Zwiesel - Blomberghaus Hike

Parkplatz Waldherralm 730m -  Zwiesel 1310m - Blomberghaus 1248m - Waldherralm

Start point: Parkplatz Waldherralm at Lehen 12, 83646 Wackersberg. Free

Start at 730m, highest point 1.310m

Distance: 10.5 km, Ascent 590 m, Descent 590 m

Very nice hike to the Zwiesel peak (1310m) with wonderful panoramic views on the way and from the top  Alps - one can see Brauneck (Lenggries) from here, Branderberger Alps, Karwendel, and even snowy peaks of Zugspitze

This is a nice, alternative hike to the typical Blomberg hike (under the Blombergbahn/Blomberg chair lift). Some people also choose to take the chairlift instead of hiking up and just walk to the restairant, Zwiesel peak, or you can go to the Blomberg Westgipfel (West peak 1248)

<<<The ascent

The ascent to Zwiesel is quite steep, but a nice workout. from there we decided to go to the Berggasthof Blomberghaus, it took us about 30 minutes. Blomberghaus offers really good food, that you can enjoy on the huge terrace with a view. Great that they have now reopened! There is also the playground for the kids with swings and a slide. The way back through the forest to the parking Waldherralm took us about an hour.

The view to the South from the top of Zwiesel ->>>>>

the view from the top to the South East

 

Start of the hiking season 2021 - from Tegernsee to Neureuth guesthouse (1260m)

Start: Neureuthstraße 60, 83684 Tegernsee (Wanderparkplatz) – about 3EUR parking fee
Apprx. 400hm, 6km

The hiking season has started super late this year due to the coldest May ever. It was actually still snowing about a week ago above 1600m, and I don't like hiking in the snow. Snow is for skiing 😉



This is a classic short hike/walk for all who live in Munich and nearby - from Tegernsee to Neureuth guesthouse (1260m).. About 6km long, 400 high meter, we have started at Neureuth Wanderparkplatz. The start was quite steep if you take the Rodelbahn route.. some websites describe it as family-friendly and stroller friendly but I would really not want to push a stroller up such a steep hill..

You can also start this hike in a bit different way, from the direction of Tegernsee train station. It tends to bea bit less steep that way. And this is also a good alternative for those who come with a BOB train and not by car.

The Neureuth guesthouse and restaurant is currently closed due to Corona high incidence in Miesbach area, but there is kiosk where they sell beer 🍻 and some food.

If you happen to be there when the restaurant is open, I really recommend the spinach Knödel

"Swiss" Ski Season 2020/2021

Davos 

Winter 2020/2021 in Germany started with the lockdown linked to the Corona Pandemic 2.0. While for most people it was a disaster that the shops, restaurants, and hair salons were getting closed, for winter-sport enthusiasts the worst nightmare was the closure of the ski resorts in Germany, Italy, and France. Austria kept the ski resorts partially open but only for the locals. In previous seasons we were often going to Austria even for a day or weekend skiing, now it was impossible.

In December skiers and mountain-sport lovers still hoped for a later season-opening, and to be honest, I also hoped for it, it was just so difficult to believe that we were in lockdown since March 2020 and it was continuing into 2021. Just before the lockdown 2.0 we have booked the ski holiday in Austrian Schladming (Salzburger Land) for the new year celebration. When it was announced that Austria prolonged lockdown, we had moved it to two weeks later, then again to two weeks later. And then, we went to Switzerland. And just like that, the ski season 20/21 became “Swiss ski season”.

Switzerland has made a smart move during the pandemic. This is just my humble opinion, so no critics, please. Swiss cantons could autonomously decide if they wanted to keep ski resorts open or not. Thus most of the Swiss skiing stayed open during the winter season. Of course, there were hygiene measures in place (masks everywhere and in ski lifts), the restaurants and shops with exception of the supermarkets were closed, all the entertainment activities like concerts, celebrations, bars, and attending the sports events were not allowed. At the same time, some hotels stayed open, and they were offering meals to their guests. One always had a take-away option. With all that almost non-stop ski business, Switzerland had not higher Corona numbers than Germany..

On the mountains the restaurants were serving food only on the open terraces or offering take always. It was perfect! It was enough! I think that every obsessed with action in the snow person would agree that the most important among all the winter holidays perks was that ski lifts were running and there was a place to stay.

Thus, taking a risk and spending more money than usual on skiing I have skied in the winter of 2021 in Swiss Davos, Laax, and Arosa-Lenzerheide. And would like to remember here this experience skiing in these ski resorts.

Just to say here, normally I do not ski in Switzerland. Before 2021 I skied one weekend in St. Moritz, and that’s all.

