A couple weeks ago we headed down to Garmisch-Parkenkirsch so that Rob and Sam could climb the Zugspitze with our friend Calen.
Rob was told that it was just a really hard hike (not by Calen), so he didn't bring quite as much gear as he needed (crampons for one!)
Calen had crampons and poles. He gave one to Sam, they all tied in and they went for it.
Some of the crevices they had to jump over on the glacier.
The one they had to jump over to get to the wall.
Sam finally gave the I-made-it sign after not being able to move from fear for about 10-15 minutes. See the long line of people still waiting to jump the crevice over to the wall? One rude guy even went around Sam, because he was still too afraid to move.
They made it one piece, thankfully, though and were back down the next day to show us back- at- campers the pictures they took from this "hard hike!"
Right after the glacier
The beret- Sam looses a shoe on this, but thankfully it got stuck in a crack and Calen was able to unhook and jump like a mountain goat down to get it.
How it all went down...
Rob set us up at the military's camping facility in Garmisch. It was actually quite nice. They also had rustic cabins and deluxe cabins with everything in them. You can also stay at the Lodge across the road, which is beautiful. We spent a lot of time there on Sunday when it decided to rain the entire day! After they got us set up, I drove them to the starting point and said good-bye. They hiked for 2 hours that evening to the Hutte
where they pretended to sleep on the Kitchen floor until 4:30 am the next morning when they were rousted out of bed.
Our evening was a little different. They were having a fest over at the Lodge, so we went over and jumped in the bouncy house, ate wursts and henchen (chicken), watched people throw barrels,
hold beer steins
and watched a fashion show.
A view of the Alps.
It was a big weekend for climbing the Zugspitze and everywhere they went there were tons of people, hence the only floor space was in the kitchen. After their 4:30 wake up call, they decided to get going. Someone was already beating them!
See the headlight there in the dark?
That day, for us, was also a little different. After a nice run, I got the kids up and we took our time getting ready for the day. I had wanted to take them to a high ropes course, but wasn't sure that Max would like it so much and without Robert to help, I decided against it. Instead we went to a sommerrodelbahn which is a lot like a luge.
Going up...
Coming down...Weeeee!
It was a small one, but still fun.
We also went and saw the Olympic stadium
where they held the Winter Olympics in 1936 (the last year that the Winter and Summer games were both held in the same country.) Yes, this was the year of Hilter opening the games. We also started the Parknisch gorge walk,
but only got to the entrance before we had to turn around and head to the Eibsee to pick up the boys.
While we were doing all that, the boys were climbing some craziness for 8 hours. Some one died that day going from the Alpspitze to the Zugspitze. I saw the helicopters going over, but I didn't know what they were doing until the boys came down and told us.
See the helicopter?
Rob said, "I kept telling them that you would be crying at this point or that point, but that's because I was crying!" After seeing some of the pictures, I don't think I would have let Sam go up there.
When they told other climbers who had done it, that Sam had, they were all amazed. We really aren't cool parents, people- it was only from stupidity that we let him do it not from ultra sportiness or anything!
Coming down...
They're here!!
Made it!!
Calen left that day, but we stayed Sunday and Monday. Sunday we were in torrental downpours, so we just hung out at the Lodge, except in the evening when we went and walked around the Eibsee and bought my traditional Bavarian heart to hang on the door. Monday we walked around downtown and finally did the Parknach gorge hike.
It was beautiful! We made it through the gorge, but weren't prepared to go the round about way back down (no jackets for a couple of them and no snacks!), so we just headed back the way we came. It was really pretty!
There are so many things I wanted to see down that way- Berchtesgaden, the Bodensee, Todnau which has the longest sommerrodelbahn in Germany, some more of the Black Forest, Austria, Lichenstein. I started to get all upset that we hadn't done more. Sometimes I just need to breath and remember we have 3 years here! You can't possibly see it all, but we need to enjoy the things that do get to see instead of worrying about all the stuff we don't! Here's to relaxing and just enjoying!
