Birthday weekend

Published on 2022-2-19 by Michael Stanton

Friday

There was an unsually warm day, so of course we went climbing! Parking at the Martinswand, we headed up for "Rucola," a great 7 pitch route rated V+/VI- for a single hard move. Though all the upper pitches are great.

As we roped up, a pebble fell on me. I looked up to see a family of Gämse looking down on us from the middle of the first pitch. Amazing! We watched them for a while, and they traversed off to the west. Later, a few of them were back near the route and Barbara could look across at them as she climbed. "Hello there!" she called. This was fun...

Barbara and Gämse on "Rucola."

And again.

We climbed quickly enough. The only hard move for Barbara was that one crux move. She just pulled on a draw to pass quickly through. At the end of the route, we walked off. She'd never done that before here, so we roped up on a short-rope and I gave her belays here and there for the traversing, scrambling descent with high exposure. Later, Barbara was amazed by the train tunnel which we came very near. We saw people climbing on the cliffs above the tunnel.

We watched a couple guys work on this very hard Piazrisse (layback crack) climb. Then we went to the Alpine Club Klettergarten and climbed one route. The opening moves were so hard! Then it simply became fun. At that point we were ready for the hotel. We had an amazing dinner, and repaired to our room. It was the beginning of "Let's Dance," Barbaras favorite show for the last 15 years. I could only blearily watch an hour or so, but she hung in until after midnight!

View from the MPreis store in Oberperfuss Friday evening.

Saturday

It was time for a rematch with the Lampsenspitze! Barbara had last seen it 2 years ago at the beginning of the COVID era, when she bought her ski touring gear. We made it to about 200 meters below the summit and I had us turn around, not knowing that she was such a good downhill skier that the descent would be a piece of cake. This time, we had good weather and a dusting of fresh powder.

We climbed for hours, with a few more learning experiences about the technical work of skinning up an icy skin track for Barbara. She's almost got the whole "knowledge set" now when it comes to that stuff. The views astounded us...everything was so beautiful.

Later, we left our skis at the saddle and made the short hike to the summit. It was pretty icy at times and we had to be careful. Barbara took a look around and was deeply amazed at the beauty of this place of blackened ridges, crumbling spires, and other-worldly combinations of ice and rock. She'd never experienced anything like it, and was deeply moved.

We took a few pictures in the wind and started down. Once back on skis, she could feel the full emotion of the summit experience. And with the wonderful turns in powder snow, it all came together perfectly!

What an amazing day. I was so proud, and thankful to share this day with her.

One funny thing was that I had a hard time relaxing. I'd been so keen to bring her here, and yet found it so essential that everything work out safely, that I couldn't relax and enjoy the descent to the degree I wanted to. There was some "tight knot" in me. Recognizing this, I skied after Barbara often on the descent, seeking to imitate her way with hips and curves through the snow.

My girl on the Lampsenspitze.

And again!

Here is my victory pose.

Stiff and sore, we got some frozen pizzas for dinner and watched an old Columbo episode with Patrick McGoohan. It was a bit boring!

Sunday

At the wonderful Hotel Kleißl, we got a recommendation to do a ski tour up the Rangger Köpfl, a nice half-day tour of only about 600 meters. We were able to use our guest cards for a free ride with the gondola up the lower slopes (otherwise it would have been about 1000 meters, with a bit of walking, too).

We enjoyed the tour and the summit, with it's impressive view right onto the airport runway of Innsbruck. We marveled that we'd done a rock climb on the Martinswand, fully visible below, and were now skiing.

It was so wonderful to share this kind of thing with Barbara. For me...an incredible birthday gift. I'm old enough to know what I have.

We bought a 2 hour ski lift ticket and used the time well, going up and down and up and down!

Happy on the broad Rangger Köpfl Sunday.

Back at the hotel, a great dinner, and a fantastic Columbo episode about a beautiful movie star who murders her husband. Peter Falk wears a tux in this one!

Monday

Should we do anything? Nah. It's raining. Let's go home. So we slept in, enjoyed our breakfast and went home. We listened to an audiobook of Vivekananda's Jnana Yoga on the way. We discussed some of the many rich ideas in this amazing book. If you want a great concise picture of what Yoga is...of how it's view incorporates and stands behind any conception of what religion is...read it!

My boys got fantastic grades on their mid-term reports. As a mature man, driving home with my lady, what more could I want?

Nothing on this earth. Only to better hear the song that predates, prevails, and outlives all. And my best chance at that is to live and feel the love that is all around me. That comes to me through my people as moonlight streams across a grateful land through the aid of the sun.