An almost strangely warm and sunny morning in Munich, I stretched myself and rolled out of bed, half consciously anticipating the starting day. It was the not long awaited Saturday of my climbing trip to Austria (I decided to go just the day before). Still rubbing my eyes, I was walking slowly from room to room, trying to think what I need for the day. My two fellow climbers were already up, full of excitement, and drinking coffee.

After spending enough time being lazy, as I do every morning when possible, I also filled my rucksack with the super meal of the day: bread, tomatoes, cheese, and salami. I put in another pair of clean socks and a long-sleeve shirt. Of course, I had to put up with being laughed at because of the body splash, the hand cream, the hair spray, and the font de teint I took with me. I really hadn’t been planning on making myself pretty for the climbing but guys just don’t understand that a girl may actually need something from her bag some time… eventually. So after a short discussion of the impropriety of my taking font de teint, and my fellow climber’s jeans (he stubbornly refused to wear anything else), we headed for the train station.

Barely surviving the crowded train trip, we arrived in Kufstein – a charming old town in Austrian Alps, exactly that dull as a person can imagine for a charming old town to be. After an hour of what seemed like very poor orientation for the size of the town, we finally found the start of the forest path leading to the Naunspitze (1633m).

So we started climbing the stairs at the beginning of the path. We continued climbing the stairs, then came more stairs, and more stairs. Just before I got bored of them they turned into a broad path so steep that it was likely to roll back down if you lost your balance for a second.

After three exhausting hours of climbing, sweating, hurting, being stubborn, singing, complaining, enjoying the nature and our fast progress (we were ahead of schedule), we reached the top! A breathtaking view! We sat silent, too tired even to think, looking at the tiny cars barely moving on the highway down in the valley. Sitting on top of a mountain peak, even if it’s not so high above the ground, it is still a God-like feeling. As if you’ve just created the world, you’re tired of the work but happy for the beauty beneath your feet. You can almost reach out and touch the toy-like houses and trees and move them around to arrange them better. You’re just enjoying your creation, maybe not after six days of work but rather after three hours of climbing.

It was a great feeling, indeed… until the moment I snapped out of it as my stomach annoyingly reminded me of its presence.

Tags: climbing, Kufstein, München, Munich, Naunspitze