It is more popular for the Germans or those who live in Germany to ski in Austria or Italian South Tirol, as it is more affordable and the infrastructure is quite good there. Generally speaking, I spent almost twice as much in Switzerland in comparison to skiing in Austria. One doesn’t need to be good at math to make a conclusion that instead of one week in Switzerland one can ski two weeks in Austria. The most difference is in the prices of the lift tickets, and food. The average price of the day ski pass in Austria is 55 euro, while in Switzerland 75. To the latest stats, Zermatt is the most expensive with ski pass costing 85 quid per day. Eating in restaurants was 2.5-3 times more expensive than in Austria. Just as an example of Gordon Bleu with fries costing 30 Fr (in comparison to 12 EUR here).

Anyways it was a great experience, I am grateful I could ski at all this winter, and I enjoyed and appreciated it much more than usual!

Thanks to this opportunity I have done 16 Alpine skiing days this season! In addition I have started practicing cross-country skiing and spent another 12 ski days on a bit different type of skis (but this is a different story for a new post ;)

My most expensive ever day on the mountain...and I was not even skiing

...but it was totally worth it.



Here are some useful info if you want to see very close the mighty Matterhorn mountain (4478m) and visit the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise ⛰️


Zermatt town and ski resort is quite expensive to stay. This is a holiday place for the royals, and the rich and famous. For us simple mortals a better decision is to stay at one of the picturesque villages nearby which offer more affordable and comfortable accommodation. We have stayed at the most picturesque Grachen village and I truly enjoyed the peace and beauty of it. The hotel was also wonderful, with the spa terrace overlooking the mountains.


Generally, the area around has tons of hiking routes and all are very exciting and offer great views of the glaciers around. I will write in the next post about hiking in Grächen.


So, one day was chosen to be a Matterhorn day. This was on my "dreaming to-do list" for some time, but I was always postponing it, as hiking in Switzerland is something that you really need to plan and save money for :)
So here are some of my tips for those who also dream to visit Matterhorn.


Zermatt as many of the mountain villages in Switzerland is car-free. Just getting there is quite a work :)
You must leave your car at the official train station car park in Täsch (15 Fr. per day) and take a train shuttle (16 Fr. return). chocolatiers, cafes, and crowds of tourists.. but do save the for the cable car ;) because if you plan to go all the way up to 3883m be ready to spend another whopping 90Fr! To my question, if I could just get a Skipass (which was 15 quid less), the guy behind the counter seriously looked me up and down and stated that I didn't have my ski equipment with me, and was not dressed like a skier and thus it was a "No"  - I could not get a ski pass.
When in Zermatt, just locate the sign with the cable car and walk in that direction..the way is through the main street with numerous brands and expensive watches shops, and pretty


Anyways. I prefer to just ignore it



We went up to the Schwarzsee station and hiked the Glacier Trail to the Trockener Steg Station and already from there took the highest cable car in Europe to go up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise and ski area where many famous skiers train during summer. Unfortunately, I did not get to meet any although I just saw on Instagram a week before that that wonderful Tina Weirather and Felix Neureuther were training there!

The Glacier trail was extremely interesting as the landscape was changing dramatically at the elevation range from 2600m to 2930.


The name and its nature are due to the retreating glaciers in this place. The landscape colors are changing from the beautiful green and turquoise water of Schwarzsee to the 50 shades of gray, white, silver, and red. These were the colors of the lakes, the streams, the melting glaciers, the rocks..








By the way, we have chosen to take the trail from a lower elevation and go up, while in the guides it is described to be done in a different way - from Trockener Steg to Schwarzsee. but in this way, it was so much more adventurous and impressionable.

Season 2017-2018 and FIS World Cup Opening

This year we went to the Sölden on 28th of October to see the FIS World Cup Opening. It was the first time that I saw the world cup races not on tv screen, and thus it was super exciting.

The sun was shining and it was such a beautiful Saturday! we had just the audience tickets for The World cup days, and were going to ski on Monday only in case if the conditions were good enough.
We started driving early in the morning from Munich, and were planning to be on top of Rettenbach glacier in Sölden just in time for the women second run at 13.00. While we were driving I was really surprised to find out form Instagram that my favorite female skier Lindsey Vonn was also there and taking part in the race. Just a week ago she was announcing that her first race would take place in the US in December. Unfortunately by the time we have arrived to the glacier, Lindsey was already leaving, as she hadn't got through to the second round. Needless to say that it was quite a disappointment for me. A disappointment not to see her, not that she was so behind. I can absolutely understand that she did not want to risk it, and go full power in the first race of the season. In some other post I will tell you why Lindsey Vonn is my favourite skier :)

Anyways, the whole atmosphere of the World cup race was unforgettable. So many people cheering and supporting the skiers, so many fans, the colourful crowd, the music, the excitement, and seeing the best female skiers doing the fast and perfect turns on that steep black slope of the Rettenbach glacier, the slope that is one of my favorite runs in Sölden...Very exciting! I was really happy that Viktoria Rebesburg from Germany took the podium 1st place!

