendwie. zur beruhigung schau' ich mir die kuh und das schwein auf den sonnigen fotos im tal an. :-)

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    2. das kann ich mir vorstellen! :)
      hihi die kuh und das schwein... :D

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