Training Log Archive: LoriIn the 7 days ending Sep 26, 2022:
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Monday Sep 26, 2022 #
Hiking 6:00:00 [3] 10.2 mi (35:18 / mi) +1860m 22:32 / mi
shoes: Saucony Peregine 2
Hiking up Zugspitz (highest mountain in Germany!) with Sam! We're in Europe for Brendan's wedding, so obviously we had to find the closest mountains - this time in Tirol in Austria. We are based in Ehrwald, which is a cute little town just south of the Austria-Germany border. We started out by taking the Almbahn gondola up the first 500 meters, which was definitely the right move as we still did more than 6100 feet of climb on this hike, and then started up towards the first pass. We were worried it would rain on us the entire time, but the sun came out and the views were incredible. We made super good time through the first pass and to the second pass, which coincidentally was the Germany-Austria border, so back into Germany, we went. We were now solidly in the bowl of the Zugspitz massif, which was amazing. We scooted along to the Knorrhutte, which has an AMAZING view! Our initial plan was just to turn back at this point, but the sky was still sunny and the people at the hut said the gondola from the summit of Zugspitz was still running, so we headed on up. The views just got better and better and the hiking was pretty easy to the bottom of the gondola below the summit. We then had to decide if we were taking the gondola up to the true summit and then another gondola back down into Ehrwald or hiking up to the true summit. Well. We didn't really have a lot of information about the hike, but it looked like others were making the ascent, so it seemed doable, and we headed on up.
The best I can say for the final ascent was that we did not die and we did reach the summit. It was terrifying. Turns out it is a super steep, rocky, climb-y cable assisted summit and like 20% of the cables were under the snow. I was doing ok - kind of freaking out at little bit especially whenever the cables disappeared under the snow but holding it together until 4 things happened (1) we passed a sign that informed us that we were only half way up (OMG HOW MUCH LONGER CAN THIS GO), (2) shortly after this we passed a memorial to a guy that had died falling off the mountain at that spot (EEP!), (3) we saw some other people on the slope who had harnesses and stuff (OH WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CLIPPED INTO THE CABLES - WE ARE DOING THIS WRONG!!!), and (4) I got a good look at most of the remaining distance to the summit station and realized that a good chunk of the remaining cables were entirely under the snow (ACK!!!). I may have panicked. Luckily I (A) had no desire to go back down the way we'd just come up and (B) one of the guys with the harnesses that was coming down towards us heard me panicking and told us that the section between us and the summit was easier than the section we were on. So after some deep breaths, we continued on. It was indeed MUCH easier the rest of the way and pretty soon I was on the steps to the summit station. I have never been so relieved to step onto a step before. Sam kissed his nanospikes :-).
Some Brazilians were hanging out at the summit station and they were super impressed that we climbed up (most people took the gondola). Then we spent a bit of time taking pictures at the summit station before getting tickets to take the gondola down. Apparently, as this is the highest mountain in Germany, they give you a certificate if you climb up, so we got a certificate when we got our tickets. I can't read it because it's in German, but I assume it says something like "Congratulations on not dying while summitting the tallest mountain in Germany. Next time bring a harness."
The gondola ride down was pretty amazing - kind of disconcertingly straight down 5000 feet. Then it was just another 3.5 mile hike (and 750 more feet of climb, which we clearly needed...) back to our car. In retrospect, this hike was kind of amazing!
The best I can say for the final ascent was that we did not die and we did reach the summit. It was terrifying. Turns out it is a super steep, rocky, climb-y cable assisted summit and like 20% of the cables were under the snow. I was doing ok - kind of freaking out at little bit especially whenever the cables disappeared under the snow but holding it together until 4 things happened (1) we passed a sign that informed us that we were only half way up (OMG HOW MUCH LONGER CAN THIS GO), (2) shortly after this we passed a memorial to a guy that had died falling off the mountain at that spot (EEP!), (3) we saw some other people on the slope who had harnesses and stuff (OH WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CLIPPED INTO THE CABLES - WE ARE DOING THIS WRONG!!!), and (4) I got a good look at most of the remaining distance to the summit station and realized that a good chunk of the remaining cables were entirely under the snow (ACK!!!). I may have panicked. Luckily I (A) had no desire to go back down the way we'd just come up and (B) one of the guys with the harnesses that was coming down towards us heard me panicking and told us that the section between us and the summit was easier than the section we were on. So after some deep breaths, we continued on. It was indeed MUCH easier the rest of the way and pretty soon I was on the steps to the summit station. I have never been so relieved to step onto a step before. Sam kissed his nanospikes :-).
Some Brazilians were hanging out at the summit station and they were super impressed that we climbed up (most people took the gondola). Then we spent a bit of time taking pictures at the summit station before getting tickets to take the gondola down. Apparently, as this is the highest mountain in Germany, they give you a certificate if you climb up, so we got a certificate when we got our tickets. I can't read it because it's in German, but I assume it says something like "Congratulations on not dying while summitting the tallest mountain in Germany. Next time bring a harness."
The gondola ride down was pretty amazing - kind of disconcertingly straight down 5000 feet. Then it was just another 3.5 mile hike (and 750 more feet of climb, which we clearly needed...) back to our car. In retrospect, this hike was kind of amazing!
Stretching 10:00 [3]
Normal stretching.
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022 #
Running 25:00 [3] 2.5 mi (10:00 / mi)
shoes: Brooks Running 27
Running with Sam and Presto! Between getting totally knocked out for the COVID booster and too much work, I didn't have time to run again until today. Presto is doing SOOOOOO much better now that he's off the opioids. We decided to take him for a super easy run tonight. He wasn't super spritely, but he did have a good time. Good to get out as a family!
Strength 5:00 [3]
Normal abs.
Stretching 10:00 [3]
Normal stretching.
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022 #
Running 5:00 [3]
Running with Presto! Presto is doing super well, and got SOOOO excited on our walk and really, really wanted to run, so we ran the second half. It's so good to see him happy again :-).