• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Autumn at Königssee

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
None of these color pictures are mere mementos. I am surprised and we’re rewarded so much seeing these fine pictures again.

Is it considered bad form in Europe to install cable cars to help those who don’t climb?

I think I’d need one or ekse just a Huey helicopter!

Asher
 

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
...
Is it considered bad form in Europe to install cable cars to help those who don’t climb?
...

I wonder if you have really been to the Alps.

There are cable cars at many many places but fortunately at Königssee we have the Berchtesgaden National Park (Wikipedia, UNESCO) which makes that this part of the Alps has only limited human traces.

This way we can have nice things.

Best regards
Michael
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Michael,

I’ve been many times to Switzerland, mostly Zurich then to take a train through the Alps to Italy, but never to somewhere with that technology. I shot a wedding at a chapel in a high Swiss village that didn’t even allow any kind of motor vehicle, just horse drawn wagons

So yes, I am pretty ignorant of the use of cable cars in general, but have no doubt they must be abundant in ski resorts. My family in Switzerland actually climb up the mountains!

Asher
 

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Asher,

I could not decide if I should take your comment as irony or not but on the other hand I would not like to see to have any construction added to Watzmann, regardless from where you are looking at the mountain. Just imagine the view disfigured by cable car or obstructed by helicopters ;)

The next time in Switzerland - take a trip to Säntis, use the cable car and enjoy the extraordinary view (I can confirm - been there).

Best regards,
Michael
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher,

I could not decide if I should take your comment as irony or not but on the other hand I would not like to see to have any construction added to Watzmann, regardless from where you are looking at the mountain. Just imagine the view disfigured by cable car or obstructed by helicopters ;)

The next time in Switzerland - take a trip to Säntis, use the cable car and enjoy the extraordinary view (I can confirm - been there).

Best regards,
Michael

Yes, it’s ironic that my experience was so protective of the Alpine village basic relationship with its natural habitat and limited cultivated farmland. I thought this was just Swiss obsessionalism....also not being able to use flash when the ancient gold-leaf decorated frescoes demanded more light!

I like the link you provide and will add this to my next “wished-for” itinerary. I am hoping to go to Austria to catch the amazing and the likely “never-to-be-repeated” extraordinary retrospective of the paintings of the Flemish master, Pieter Brueghel, The Elder, open till February 2019! So the Swiss Alps could be included! I hope I can make it happen, but no firm plans yet, just a Dream!

In the meanwhile, from your nice link:

“Start the climb at the lower station of the cable car (Schwägalp 1352 m: hotel, restaurant, cheese factory). A zig-zag way through herds of cows lead to the huge wall that looks hard to climb. Ladders, ropes etc. make it safe, however. At 2085 m the wall ends and you reach a ridge which offers a wonderful view of the Austrian alps. The Tierwis hut offers food and drink. The path turns left and leads along a flank to a snow field below the summit. Go back to the ridge on your left and climb the steep wall (fixed rope) that ends on the summit. 3 hours.”

What are those ropes and fixed ropes and ladders like? Is this challenging for a senior citizen or doable with reasonable caution?

Could a child of 10 make it too?

Still, the gondola/lift goes all the way up and the view promises to be spectacular!

Asher
 

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
In the meanwhile, from your nice link:

“Start the climb at the lower station of the cable car (Schwägalp 1352 m: hotel, restaurant, cheese factory). A zig-zag way through herds of cows lead to the huge wall that looks hard to climb. Ladders, ropes etc. make it safe, however. At 2085 m the wall ends and you reach a ridge which offers a wonderful view of the Austrian alps. The Tierwis hut offers food and drink. The path turns left and leads along a flank to a snow field below the summit. Go back to the ridge on your left and climb the steep wall (fixed rope) that ends on the summit. 3 hours.”

What are those ropes and fixed ropes and ladders like? Is this challenging for a senior citizen or doable with reasonable caution?

Could a child of 10 make it too?
From what I could gather the ascension would be possible, but 4 hours would be more realistic.
Sure-footedness and head for heights are of advantage here.

Just mind - if you are not in good shape, stay away from such hikes as the more difficult part is higher up.
You reach this part when you are already exhausted. Not a good thing as exhaustion increases the possibility of making errors.

Better to err on the cautious side.

Best regards
Michael
 

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
Very impressive landscape images. I have never been there but some of the mountain scenes remind me of the Wind River Range in the US. The last make me want to take a peaceful stroll down that path. I wonder if those mushrooms are edible. Look like they could be.
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
I wonder if those mushrooms are edible. Look like they could be.

That mushroom could be cortinarius praestans, which is indeed edible.

If the older specimens do not have gils, it could also be lycoperdon umbrinum or from one of the genus: lycoperdon or calvatia. Edible when very young, but not very good.
 
Top