17-Jan-2020

Vienna, Austria.

Done. In Vienna, and turned off tracking. No walking today; a 30min train journey from Wiener Neustadt to Vienna HBF.

St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, Austria

16-Jan-2020

Hilton Garden Inn, Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

Change of tactic today. Took a train to Wiener Neustadt, dropped off my backpack at the hotel, and then did some walking-tourism of the town. It may be called New Vienna, but this town is more than 800 years old. Alot of history to view. I imagine best visited on a summers day rather than below zero; a warmer ease being more fun for the sightseeing the history, or sitting in a cafe in the platz area watching the world go by.

A photo board from a post war Wiener Neuplatz Hauptplatz (Austria), which I understand was previously named after an infamous former German leader

15-Jan-2020

Pension Ehrenfried, Kindberg, Austria.

No more mountains, only hills, passing through an extended industralised Leoben towards Bruck an der Mur and then on to Kindberg. My right foot is bruised; not sure how that happened. Good timing as almost done.

Animal friends watching me walk by (near Foirach, Austria)

14-Jan-2020

Hotel Kindler, Leoben, Austria.

It was another cold night and morning. When I started to walk before 9am, it was still -6 cemtigrade, but sunny, so it warmed up quickly. Walking from Mautern to Leoben, under 25km, was mostly following roads. It was difficult to find a proper non-road path. The benefit of that was it didn't take long to walk. Leoben, where I'm staying the night, is quite a large town; on par with Innsbruck. The outskirts walking in were fairly industrialised. The town centre has a large, wide, open area with statues, and around it shops and a church (with a clock that has the wrong time).

The last of the proper mountains on my journey. Bye bye mountains.

13-Jan-2020

Maier Gasthof, Mautern in Steiermark, Austria.

8.5 hours of continual walking today, with around 32km across flat terrain, and in places with decent snow depth to make it an energetic walk. It was cold today (below zero), and for a couple of hours a gale force icy wind straight into me. Normally I wear thin gloves, but in that wind I changed to heavy winter gloves, and needed the effort from walking in calf height snow to keep me warm. As it became dark I was fortunate enough to find a Gasthof which had a room available. There was a nice sunset this evening.

Sunset from Liesingau towards Mautern in Steiermark, Austria

12-Jan-2020

Triebenerhof Gasthof, Trieben, Austria.

The skiing in Schladming today was enjoyable, although I seemed to have forgotten how to ski, which made it painful skiing down from the top of the mountain. Next time I go skiing I need to find an easier slope to practise on first! After skiing took a train to Trieben, where I'm staying for the night. Tomorrow evening, nowhere is booked, so if I don't come across somewhere, it will be a tent.

Triebenerhof Inn, Trieben, Austria

Waking up in the morning at 6:30 in the tent at Zirngast Campsite, Schladming, Austria. Although I vented the tent overnight, there was still some frost on the inside of the tent when I woke.

11-Jan-2020

Zirngast Campsite, Schladming, Austria.

Short 2 hour walk day between St. Johann and Bischofshofen. Then took a 38min train jourmey to Schladming. In a tent tonight just outside Schladming. It is warm during the day, but goes down to -8 centigrade at night. Tomorrow instead of hiking, I will go skiing in Schladming, as it is very convenient with the ski lift starting from the town centre. I haven't skied in 9 years, so looking forward, and may need a little bit of getting used to again. I will rent the skis and boots. Schladming is a good sized town, and obviously (from what I saw!) has a good beer and restaurant nightlife for the apres-ski.

End of day ski at Schladming, Austria

Tent at Zirngast Campsite, Schladming, Austria

10-Jan-2020

Das Martell Hotel, St. Johann im Pongau, Austria.

Went into the hills from Lend, and onto the Goldegg area (a strange name for a town/area), and found a snowy path down to Schwarzach im Pongau; 6 hours of nice hiking. I like the Goldegg area with the views and quaint villages. It had it's own ski slope, and has a golf course. Unforunately today, my inReach GPS tracker, stopped tracking me, and turned itself off 2/3 into todays excursion. I guess being consistently on for 8 days, it decided it had had enough. Restarted it, but it is missing part of todays hike.

Morning view from Goldegg town, Austria

Winter path between Goldegg and Schwarzach im Pongau, Austria

09-Jan-2020

Hotel-Gasthof Post Bruck, Bruck, Austria.

