Short Reports 2018

Published on 2018-1-1 by Michael Stanton

Lamsenspitze

December 29, 2018

I made a quick ski tour up the Lampsenspitze (2876 m). It's probably my fifth time up there! It's just a great peak, hard to beat.

A few pics...

Looking to Innsbruck and points further east along the Inn.

Absolutely freezing my butt off. I went down to a wind-protected place. Right on the true summit was frostbite city.

A trio of fellows heading up. People will just go up all afternoon and into the evening on this peak.

Wallberg hike

October 28, 2018

I hiked up to the Wallberg restaurant in snow and rain, but it was clear up there and that was nice.

Heimgarten hike

October 27, 2018

After work I hiked up as the sun set. I stopped at a sub-summit and took a different and interesting way down marked by a steel cable.

Kranzhorn hike

August, 2018

Jaro and I hiked up Kranzhorn afterwork from the Inn, then sped quickly down.

Morsbach climbing

May 21, 2018

Barbara and I climbed at Morsbach. It's hard to be absolutely certain, but we think we climbed:

• Nobody (4+) - I believe this was our first climb.
• Mini-Flipp (6+) - I only top-roped this.
• Dreierweg (3+) - with the ending "Direkt zur Terrasse (6-)". But Barbara chose the ending "Zustieg zur Terrasse (4)."
• Max (5+) - really nice route on the far right side of the climbing area. This was good training for me and Barbara both.
• Unnamed (6-) - it's the route just right of Fingerbeisser (7+), and according to Markus, it should be called Mug. In a guidebook I have, the name Mug is given to what should be the "Via Angela Direkt (5-)." Quite confusing! Anyway, this route is very good, but quite hard, especially as it's got some real polish on a few footholds you wish didn't have it. Barbara top-roped this as a great learning project.
• "Via Angela (4+)" - really nice climb. Barbara top-roped it twice, as she was confused at the beautiful overhang...it was hard to find the fantastic grips on the top of it!

I wish we could have stayed longer...this place is fantastic...

Frauenwasserlwand Klettern

May 19, 2018

Timo and I had the morning to climb, and it was nice to revisit this crag which I used to know pretty well. We did a line of 6, 6+ at the roof, and 6- on an edge to the top of the crag. Then we top-roped the 7- and 7 lines (for me, the former twice, the latter once, and that was only partially successful!). We went down and both led a strange line of maybe 5+ or 6- that we couldn't identify on any topo. I tried a variation start but I couldn't even get off the ground with it. Then we climbed a 5(+?) line that definitely felt harder. On my lead I had to stop a couple times at a crux, and there was a dagger-shaped loose rock in the route pointing directly down to the belayer. This really unnerved me, so I spent some time removing it from the route, tossing the pieces into the bushes safely to the side. I top-roped a 6+ version on the right, which I want to go back and lead. Timo and I then led a route of maybe 6- or 5+ on the far left.

In general, when the climbing here gets hard, it's intimidating the way hand holds disappear. Good day...the rain came 30 minutes ahead of schedule at 13:30, but that was fine.

Bad Heilbrunn

May 7, 2018

Silas Wild was in town! We caught up with him for some climbing at Bad Heilbrunn, a really neat crag. We were a large group: me, my boys, Silas and Barbara. We climbed quite a few routes (4?) and ran into Timo and his family which was really neat!

Tragedy though, in that we left Barbara's rope somewhere...we just can't find it and now it's gone :(. If you see a rope in a rope bag with a little dog keychain on it, let us know!

Then we hiked up the Blomberg to the hut for a slice of cake and some beer. Barbara had a coffee and looked lovely lying in the sun feeling good.

Wendelstein

April 29, 2018

Barbara, Mara and I hiked up and down on a leisurely Sunday. It was great! But wow, pretty crowded. We had a nice talk in the meadow after a drink at the house. We left the summit alone this time, as the vast hordes of people were a bit much. Mara was maximally cute, and so was my girl.

Mara just found some water.

Barbara didn't like this wet terrain.

Sitting at the Wendelsteinhaus.

Magnificent Mara, in the prime of her life.

Tired ol' Mara, sleeping all evening.

Kranzhorn

April 15, 2018

Barbara and I hiked up Kranzhorn really quickly. But I got a headache, probably dehydrated from the day on the Martinswand Saturday with Vaclav. And she pushed herself too hard in the last hundred meters and felt bad. We sped down the steep trail, and poor Barbara had such leg pain that she was even limping! Arme Frau! Ach. My headache was terrible. What a tough time!

