Day 6 What a Challenge Travel to Hallerangerhaus

The weather report last night was a bit of everything- sun, rain, hail, thunder, lightening. I went to be not sure of what I would do in the morning. Fellow hikers Volker, Rudy, Marlis, Helmut and I decided to meet in the morning and discuss the options. The day dawned sunny so we decided to go for it.

First up we climbed through the avalanche barriers aided by steel cables where necessary. After that heart pounding start it was a steady climb up for two hours. The last part was pretty steep. Volker and I stuck together through the climb to watch each others backs. It was pretty spectacular. We finally got to the saddle but just took time to take a few photos. We both were aware of dark clouds to the west. The next part of the hike was the most challenging part for me. It was super steep downhill. First over loose rock for 50m. Then over solid rock. We down climbed the rock with the support of steel cables. My nerve and feat level was very high during this section. Volker was super patient and coached me when I got a little stuck. I could probably have done it in my own but it was very comforting to have someone there. After that there was a steep scree field to descend. The other three were able to do this much more quickly than I. I told them to go ahead. I caught up with them later at a beautiful pool of water coming off the mountain. They were cooling off in the pool. We had a snack. I thanked Volker and gave him some chocolate. The others filled their water bottles here. I guess they don't worry about water diseases because they didn't filter

From there there was yet more downhill. I thought I had left the cables behind me for the day but there were more including one that went across a smooth boulder with no footholds. Metal spikes were drilled into the rock so I was holding my poles, holding the cable and balancing on the spikes and hoping for the best.

Finally we arrived at a small farm house called Kastenalm. We bought a few snacks. Most people bought fresh milk as this farm has five milk cows. They also have 50 other cattle. I had an orange soda as diet coke and diet sprite are not stocked in the mountains.

After topping off my water I set out for the last two hours of the hike. It was another 500m uphill and pretty warm but I did it fairly quickly and arrived before the others.

There was a little misunderstanding with my reservation. Apparently Karwendalhaus booked it for one day early the day that I stayed at Karwendalhaus which makes no sense. Hallerangerhaus was very nice about it. I ended up getting a room with only four beds. It is fantastic. I also got a shower which was fantastic. Between sliding over rocks and sweating like crazy I was so ready for a shower especially because I didn't have one yesterday.

Oh no i just attemptedto charge my electronics and I realized the adapeter is missing for my usb charger. Not a total disaster as I do have a back up power supply. However I will need to locate a replacement. Luckily I am heading to a town tomorrow i am sure that I will be able to find something.

Distance 15 km
Elevation up 1550m down 1560m

Photos at https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0q532ODWVPkrI