A good snowshoe day. Came across a set of winter hiking, ski trails in the valley between Niedernsill and Bruck. Allowed me to use snowshoes for 4 hours today of a 6 hour hike. The trails (not marked on any map) were indicated by tall red/white poles every 100-300 metres. Again, between towns I was by myself on these trails. Quite relaxing walking in a snowy openness, without anyone else around. I recommend this area in winter for relaxing, easy snowy day walks. The trails are multiple and link the local towns and villages, and stretch for 20km or more. One can just do 3-4km or the full distance as I did. Either way it is a good way to spend a day, and get some exercise. I can see evidence of small animals with their imprints in the snow and on the frozen streams, but I didn't see the actual animals.

Late afternoon, Kaprun Mountain Area, Austria

A frozen stream on a winter hiking path, between Niedernsil and Piesendorf, Austria

Using snowshoes, between Piesendorf and Kaprun, Austria

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08-Jan-2020

Hotel BRÄURUP, Mittersill, Austria.

It was -11 centigrade lastnight. When I woke around 6:45am, my breath overnight had frozen within the tent, and the inside of my tent above my head had become frost. As I moved within the tent, it was snowing frost on my sleeping bag. I need to vent the tent at night to stop the build-up. It was a struggle to get dressed in the tent, pack and keep warm. The rest of the day was easy. I took a ski bus (free) from Wald im Pinzgau to Bramburg, and then walked 13km to Mittersill. The walk was along a river. At first the path was snowy, but by midday, it was dry and just snow in the fields. My laptop almost died of cold lastnight. It wouldn't start at first when I reached the hotel, but after 90mins, it came back to life.

The tent this morning

Took a rest. No one around. Nice and relaxing.

07-Jan-2020

Wald im Pinzgau, Austria. Photo is the deep snow I was walking through up the mountain from Gerlos to Wald im Pinzgau. Notice the animal droppings on the left of the picture. Finally addded a couple of videos below.

Hard day walking through the deep snow up in the mountains. Less than 20km, and took around 7 hours. Seems the route I took is not used in winter, as it was completely untouched deep snow (except for deer, or goats). Going up into the higher mountain from Gerlos, seriously exhausted me, and when I reached the path that was at a level, I discovered it was also deep under snow. At that point, I looked for the nearest passable road. At least got 3+ hours of snowshoe walking, but still snowshoes struggle in conditions such as that. Beautiful landscape though, especially so untouched. Tonight in a tent near Wald im Pinzgau. The location (SNP Camping) is 1.5km outside of the actual village, but has a receptiom area where I can sit and eat/internet. It snowed for the last 2 hours of the walk down from the mountain heights, which was cool :) Even after I put up the tent it was snowing, and my tent is covered in snow.

I've been struggling up the mountain in the deep snow, and when I get to what should have been a proper level path, it was again untouched deep snow. I had climbed up to the left of the trees in the video, the path to the right of the trees is what I had just joined.

This is on an easier part of the snow trail, where I could take one hand off my poles to hold the GoPro. Turns out not a good idea, as when my foot went too deep, I didn't have the pole to keep me up, and I fell. Trying to get back up in snowshows, with a heavy backpack, is a major effort.

06-Jan-2020

Schönachhof (near Gerlos), Austria. Photo is one of the several road bridges I walked across today. Initially I tried the hiking path !! but where is the path?

I took a train from Innsbruck HBF to Zell am Ziller, then walked. Fortunately back to snowy wonderland, albeit had to climb from Zell am Ziller at 575m to Gerlos at 1,247m. My GPS directed me to follow the road up (strange as no path on that road), but instead I tried the hiking path, but after 90mins the path became impossible to find, and the direction impassable with snow taller than me, and fallen trees. At this point, learning my lesson from last week I went back to the mountain road. The whole day was walking up, but it was a short distance (less than 20km), so total walking time was around 6 hours. It's a little colder, with 0 to -5 centigrade. The scenery is incredible, and as with other days I've taken hundreds of photos, and a few videos. Just a little lazy at this time of day to sort them and put them on the website. I will do eventually. I've made it to a campsite just past Gerlos, called Schönachhof, which although a campsite, it turns out it has around 14 rooms in the house. One was available, and only 15 EUR more expensive then using a tent, so I've taken the room. A bed and shower; very nice. Dinner consisted of what I could find in SPAR (small supermarket), that being cheese and apple strudel.

