My Last Week In Laengenfeld

Once again, I have been a bit slack about updating my blog, but this time it was because a lot was happening. The last week of October was my last week at Aqua Dome (probably ever, which is a bit sad) and it was a very eventful one!

The week started with a big party at the hotel to launch the ski season and the World Cup Skiing championships at Soelden (the ski mountain in the area). The Frozen Fire Party had the theme of Green and White (the colours of the Tyrolean flag) and was also promoting the European Cup Football which is being held in Tyrol next year. The hotel foyer was decorated amazingly and I only had to play a few sets because the band played most of the time - so I had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the party with lots of good food and drinks!

Here are some pictures of the foyer decorations (and don't forget that clicking on them links to my Flickr account which has some extra photos on it)

After partying very late into the night, I then had an early start to head into Innsbruck to meet my friend Rita at the airport. It was so great to have her come visit me again and it gave me a good excuse to visit some of the sightseeing destinations in the valley that I had not yet seen.

Our first day of sightseeing involved heading down to the village of Umhausen to visit Oetzidorf - a small village set up to recreate how people lived in the Stone Age in the valley (The Oetztal, or Oetz valley was the place where the 4,000 year old mummy called Oetzi was found in the ice in 1991. He is the oldest mummy ever discovered.) Unfortunately, Oetzidorf had closed for the winter the day before, but we were able to walk around the fence and look at the huts.

We then headed up the path to see the Stuibenfalls which is the largest waterfall in the Oetztal. None of the signs warned what a steep climb it was, nor that the hut selling refreshments on the way up was closed for the winter. After a fairly exhausting walk uphill we reached the first viewing point of the falls.

I ventured up a little higher to the next viewing platform for a better view. It also gave me a fantastic view over the valley and to the nearby mountains. This scenery is so spectacular. It's very difficult to take a bad photograph.

On the way down, I was amused by this sign, and had to take a photo... Don't Stop!!!

The next day, we headed in the other direction further up the valley to the town of Soelden and then to the glacier which was used for the World Cup Skiing the previous weekend. There were lots of people up there skiing for the day and we looked a little out of place in fairly normal (but warm) clothes amongst all the skiing outfits. It was very cold up there, though (it had not been above 0 degrees much at all in the last couple of weeks)

We headed up the cable car (which they call a gondola...) to the highest point on the glacier. 3370m above sea level.

What they didn't tell us was there was about a 15 minute walk up to the highest point... and it was even steeper than the walk we had done yesterday... and totally covered in snow with no handrail or steps... not so accessible in normal shoes. If you look at the first photo here, the path is the white expanse on the left of the rocks.

I decided to give it a go, though, and clambered up, mostly on my hands and knees (I was very thankful for my thermals!) and got most of the way to the top. As you can probably tell from the photos, it was a very overcast foggy and snowy day, so there was no view to speak of, but I still feel like it was an achievement - even though I didn't get all the way up. It is amazing how thin the air is up there and how much effort it took to climb. I really don't know how people that trek in the Himalayas manage it... very impressive. This photo is at the top of the first part of the climb (Rita is the small person in the middle of the photo)

And these are some photos from the highest point that I made it to (which wasn't too far from the top...)

I especially like this photo of the glacial ice.

Once I finally gave up (mostly because I was worried of falling - everything around me was white and it was getting difficult to tell where the edge of the path was) it was mostly easier to slide down the path as though I was on a toboggan... just without the toboggan. It was fun! (Rita has some video footage which is hilarious - no photos on here, sorry)

And so, I said goodbye to Laengenfeld and the friends I have made there over the 3 times I was working at Aqua Dome. It is a very special place and I really do look forward to going back there for a visit some day.