Drachensee: above the frozen lakes

Another glorious winter hike in the mountains! Tanguy joined us from Innsbruck at Garmisch and we continued on to Ehrwald. The start of the walk was a bit meh – a long section through town and then up the side of a ski slope. But once go away from the skiers we had a great time. The route loops up onto a high cliff, and the path passes through woods under steep cliffs.

Continue Reading →

Pleisenspitze: not a bad start

After six days living in Munich, I needed a hike. I met up with Jerome from Munich Hiking Buddies and we took the train south to Scharnitz (900 m), just inside Austria. We set off along the road, before taking an icy track up towards the Plesinhutte. Almost immediately we needed snowshoes, as the snow was soft, and we wound our way up through the forest, dodging sledgers along the way. Soon we were at the Pleisenhütte at the treeline, and we popped in to ask for advice. No problem, declared the owner, and we saw others also heading up and felt more confident.

Continue Reading →

Canyoning in Ticino II

A return to Ticino, the Italian-speaking southern part of Switzerland and a self-proclaimed ‘Eldorado’ of canyoning! Four years ago a novice team of inexperienced canyoners first got their feet (and the rest of their bodies) wet in these gorgeous gorges, and this year we returned: battle hardened, grizzled and with much, much thicker wetsuits.

Continue Reading →