Summer solstice in Austria

A major advantage of living in Munich is the accessibility of the Alps. My buddy Marco and I decided to explore some nearby mountains over the summer solstice weekend. Bergfeuer (mountain fires) would be lit as part of summer solstice celebrations in many places and we wished to see some.

We set off southward toward the Hintertuxer Gletscher (Hintertux Glacier) in Austria in Marco’s 2002 Mercedes SLK. The car is too old to connect our phones to its entertainment system, so we made do with the CDs that Marco had burned two decades prior. It also had a CD-based navigation system. We might possibly have figured out how to use it to get directions, but the CDs were way past their lifetime and no longer worked properly.

Natureispalast 

We stopped at the town of Hintertux, next to the Hintertuxer Gletscherbahn (the cable car up the glacier) and had lunch. The cable cars took about 40 minutes to get us to the top, the Gefrorene Wand (Frozen Wall) at 3250m. We were amazed to see that there was still skiing going on in late June. A reasonable number of people (but no crowds) were up on the mountain and also around Hintertux town with skiing attire and equipment.

Natureispalast, an ice cave under ski slopes, was a short walk from the Frozen Wall. The cave was randomly discovered by a skier, Roman Erler, in 2007; his family business operates tours in the cave now. We saw melted and refrozen ice and also flowing water inside the cave. Visitors could do a short ride on a dinghy in the water. At least one ice swimming world record was set there. I wanted to do a cold water swimming challenge, but we did not have enough time to do that and also catch the last cable car down.

Mayrhofen

We stayed at a ski tourist town called Mayrhofen. Our hotel was a big clay and wood house typical of the farm houses one finds in villages in the area.

Mayrhofen had a good number of restaurants and shops dedicated to ski and mountain tourism; the restaurant where we had dinner was called Mt. Everest. There were also shops selling mountain biking and hiking equipment. €6000 e-bikes were available. A bus with “🍾Happy New Year” written on the board inexplicably went through the main street as we explored the area after dinner.

Olpererhütte Hike

Olpererhütte is a mountain hut that is Instagram famous for pictures taken at a suspension bridge next to it. On the second day, to get to Olpererhütte, we first drove along the narrow toll road to the Schlegeisstau, a reservoir. Traffic would be allowed in only one direction for about 20 minutes before the direction of traffic was switched. 

We explored the dam holding the water in the reservoir and then took the route up toward Friesenberghaus. The route was fun; it was uneven and we had to watch where we placed every step. It was also exposed, with little shade after the first couple of kilometres.

After ascending 620m, at 2400m altitude, we arrived at Friesenbergsee (Lake Friesenberg, but perhaps Friesenberg Pond is a better translation), where I took a dip. It was cold, but my worry was that I might slip on the sharp rocks in the shallow water, so I did not go far from the shore. The sun came up just as I got out, which felt really great.

Then we went to Friesenberghaus for a light lunch of Knödelsuppe (dumpling soup).

The hike got even more technical and challenging after the pond. It started with a steep climb of about 150m. We then had to cross a number of waterfalls and stretches covered in snow. I got the feelings of thrill which I had last experienced when stream hiking and coasteering in Hong Kong.

Multiple times on the route, I saw marmots pop up. Once I came across a bird (perhaps a chick) hidden within a bunch of rocks noisily announcing its presence. The route was quite green and rock-strewn; the rocks were mottled with fungi, adding to the charm of the hike.

Having started the hike at 11AM and taken the long route to Olpererhütte, we arrived at its famous suspension bridge over a stream at 5PM. At that time, there were just a few people queuing, so we got our pictures quickly enough. 

These awesome shots were only the cherry on the cake of my best hike of the year so far. Schlegeisstausee is in the background.

Ehrwalder Bergfeuer

Day three was not filled with adventure after the exertions of the previous day. We were slowly making our way to Ehrwald, where the program was at night. We spent a few hours in Innsbruck, not enjoying it much in temperatures over 30 degrees. Then we went to a natural bathing area, Badesee Mieming, to cool off for a few hours. As it was Saturday, the place was full with others trying to escape the heat while being outdoors.

The main event that motivated our trip came at last. We drove to Ehrwald, a town that borders Germany, which is the start of some hiking routes that go up Germany’s tallest mountain, Zugspitze. We checked into our guest house; it was inspired by traditional houses and had a big oven in my room.

There was a field near our guest house where thousands of people were camped out. We headed over after dinner. With no buildings or trees to obstruct our views nearby, we could clearly see that we were surrounded by mountains in every direction if we travelled just a few kilometres. Local clubs would be responsible for setting fires that created patterns visible kilometres away.

There were a few fires on the mountains already; we could see some shining from the top of Zugspitze. The number of lights slowly increased. At first it was hard to make out the shapes, but as the number and intensity of the fires increased, the shapes became clearer. I observed many crosses, a pope hat, Greek symbols Alpha & Omega, mountain goats, a cherub, the Bavarian cartoon character Pumuckl and others.

The mountains were on fire in all directions around us. Half an hour after the first fires had appeared, some of them started going out and the shapes they created dimming. Within another hour, the entire spectacle would end. Not everything worked well. At least one shape was left half-formed because many of the small fires needed to form the shape did not get lit. 

Marco and I walked back to our guest house and wound down for the night. It was chaos outside our windows. Massive traffic jams formed in the small town roads as a large number of people tried to leave the town.

Day four started with a relaxed breakfast followed by a drive back to Munich. It had been a short trip, but the experiences had been top notch.