05-Jan-2020

IBIS Hotel, Innsbruck HBF, Austria. The picture below is of Pfaffenhofen Church painting

Walked 25km in the valley from Rietz towards Innsbruck. Nice walk through the small villages, but without the snow and tempertures around 2-4 centigrade, it's a bit like walking in Autumn. Each village would have its own Church, a centre point (sometimes with a post office), and 1 or 2 shops, some houses and maybe some sort of farm attached to the centre. Around from the village you would have the residential houses and larger farms. Inbetween each village would be farmland, and a single road. The main litter I saw (several places) as I walked, was coke cans and McDonald's paper bags. Not sure which McDonald's, as none on the route I took. If I saw anyone, I would smile, and they would friendly reply with a "Hello" and then a German word I could not make out. I've noticed, the way people reply differs by the Austrian region. Some of the churches had small paintings on the side, and one even had a sundial painted on its wall. Not much use without the sun. Rather than walk the streets of Innsbruck looking for the hotel, I took the train from the edge of Innsbruck (place called Völs), saved an hour or so of walking. From tomorrow I plan to get back into a snowy area. With that in mind, I'm taking a train from Innsbruck to Zell am Ziller, and then start climbing into higher ground from there. A key problem from this point is the fines for camping outside of a campsite, and an even bigger issue only a handful of campsites in the next 60kms. In the Austria state of Tyrol the fine is 220 EUR. Once into the state of Salzburg, the fine is determined by the local Mayor of the area. Which means I've had to plan the take 3 days. Tomorrow night a campsite near Gerlos, the following night a campsite at Wald im Pinzgau and then after that a hotel in Mittersill. It should be 3 days of snow.

04-Jan-2020

Hotel Hirschentenne, Thannrain (Rietz), Austria. The picture was taken from my hotel window.

It rained or at best sleeted overnight the previous night in the tent. Very noisy on the tent. Then getting up in the morning was tedious; trying to keep dry. Surveying the area and checking the weather, it was going to be like that all day, even though high up in the mountains. The area is a major ski resort in Austria. No fun to ski in this wet weather. I decided to leave the area and get to St Anton first (buses 90, 91, 92 ... unfortunately these buses loop amongst the ski resorts), then train to Ötztal, which gets me within 50km of Innsbruck. From Ötztal, I walked towards Innsbruck through the towns. Managed to find a hotel near Rietz (with the help of another hotel that forward booked for me, even though they were fully booked - just needed to walk 7 more km). It seems in this area if you don't get a hotel by the time its dark (around 5pm), you're going to be lucky to get get one (by 7pm there is no more hotel reception). Today is walk to Innsbruck.

03-Jan-2020

Klösterle, Austria

Luxury accommodation tonight at the Alpine Camping site in Klösterle. Has a toilet and I can charge my equipment. Today was less eventful :) Took a 15min train ride from Feldkirch to Bludenz (where I was to have gone through). Then walked from Bludenz to Klösterle, which is valley walking slowly gaining height as one approaches the ski resorts around Stuben (7km further from where I'm staying). Took around 10.5 hours (around 32+km as trail walking), including 75mins for a late lunch in Dalaas. Outside of the towns, the path I took today was deserted; I saw only 1 person (who was taking his dog for a walk), otherwise I was alone amongst the rivers, trees, cows and killer badgers and in the hills. There should be snow everywhere, but it hasn't snowed for 2 weeks; so just frost in the valley. Although for the last 3 hours of the trek from Dalaas to Klosterie there was snow on the ground and I used my snowshoes. It is supposed to start snowing tomorrow, so that should be interesting. My backpack at 20 kilos is heavy for walking so far, but once I use the snowshoes with the poles, it becomes bearable at 17.5 kilos. Unfortunately no food tonight, and I'm filtering the water, otherwise nothing to drink either. I will be hungry tomorrow morning; hopefully I can find somewhere to eat.

02-Jan-2020

Feldkirch, Austria

Rest and dry clothes and gear day at the Montfort hotel. Most things in my backpack, and my goretex hiking shoes got wet. Will check out tomorrow morning, and continue from Bludenz towards Innsbruck. Slight route change; trying to skip too much deep snow, which means avoiding mountain tops. Did I survive yesterday's experience. Yes, I did, but I was lucky, as at numerous points I was out of my experience in such conditions. I've realised snowshoes have limited applicability, and once the snow gets too deep, ski's would be better. I vomitted 4 times once I got to the hotel late evening, but felt okay afterwards. Apart from 4 finger tips feeling numb, and complete exhaustion today, I seem to be okay.

