ERT Day 6

European Road Trip Day 6

Wednesday 6 July 2022

This morning we were supposed to climb Grosser Donnerkogel Via Ferrata, and Kim spent most of the morning being really nervous. Mostly about shoes. Kim doesn't have any boots anymore and Lukas hates his, and we definitely don't have any approach shoes. So, the question was whether we should use our climbing shoes or our Altra? Lukas can only have his climbing shoes for a very short time while Kim at least can't repell very well with her Altra's. So the natural decision was for Kim to take her climbing shoes and Lukas to take his Altra. But that didn't stop Kim from worrying all the time anyway. Especially since literally everyone else was wearing boots or approach shoes...

Kim was also worried about the packing, if it would be too much and if it would be in the way when we climbed...

Just after 8 o'clock in the morning we took our car and parked it in the parking lot for the cable car and took the Gosaukammbahn up. We just managed to pay and then it was time for the next cart to leave. It was super crowded and at first it looked like we wouldn't even fit, but we did. After a short hike, passing some cows that were chilling in the morning sun, we arrived at the start of the Via Ferrata. Kim changed into her climbing shoes and we put on our harnesses and Via Ferrata Lanyards and started climbing. Almost immediately Kim felt better and let go of most of her worries. The climbing wasn't too hard after all, and our shoe choice worked out alright for both of us.

So we continued a little bit, until we ended up stuck because of "Stau". It was like this because here was one of the harder graded parts, C/D-graded and quite vertical parts where you had to wait for each other more and give space on the wire. We passed this section without any problems and continued on. Finally, we started reaching the end of part 1 of the climb, where we took a break, unhooked from the wire and went up a little "hill" to watch the views. And also looked for a geocache that was hidden there. By then, Kim was quite tired already and a bit worried how she would have energy for it all, but resting was nice and gave us both some new energy which was good.

We found a geocache!

We continued onwards and soon reached the second part of the climb. We focused on our climbing, on our breathing, and stopped some now and then to breathe and watch the amazing views. Lukas also talked with a guy who was behind him. He was Russian but had lived for ten years in Austria or something. He seemed really nice, and we helped each other take photos of one another.

But then we started getting closer to the so called Staircase to Heaven. A over 42 m long metal ladder basically connecting two boulders. We queued for probably more than half an hour, almost an hour here, and had plenty of time to talk and enjoy the views. Kim also took the chance to remove her climbing shoes because by now her toes were screaming to be let out. They hurt quite a lot.

When we reached the ladder, Kim was the one to walk first. She waited nervously for the others to clear way, and then started walking. The hardest part was to re-clip the via ferrata lanyards, because the ladder was swaying slightly in the wind, and also, just holding steady with one hand instead of two was quite difficult. Kim quickly found a way to steady herself on the next rung with the help of one knee. As long as the gap between the rungs was short enough, it worked well. So she moved across the ladder quite quickly.

Lukas on the other hand had problems relaxing, and was tensing way too much. So much that when he was reclipping the lanyards the ladder almost vibrated underneath him.

After the ladder came a very steep part that at first felt a little bit intimidating. Here, and throughout the whole Via Ferrata, Lukas felt a lot better with Kim in front of him, her calm and steady climbing making him feel safer.

When we finally reached the top we sat down to breathe a little bit. Then we took some photos, made lunch and called both Kim and Lukas' families to see how they were all doing... Aaaand of course to show off the amazing views. We also talked to our Russian friend again, Slava, and a nice Canadian woman. We also watched the birds flying around that made sounds like they were a part of Star Wars, and after some googling we found out that they were Alpine choughs and a part of the crow family.

When we were done and ready to go down, we went to the top to take some photos.

The food we won at Vita Gröna Bandets Fjällträff became our lunch here.

On the way down we walked together with Slava. We talked a lot, and also showed him what geocaching is as we took some on the way down.

It felt like forever going down, and the terrain was not great. Really steep and a lot of rocks. But finally we made it down! BUT 10 minutes late to take the cable car down the last bit, so we had to walk even further.

When we came down, Lukas really wanted to cool down in the lake, so he went to the car to get swimming clothes and a towel while Kim waited and had an ice cream. When Lukas was in the water, Kim decided to go down and feel it, and it wasn't so bad after all. Also, she was very hot and sweaty, so the water felt really appealing. So she also joined in the water! Slava hung around too and took some pictures as proof, and then we got up and got ready to head back to the car.

Look who joined!

Of course Kim got sunburnt.

Unfortunately, when we came down, Slava found out that he had missed the last bus with like half an hour or so (it stopped going at 18), so now we offered to drive him to the closest train station so he could go home. So we drove 12 km to Bad Goisern, waved goodbye and headed south. We were super tired, so we ended up just finding some half decent public parking in the middle of a town. But it worked, so we went to bed straight away.

Start: Gosau, Austria

End: Sankt Martin am Tennengebirge, Austria

Via: Seeklausalm, Austria

Bad Goisern, Austria

Drive time: 1 h 26 min

Distance driven: 66 km

Toilet fees: €0

Parking fees: €0

Cable car: €34

Total drive time: 25 h 22 min

Total distance driven: 1 864 km