Well we could have stayed another day at Wurtemberger Haus. Apart from sore legs and blisters it was raining.  But no, in the firm belief that things will get better, we set out on another extreme day which went totally off plan. 

 
After a difficult ascent to our highest point so far we were enveloped in cloud and rain. Vertical drop-offs, narrow crumbling ledges and all the things I really love (not).  Apparently the views would have been spectacular but fortunately I could not see any of that otherwise I might have never made it.   The clouds hid the scary bits, the rain drove us on but when thunder and lightning arrived we scrambled under the nearest small rock and huddled there for about half an hour lest we got zapped.  Black gekko-like creatures seemed to like it however and were mating all over. Furthest thing from my mind.  

The route followed the ridge of the mountain at ~2600m altitude. Problem arose when we finally started to descend. The GPS lost its downloaded map during a battery change, the paper map was packed away out of the rain, and the hut sign at the next junction was missing.  So we followed our noses.  

After a knee-wrecking descent of nearly 1000m with a hut in sight that actually wasn’t, we realised our mistake.  Lunched in the drizzle with the invaluable solid-fuel cooker and re-evaluated our options.  

 The decision was made.  3 hours of steep uphill, or descend completely to civilisation (also 3 hours).  It was the latter because Guy’s knee had packed in so he was hobbling with a stick. At least I’m not the only one now.  En-route came across a remote and totally inaccessible farmhouse which provided us with land jäger, bread coffee & beer.  

   The remaining descent to town of Zams through a incredibly deep gorge seemed to take forever. 

 Arrived around 8pm, found a very nice Gastehaus run by an elderly lady who was even prepared to take on our stinky washing. Boys got off lightly there!   Late night pizza and a comfy bed. Everything aches – at least that is not just an age thing…. 
 

Beautiful start to the day – weather fantastic and scenery outstanding. We already at 2200m altitude and with three mountain “jochs” to cross we set out with a spring in our steps. How wrong can you be! First crossing fine, some ropes and warily crossing steep snow.  

Boys settled in to a mountain maths session between the rocks.  

Then on to cross Rosskarscharte with steep drops, scree, snow and ropes. Unfortunately part of the rope disappeared under the snow so a precarious work-around was required. When Guy later referred to it as “sketchy” I felt less of a wimp. Abseiling was never my thing! 

   We Lunched in the shelter of a large rock, used the solid fuel cooker for home–made soup (fantastic). 

 The final crossing turned out to be the most hair-raising experience for me; a long and very steep descent over crumbling rock and scree. Some ropes but mostly disintegrating or washed-away path. Needed a change of underpants after that one!  Needless to say – no pictures of that route!

 Finally reached Wurtemberger Haus, relatively early so we able to sort ourselves out at leisure. Not busy and provisioned only by helicopter. Great supper on the sun deck overlooking the world. Later played cards until a thunderstorm arrived big time. Stunning to watch, kept boys fascinated for ages. I headed for bed and read the description for tomorrow 😕 not a recipe for a good nights sleep.

Like most things, it started easy and ended tough. We needed to descend to Imst to get new boots for Guy. So starting from our very nice hut that we had worked so hard to reach, we embarked on 30 mins of uphill along a cliff side path 

 Reached a working ski-lift which descended for ages to a lower station, then another lift to upper Imst and a half hour hike to town.  

  Found a knowledgable sports shop (nice change) so Guy now chuffed in his new Meindls. The hard part was then finding a bus to a nearby town from where we would start our ascent. It then took us 5 hours of non-stop uphill to climb 1300 metres to Steinsee Hütte. En-route passed a massive stone quarry. Maybe that’s the wrong description because there are literally trillions of tons of stone scree on the lower slopes. We were all finished by the time we got to the hut. Quite busy with a load of big school kids from a nearby town. 

 Our dinner on the balcony was surprisingly good considering that this in an inaccessible but. Even jeep track to lower reaches had been washed away. Soup starter, lasagne and pudding. All happy. Guy collapsed in bed early. Liam read his book outside and later we chatted. Nice end to the day. And.. I got a proper shower AND washed my clothes. We all smelt like polecats on arrival 😋 The boys not quite up this clothes washing yet, so polecats again tomorrow!