Isar with Barbara

April 8, 2018

I wanted to show Barbara the long Isar run I did a week before. She was initially sad, because she wanted to go to high mountains, but I thought there was too much snow for the highest fun. I finally won her over though...running through the woods up and down with Mara was beautiful. And the river was fantastic. Another magical day with my girl, after a wonderful dinner and night. I'm a happy man.

Colorful Frau, running 15 km in sandals? Okay!

These woods amaze me. Beautiful.

Angel comes to earth. With dog leash!

Sassy Angel swings.

Ruine Stein

April 6, 2018

I brought the boys down on the Steg trail, but we stopped and explored the ruined castle at Stein. Very interesting place, long an administrative center about 600 years ago. It's on the side of a steep mountain in the middle of nowhere. Whats up with that?

We hung out a while, did some pushups, and walked back up the mountain for cake.

Ritten in the evening, with the Schlern.

It's hard to be a teenager.

We ate dinner where Sigmund Freud hung out. Bitchin!

In the castle...

Push ups!

Tired boys.
Cooking in our Ferienwohnung.

Steg

April 5, 2018

Wieder von unserer Ferienwohnung in Klobenstein hinunter zu Steg. Diesmal, mit einem Umweg an der Rückkehr zum Lengmoos, um ein Radler an einem Tisch drausend am Cafe zu geniessen. Die Sonne ist raus geworden, und der Schlern war ein schneereiches Traum in spielende Wolken.

Steg

April 3, 2018

Ich war interessant, von Klobenstein zum Eisacktal abzusteigen. Dann wieder aufzusteigen, natürlich. Ich dachte, die Jungs waren OK allein für ein Paar Stunden. Zuerst, der Zaberbach entlang nach Siffian. Da gibt es eine alte Kirche, St. Peter. Auch ein nervöse schwarze Hund hart dabei. Besser früh zu pfeifen, so er bekommt keine Überraschung!

Immer steil führt der Weg, nicht weit von die Ruine Stein, dann bei die letzte Bauernhöfe, endlich under der Brennerautobahn. Am Ende bin ich den Eisack an eine holze Brücke überquert. Ich habe meine Freundin über Liebe getextet, aber die Worte geht irgendwie falsch, so sie hat mir gefragt, nicht weiter zu texten. Na ja! Als ich bei Stein gegangen war, dachte ich über das Leben der mittelaltischen Leute. Diese Leben waren kleiner aber grosser. Oberflächlich hatten sie nicht so viele Fähigkeiten als uns, aber wenn ich tiefer denke, und meine Vorstellung benutzte, sehe ich gut, daß sie sehr unabhängig waren. Ich würde mehr unbrauchbar als ein kleines Kind in ihrer Welt sein.

950 Meter Höhenunterschied.

Hoher Fricken

March 30, 2018

I was back about a month after hiking up with Peter, enjoying the steep trail up beside the great waterfalls. Amazingly, the snow depth was about the same. I could go a bit further without snowshoes, owing to some deep tracks that were easier to rebuild and punch through than to make new ones. It had been at least a week since anyone went up, and higher, I was tempted to think that the remnant tracks were only those left by Peter and I...they were mere dimples in the snow which had a solid base under several layers of fresher snow. Rebuilding those was plenty of work, especially near the summit.

I went down towards the Esterbergalm, coming pretty close to it as I descended near ski tracks, before cutting westward to the tight pass at 1279 m that would lead me back to Farchant.

Buchenhain by bike

Elijah and I went for a bike ride to Buchenhain and did some bouldering. What an amazing place. Elijah also took some pictures of Legos, which came out good!

Kruezeck

March 4, 2018

Evening trip up on skis. Very dark mountain. Beautiful ski down a black run. Yes!

Kreuzeck

March 1, 2018

Jaro, Camillo, Andreas and I skied up after work. A cold but beautiful evening with a full moon. It was our first time up here. The ski route took us through a special tunnel built just for ski touring folk! Pretty hilarious.

We got dinner on the way down at the Restaurant Kreuzalm in the ski area, which was packed with the ski touring crowd. The way down was fast and icy, but nice.

Brauneck

February 18, 2018

Quick run up in the afternoon. 1.5 hours, I was faster because I didn't take the slow way around to the Florianshütte.

Brauneck

February 8, 2018

Jaro and I skied up Brauneck this morning in light snow. I was pretty sweaty because I wanted to keep my jacket on in the snow. Hmpf! Great run down, one lame fall where I hurt my thumb, a bit. 900 meters up/down.