Slept in a bit, had breakfast, spent some time trying to figure out my route after tomorrow. Reservations and all!
Around noon I headed out taking the gondolas up the mountain. There are hard core skiers here that will ski up on the glacier all year round. The skiers were already coming back down so I kind of knew the view wouldn’t be great anymore.
The gondolas took me up to 2660m (8737ft) from about 1480m (4856ft) in the valley.
I took a tour of the Spannagelhoehle, where Jurassic marine limestone was turned into marble. This happened through temperatures around 550C and pressure at around 10.000 bar, making the rock almost plastic like in consistency. The rock was pushed up by enormous forced of the African continental plate and ended up on top of the mountain at 2535m. The inside temperature is always at 2C (35F), no matter what time of year. The cave is also a weather reactive cave, meaning you have up and downwinds depending on the temperature outside.
We went in for about 500m but the whole cave system is about 23km long. The cave only opened to the public in 1994 after being declared a national treasure in 1964.
I took the gondola back down and took a short walk to some gorgeous waterfall.
Anybody know what this is? Afternoon fortification!
So many cute outfits for kids. Good thing shopping for myself is out of the question pro would have probably found something. Loved the socks and blouses.
Dinner and bed!
Was happy to see a picture of YOU yesterday. Do you ever hike with others doing this adventure that you meet or are you staying by yourself the whole time? I think you are about half way done now right?
I usually hike alone. This way I can do whatever I like. I am happy to be in my own bubble! Some people you see again in a different destination but then you loose track of them again.
New Touring Outfit ?
No, just pulled out my long sleeve shirt. Very windy and at over 2200m without sun you need it. No space for shopping!!!!
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Now I get it James with the tour outfit! That would be interesting! Maybe for the Alps!
I am wishing I could teleport myself there and join you for a couple of days. It looks very appealing although I’m not so sure I could hike with a pack as far as you are doing each day. The scenery is stunning and that king bolete photo the other day was beautiful and it looked like it was a good size. Too bad you couldn’t take it with you to your next stop and have them cook it up for you!
The question you asked about the cameo in the photo today, “Does anyone knows what this is? Afternoon fortification”. Is it a bottle cap from a beer bottle?….. or maybe it came from a bottle of milk with all those cows around…..ha:)
The pack has been a learning curve. It was terrible the first week, especially the first day. Still heavy but my body “knows” it now. The little picture is actually a chocolate/marzipan/nougat ball – a Mozart Kugel.