Compared to last year's Chamonix visit for two weeks, six days to explore the Austrian Alps didn’t feel quite adequate (and a day and a half of rain didn’t help either). But we had some nice flights and found lots of other things to explore.
We didn’t haul our wings to Europe in vain. On our way down south Pete and I flew for the first time in Germany, from Brauneck launch south of Munich. My favorite site was Bischling south of Salzburg, where I had a sweet flight crossing a couple of times from launch to the limestone towers on the other valley side. It was neat to fly so close to the jagged cliffs. Emberger Alm at Greifenburg in Austria's Kärnten region didn’t quite live up to my expectations. While Pete and Alex had a good XC flight on our first day, I sank out after crossing to the next ridge.
Unfortunately the weather turned bad and we had just one day of flying there before the rain arrived. We spent the next several wet days hiking (Obertilliach), via-ferrata-ing (very cool next to waterfalls in the tight canyon of the Pirkacher Klamm), exploring lakes, visiting Roman excavations (Aguntum Lienz), the Blue Sky home base in Sillian (hosts of our Dolomiti tour two years ago), garnet mines in Villach and, when the downpour started in earnest, several Konditoreien (Alex’ favorite rain time activity). Other interesting sights (Auerhuehner) and signs (Schwammerln sammeln verboten!)
On our last day in Europe we got in the air again at the Jenner near Berchtesgaden, above the super scenic Königssee with Watzmann Mountain towering behind. Family stories go that my grandmother visited here as a young woman and always fondly remembered the stunning mountain scenery. When I first heard about this there was little chance for me to ever see these sights. Leave alone fly over it with a fabric wing. But time changes ... almost everything.
