Kleinwalsertal climbing

05/09/2019 | Kleinwalsertal • Walserstraße 70, 6991 Riezlern, Austria

The way there is already almost the goal. Ghostly fog fields next to the highway - you almost feel swallowed up in some places, only to be spit out again shortly afterwards in a sunny section.

Arrived, the climbing group was almost walking without me - I wait obediently at the meeting point specified in the booking - the teacher waits with the group at the parking lot of the Kanzelwandbahn. [ok-bergbahnen.com]. Damn axe.

Already on the way to the climbing rock it's clear to me that I have finally reached my lowest point in terms of fitness. After the brisk march to the climbing rock, I am already in pause mode internally. After the climbing instructions, we start - all of us: sacks of flour in the rocks. The course instructor: a chamois - felt everywhere around us. Sometimes above us on the precipice, sometimes below us on the rock. Secret: the climbing rock was accessible all around - at least for dizzy-free climbing instructors.

The climbing course is really demanding - when we reach the top, we are really proud - but also exhausted. The view really speaks for itself - I felt exactly this, in exactly this order: amazement. awe. humility.

After the course, I enjoy a wonderfully fine lemonade at the small, very fine Cantina Vertical, opposite the Kanzelwandbahn valley station, and drive by car to the next destination that I have chosen: the Walmendingerhornbahn.

I already thought the mountain world of the Kanzelwand was unbelievably beautiful - the view from the Walmendinger Horn is even more incredible! You can't close your mouth anymore, you want to burn the images into your head - as a virtual screensaver, so to speak - when you need a break in your head.  

I take the last gondola down, in the village shop I buy a liter of fresh milk from happy Kleinwalsertal cows and a nice large piece of AlmKäse - I make myself comfortable on a meadow, by a little chapel in the late afternoon sun. It's simply too beautiful - the sun is shining, it's warm, a delicious snack and me. 😄

After a chat with an elderly lady who told me that the road at the chapel "used to be the old main road" and she "knows all the cows on the pasture by name", I set off for home. The sun kisses me goodbye in the passenger mirror.

Thank you dear God, today I sat on your bench. I think you made these breathtaking panoramas for me. ❤️