Kramerspitze: Take 1

We left the apartment at 6 am and biked across town. By 6:30 am we were walking toward one of the 3 trailheads to begin our ascent to Kramerspitze (6,500 feet) when we heard the now-familiar sound of cowbells and saw a farmer driving his just-milked cows out to pasture. Memories of my childhoood . . .

Bob also got a shot of the milking parlor then realized it was portable (on wheels) with a generator close by. Apparently they move the parlor to higher pastures when the weather is warmer so the cows can graze. The parlor had a clean-in-place system so with the push of a button the sterilant went through the system without taking anything apart. When the snow comes, they will move the set-up to lower elevations and depend on hay for feeding.

With our goal in sight and a final check of the map, we headed up. As usual, the trail was beautiful and pleasantly cool as we begin walking. The little creeks and benches for resting are common at lower levels.



We are so impressed with the signage on the lower-level hiking trails. At every fork in the trail the direction to take is quite clear. From this sign you can see that either the right or left trail will take you to Kramerspitze, Grainau to the left and the ruins we visited a few days ago, to the right.

As we ascended, the temperature rose, the trees disappeared and the trail become steeper. Soon we were no longer hiking...

...we were climbing. And we were not climbing on a solid trail but on rocks --not all of which were secure.

I was happy the plan was to go down on another trail after we reached the summit.

 The closer we got to the peak and the less protection we saw on the trail, the less confident we were in moving ahead --especially when we saw that the final ascent was on the bare north face of the peak with only a narrow trail between the mountain and hundreds of feet below.

Unfortunately, we neglected to snap a photo of the final bit of the trail. But thanks to Google here is shot we borrowed to give you a better idea of the how it looked and why we were a little hesitant to complete the climb. 

It is possible that there was a cable to hang on to on the trail but we didn't think we should try it. Also, my Charlottesville Women's 4-Miler running shoes were not designed for this!

So....back down we went the way we came. In some places it was so steep we had to go down backwards (like a ladder) to avoid slipping on the rocks.

We took a breather for about 30 minutes at St. Martin Hutte (July 10 post) and finally got home about 9 hours after we started. Temperature: 81 degrees; humidity: 52%. Needless to say, we were beat.

Yesterday Bob talked to a couple of experienced climbers who said the Kramerspitze is "dangerous by American standards" (!) but Bob is thinking that going up by another trail might be more doable.

Stay tuned for Kramerspitze: Take 2!