01-Jan-2020

Mountain rescue, Austria-Liechtenstein

Oops, I needed to be helicopter rescued on New Years day. I was coming over the top of the mountain (using snowshoes) from Malbun, Liechtenstein at 2,000 metres across into Austria. Deep snow terrain, with no visible path. Unfortunately, although using a GPS, I missed the correct path down, and unwisely chose another way down, which was more or less straight down (possible with alot of snow). But after sometime, very slowly edging myself down deep snow down a steep mountain side, and getting near the bottom, I realised I was approaching some sort of edge with a stream, and I couldn't stop my descent. My backpack is 17-18 kilos, and to save myself I took it off (this is happending in slow motion, as I grab into the snow) and kicked it hopefully away from the main edge. That slowed my fall enough that I could go over the edge sort of in a controlled manner (half a fall). Over the edge turned out to be a small waterfall, with a water hole below into the snow. My backpack had gone into the hole. Oh crap (is the thought at the time). Once I was down the waterfall, I peered into the water hole going underneath the snow, and to my relief I could see my backpack. The bad news, is now I had to reach into the hole, whilst getting wet from the water spray from the small waterfall, and hope the edge of the hole didn't collapse. After 5mins and 2 attempts I pulled the backpack out of the hole. Now I was wet and frozen, and my backpack was very wet. I found myself in a small area, with above me the waterfall rock face I had fallen down, and infront of me more straight down streams appearing above the snow. To each side was pure cliff rock face. So I was blocked from all sides, and I was standing on ice and snow above a stream. For 30mins, I contemplated my options. Even without a heavy backpack, it seemed that straight down with less snow, quite likely weak snow above streams, seemed risky, plus I and my gear was wet. I eventually conceded that I was in trouble, and risked actual injury if I continued. I thought, almost vertical weak snow, that may collapse into streams; bad idea. I added some extra clothing to keep me warm. There was nothing I could do with my wet shoes; my feet were frozen. I then triggered my Garmin inReach SOS at around 16:40 (20-30mins before darkness), which sends a message to the Garmin SOS team, then I communicate via satellite SMS to them. They contact the local rescue teams. It was now very dark, and cold, but the sky was clear and the stars in the night sky were really quite wondrous. It took around 2 - 2.5 hours before I saw lights across the valley from some sort of vehicles, and another 30-60mins or so before the helicopter arrived. Fortunately my body had warmed up over the 3 hours (with the extra clothing), but my feet had stayed frozen, so I was in fairly good shape considering. I would have taken some photos, or video, but my GoPro 8 was out of battery and my Sony camera had got wet, and was taking very blurred photos. Only my Samsung mobile was working, but that takes very bad night-time photos. The helicopter first checked me out with a light from a distance, and then disappeared from my view towards where the other vehicles had gone to. Then a few minutes later the helicopter came back, with a guy being lowered down to me. I had been sitting on my backpack, and stood up, and nearly got blown away from the force of the wind from the helicopter; I quickly sat down again. The guy once he was lowered to me, unclicked himself from the rope from the helicopter. He quickly checked I was okay, worked out he would first get me out, and a return trip go to get my backpack, poles and snowshoes. As an experience, I recommend being taken off a mountain by rope underneath a helicopter. It was very cool. Many thanks to the Swiss helicopter team, and the guy who was lowered down to me, and also to the Austria ground rescue team, who are all volunteers (with other jobs). They were very professional, friendly and helpful, even though it was their New Years day holiday and they should have been home with their families. Even the police lady who took my statement was friendly and gave me advice on being better prepared for deep snow. I really like the below photo, taken by someone on another mountain wondering why the light had stopped moving, and sent this picture to the Austria mountain rescue. The Mountain rescue matched it to my GPS location, and realised only one person needed to be rescued and not two. It's very cool someone would do this. No idea who it was, but thanks to that person.

31-Dec-2019

Malbun, Liechtenstein

Made it to the hotel Falknerei Galina in Malbun. Very nice friendly hotel, with a good breakfast. I needed to take a bus part of the way to Malbun as I ran out of time to make it to the hotel in time. But still had a 12 hour walking day.