Interesting fact. Viktoria Rebensburg said in the interview prior to the race that if she won it she would wear a dirndl to the podium ceremony that took later that day in Sölden central square. And she really did! It was very funny. The moderator also made her dance polka :)

Unfortunately the next day men´s race was cancelled due to the bad weather conditions. I find it a bit strange that FIS is not moving it to the next possible date, but just cancels it. Quite a disappointment for the fans who come to watch this event, sometimes also travelling from quite afar. It was also not easy to return the money for the tickets of the cancelled event. But we made the most of it, and went hiking instead and found a wonderful waterfall, which I will tell about in the next post :)

Where the seasons meet

Yesterday I drove to the forest and got surprised! :)

It is cold in Munich these days, as cold as -10 degrees at night! It has also snowed a bit, but last weekend it was dry and grey, and sort of yellow-brownish-old-greenish on the ground and on some trees. Not a single drop of white.

Driving 30 minutes down to the South of Munich changed the landscape completely, showing one field in green, and the next field next to it in white! this is amazing, and this is how the seasons meet - autumn and winter!

This shot below shows it at its best! no photoshop, no filters. Still green grass, and yellow leaves of the tree, that was somehow missed by snow cloud. And then these fur-trees covered in white! This is something that makes you say "Wow"

Further down to the forest, it became whiter and whiter. This is where I really get excited as a child waiting for Christmas presents :) I love snow. I love the fresh frosty air. And I love the sight of the fur-trees branches covered with snow! This is like a fairy-tale for me. 

 I think it comes from my childhood, when the winters were really cold with a lot of snow, and snowdrifts when the feet were drowning in white stuff, when we were making snowmen, sledding down the hill, and ice-skating on the frozen lake

I hope that this winter will bring us one big surprise. A lot of snow! 

There is this Abbey - Kloster Reutberg - in this area. As many abbeys here in Bavaria, they make their own beer, and have a restaurant. Thats where we ended up at the end of the fairy walk. My backside was totally frozen, as it had not expected such cold weather, and the walk happened to be longer than planned, as we almost got lost (as the paths are not recognizable in the snow). Anyways, dinner in this abbey restaurant was like a cherry on the pie! the room had an old stove, and heated benches going on around the room. This is like a heaven on the cold day! heaven for my backside anyways :) and the food and locally brewered beer were also pretty good. 

Here is the picture showing the cozy atmosphere and the views of snow through the window..

The best hike of 2016

I think one of the best hikes this year was the ascend to the Schafberg mountain at Wolfgangsee.

Wolfgansee is located about 25km from Austrian Salzburg. 

On a sunny day, the area looks like movie decorations, so perfect it is - the turquoise colour lake with the perfectly shaped mountains around it, and wonderful pretty towns with half-wooden houses framed with blooming gardens. Alpine Idyll - they call it. And you know what - actually it is!

Only after visiting the place I have found out that there was this musical comedy called  Im weißen Rößl (The White Horse Inn). The movie is a love story involving the head waiter of the White Horse Inn in St. Wolfgang who is desperately in love with the owner of the inn (the inn is actually there, although the façade is strangely of red colour :). In the movie all the caracters look so perfect, smiley and sing beautifully ;) , that it feels waaay too much. But, to be honest, as I had spent 3 days in the area I felt like in that movie) So many people are so smiley and perfect looking, wearing national costumes, I even met a group of people singing in café on top of the mountain, imagine that like this perfect family with perfect looking kids singing all together. This is something where you say “really?:)” yes, really. Perfect location (on a sunny day, and even when it is not sunny the rain and clouds are also quite special here), perfectly looking locals with blond hair, blue eyes and white perfect smiles, flowers everywhere. Feels like you are in this advertisement for Milka chocolate. 

Back to the topic of my perfect hike ;), what I did with a friend was a 14km hike (about 1300m vertical) to the Schafberg summit starting in St. Wolfgang not far from the old train station, going up through the forest to the beautiful and icy cold mountain lake Mönichsee, there were several quite steep partially rope-secured sections which were marked black, with breathtaking panoramic views of the Austrian Alps and the lakes of the area. It was a warm and dry day, so it was not dangerous, just really exhausting, but the beer in the café on top (seen on the photo) was the best beer of this year! J I must say, I wouldn’t have done this hike if it was wet, I could see how it could be really slippery in some areas.

I can also recommend quite a nice hike/walk from St. Wolfgan towards St. Gilgen, thorugh Wolkensteinkirche, it leads you partially through forest, and then along the lake with really beautiful views. See below J You can come back from St. Gilgen by boat.

And one more – the easy but with reeeeaaaaly picturesque views of the lake - 2 hour walk is Bürglstein Rundwanderweg.