Day 9, Or I Have BEEN To The Mountaintop!
First, I misspoke; the Zugspitze is 9734 feet high, not 9200. And after seeing it for myself, I can vouch for that.
Now, the trip: I rode a Deutsche Bahn regional line from München to the ski resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (also famous for being the birthplace of composer Richard Strauss). The day dawned cold, raw and cloudy, but after passing the tiny village of Oberau the sun broke free. The autumn foliage was spectacular, and the farmlands are the kind that can only be produced with about a thousand years`careful work.
After arriving at the town, I bought a ticket for 45 Euro and boarded a small tram by the Olympic Ice Sports Palace. After a few stops, I transferred to a Zahnradbahn, or cog wheel train, for the ride up the mountain. My ears kept popping again, a great dress rehearsal for my return to America this weekend.
The train deposited me and the other visitors at the 2600-meter level (not sure about that in feet, but awfully high) at the Sonn Alpin (Alpine Sun) restaurant and visitor`s center. The view was little short of breathtaking, and for me who`s used to a more sea level existence, the word `breathtaking`was quite literal.
The Sonn Alpin is located on a shoulder of the mountain called the Zugspitz Plateau, part of the glacier that is the main attraction for skiers. There is a small wooden chapel nearby, and I almost ran out of breath walking up to it to get some pictures.
But this is not the summit; the summit is to the west and about a thousand feet further up. It is only accessible by cable car.
Cable car.
I HATE cable cars. Trusting myself to an airplane is bad enough, but staking my life against the tensile strength of braided wire cables, and only three of them at that?
I went anyway, just to see the top of the mountain. The cable car deposits you at a combination restaurant, weather station and communications nexus, and a biergarten billed as "Germany`s Highest." I can see why.
The view is magnificent up there, and small signs point the way to the 4 countries you can see from Germany`s highest peak:
Germany
Switzerland
Liechtenstein
Austria
The actual tippy-tippy-top of the mountain is accessible by a spindly metal ladder and a hiking path marked out in loose cable guard rails, and is marked by a tall gold cross. Needless to say, I thought that I had diced with Death enough for one day, and after shooting more pictures I headed back down the mountain and retraced my route back to Munich.
Now, the trip: I rode a Deutsche Bahn regional line from München to the ski resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (also famous for being the birthplace of composer Richard Strauss). The day dawned cold, raw and cloudy, but after passing the tiny village of Oberau the sun broke free. The autumn foliage was spectacular, and the farmlands are the kind that can only be produced with about a thousand years`careful work.
After arriving at the town, I bought a ticket for 45 Euro and boarded a small tram by the Olympic Ice Sports Palace. After a few stops, I transferred to a Zahnradbahn, or cog wheel train, for the ride up the mountain. My ears kept popping again, a great dress rehearsal for my return to America this weekend.
The train deposited me and the other visitors at the 2600-meter level (not sure about that in feet, but awfully high) at the Sonn Alpin (Alpine Sun) restaurant and visitor`s center. The view was little short of breathtaking, and for me who`s used to a more sea level existence, the word `breathtaking`was quite literal.
The Sonn Alpin is located on a shoulder of the mountain called the Zugspitz Plateau, part of the glacier that is the main attraction for skiers. There is a small wooden chapel nearby, and I almost ran out of breath walking up to it to get some pictures.
But this is not the summit; the summit is to the west and about a thousand feet further up. It is only accessible by cable car.
Cable car.
I HATE cable cars. Trusting myself to an airplane is bad enough, but staking my life against the tensile strength of braided wire cables, and only three of them at that?
I went anyway, just to see the top of the mountain. The cable car deposits you at a combination restaurant, weather station and communications nexus, and a biergarten billed as "Germany`s Highest." I can see why.
The view is magnificent up there, and small signs point the way to the 4 countries you can see from Germany`s highest peak:
Germany
Switzerland
Liechtenstein
Austria
The actual tippy-tippy-top of the mountain is accessible by a spindly metal ladder and a hiking path marked out in loose cable guard rails, and is marked by a tall gold cross. Needless to say, I thought that I had diced with Death enough for one day, and after shooting more pictures I headed back down the mountain and retraced my route back to Munich.
posted by Walt at 12:15 PM
2 Comments:
My memory is that a meter is a bit more than a yard, so 2600 meters would strike me as being in the 7900-8000 foot range.
There isn't a gun big enough to force me to go there. Don't do that sort of stuff. But I am glad you are having such a great adventure.
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