Yes, I'm still alive...

...though I'm suffering under a heavy wheather's-nice-but-have-to-work syndrome. On Sunday I was trecking again, together with two friends. We went to Gmunden (some of you may have heared of the famous Gmundener Porcelain) and from there up to the Traunstein. It's a really beautiful mountain with a breathtaking view over the Traun Lake from the top. The weather was unbelievable, it was 26°C in the shadow while we had to wade through a half meter of snow for the last 200 height meters. The treck starts 400 meters above zero and goes up to almost 1700 meters, with a lot of ladders and steel ropes. Nothing for trainer tourists :) I hope to get some photos this week from Peter (he shot like crazy, I'm still astounded that his memory stick didn't burst) to publish on picasa, then I'll put a link here.

If you happen to be in the area and aren't opposed to a bit of casual climbing, you should definitely try the Naturfreunde-Steig there.

Mountain Trecking

Yes, I know mid March is a bit early, but the weather was just soo good and, seeing I didn't have anything better to do for my holydays, I went on a three day tour in the Bavarian Alps, close to Berchtesgaden. I really had a good time there, and as there weren't many tourists -- too little snow to do serious wintersports, too much for the unexperienced hiker -- it was really peaceful and relaxing. I made some photos that are worth taking a look at, here's the link to the Picasa galleries:

Alpine Trecking - Day1 - Wimbachklamm

Alpine Trecking - Day2 - Hirchbichl

Alpine Trecking - Day3 - Kueroint-Alm and Gruenstein

If I find the time, I'll write a bit more about the tour itself. In any case, if you happen to be in the area in spring and have sunny weather, each of those three tours can be easily made in a day and has its own beauty.