alex robinson » Karthaus

Glaciology in action!

alex — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:53:18 +0000

Pics from my visit to the Hintereisferner Glacier on the border of Italy and Austria!

On the way up the valley
First destination
View from the top
Here's where a glacier once lay.
Some basal topography features
Hiking up the ridge
View of the glacier Hintereisferner
Looking down to our end destination (see the lake? It looks to far!!)
I live here (relatively).
Nice view
Slow sunset
After the hike... obviously not even phased.
See that high peak? That's where we started down (~1500m elevation change)

Karthaus – Messner Museum and some sheep

alex — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:37:39 +0000

Today we were supposed to go on a field trip to the nearest glacier. First up a cable car from about 2000m up to around 3200m. Then we would hike along the ridge above it until we found ourselves with a spectacular view of Hintereisferner, which I think is one of the longest glaciers in Europe. This didn’t happen, since the entire valley was covered with fog and it has continuously rained from morning until now.

So instead, also forgoing the choice of visiting the archeological museum nearby, which houses the “ice man” found not far from here, we went to the Messner Mountain Museum. At first I thought it would just be a typical museum in a castle, holding some medival paintings, etc. But it turned out to be quite fascinating. Reinhold Messner is, I guess, the most world-famous mountain climber. And during his trips he collected interesting pieces of art from Tibet and elsewhere. Then, since this castle above the Schnalstal (Schnal Valley) was decrepit in the 80s, he decided to buy it and convert it into a part-time home, as well as into an art gallery for visitors. We drove up the steep, winding roads piled into an 8-person taxivan and arrived to the loud braying of the local farm’s donkey (guess he was also disappointed with the weather). The museum was really fascinating and the location was breathtaking. The parting fog in the valley below somehow added to the mysticism of the whole place too.

Afterward, we actually headed on to the main event of the day: the arrival of over a thousand sheep into the valley after their summer grazing in the alpine valleys finished. Apparently it’s a tradition they’ve had for many centuries and they always take the same route over the glacier (where we would have seen them had we gone!) and then down into the valley to be stabled for winter. It takes about a week to round up the sheep from the pastures and then it’s a 12-15km hike to the new valley. It’s interesting that if you haven’t been around sheep much, you think the sheep noises (Baaahh) are the spectators imitating them. I personally came to the conclusion that we do better sheep noises than them!

Arriving at the castle
The greeter
Ominous entrance
View from Messner's castle above the Schnalstal
You could even here music from this village below
Making the most of it...
Our guide, in blue, and Georg translating
Messner brought a large collection of art back from his expeditions
And we even could make wishes on the wishmill
This is the old part of the castle, kept open air with a glass roof
I really did enjoy it, despite what the photo may convey
Early soccer strategy records...
Looking up into the art tower
Looking back down
The cable car we would have taken to the glacier ridge
Instead the view to the sheep coming out of the fog
Quite an event!
The sheep just followed each other, like sheep, I suppose.
All in a day's work
Of course, all of that sheep-watching brought on an appetite. What does the chef propose tonight?
This was excellent
As was this.
Topped off with a full moon

Karthaus 2008

alex — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:13:31 +0000

So I’m now at the Karthaus Glaciology Summer School. I’ll try to upload pics frequently over the next 2 weeks.

As I’ve learned so far, every night there is a five course meal, with wine included, just set out on the table in bottles. And lunch, there are 3 courses. And we have two coffee breaks between lectures with accompanying fresh warm pastries. I guess all the calories go into all the thinking we’re doing?!

Well of course I had to add some pics from the meals since yesterday. They even changed it up for lunch – the first day without pasta… instead it was a nice cheesy risotto. But we also studied quite a bit today, so I added some pics from the lectures too. But on our short day today (which just ended at 4pm), the weather isn’t quite ideal, with continuous slow rain throughout the day. We’ll see if our hike on the glacier is possible tomorrow. But we’re supposed to go up to 3200m or so and have some expansive views of the glaciers in the region. Now if someone will just lend me a hat!

On the way to Karthaus... look where people build houses on the vertical mountain!
View along the way :)
My (shared) apartment for the next 2 weeks.
My bed!
View from the window
Me!
View from the other window
Playing some ping-pong outside...
The main dish: venison (deer) that melted in your mouth! Spaetzle on the side, yum.
And dessert! "Snowmilk" (Schneemilch). I think the schnee is the inch-thick layer of cream on top.
A backwards clock! It ticks backwards too!
Our classroom!
Heavy rains blowing through...
Sunset it town...
It turns out you eat everything the chef proposes!
Our improved classroom!
Our backyard
We stayed in the building to the right
Karthaus from above...
Strolling through the woods
As you arrive at the table, wine is already waiting for you.
This is the first appetizer, after the obligatory salad, of course
Then some cream of pumpkin soup
And the main course, in this case, roast beef with lemon sauce, potatoes and artichoke. Divine, really.
And the dessert, homemade tiramasu
Waste not want not, the remains of two tiramasus...
The chefs hard at work on our special barbeque dinner last night
And the results!
Learning about ice shelves!
Foggy scene from lectures today
Creamy dessert this afternoon - Bonna Cotta (or something...), loosly translates to delicious!
In town today - things don't bode well for our hike on the glacier tomorrow...
Heading to class again after lunch...
It's rough ;)