franz josef
it took six hours for the bus to reach frank josef.
i was tired.
after checking into the hostel, i went into town. on the way, some weird lady with ever weirder teeth started talking to me about glacier tours. i told her i was doing one tomorrow. she said they had a 2 for 1 special tonight. it was about 5.30pm and i had no idea what she was talking about. after much questioning and misunderstandings we finally understood each other - there was a 2 for 1 special for the indoor ice wall climbing center.
after much debate with my wallet ["quick? where do i sign up"] i paid half price for a ice wall climbing session. [the normal price is a serious rip off at $90 dollars for 90 minutes, almost 270 NIS]. i put on my fleece and came back 45 minutes later. i got a harness, plastic shoes and a helmet. i did not get a full face helmet, or a ice hockey helmet. just some construction worker's helmet. looking back, it was not much of a help.
we learned the basics of ice wall climbing ["you hit the wall with your axe as high as you can and kick with your shoes like *this*"] i was hooked to the belay and made my way up the easy ice wall. no probies at all. after the practice at Wanaka i was not even afraid of the height [mere ten meters in comparison to Wanaka's 15]. i belayed the only other guy in my session [they had to clip me to the floor with an ice screw because he was too heavy :")]. we moved to a corner climb - again, no probies. [did i mention they put on some cool music? well, they did] the next climb was called "stairway to heaven". it was a serious of steps in a corner and overhangs on the sides. what fun. when it was my turn, i climbed up about five meters. then, as i tried to get stick my axe into the ice hitting it rapidly an ice chunk the size of my fist hit me in the face. i started bleeding from my lip and was in a bit of a shock. i was brought down, got some tissue paper and waited for the bleeding to stop. bloody ice walls are out of style. it was my turn on the last climb - three overhangs. you have to climb diagonally between them. i fell off the wall after 1.5 meters. i tried again and managed to get onto the second overhang. as i was climbing onto the third, i could not get my axe into the ice. was too tired. exhausted. another 2-3 hits with my axe. no grip. i asked them to get me down and the ice climbing session was over. it had the best fun / time ratio i did in so far. i had some war wounds. i had a lot of bruises on my knees. happily i dragged myself back to the hostel and went to bed.
woke up early the next day, to go on a glacier tour. i haven't got much to tell about my glacier tour - the photos do a better job. the first two hours we climbed through dirty and rocky ice. we slid through one Ice-Age-like crevasse. i jumped over three scary ice cracks. we climbed over ridges. we walked on walls with a few meter drop between our feet. it was scary but fun. we walked through another crevasse, but not as pretty or as "ice age" as the first one.
i did expect more crevasses for my money [why would i walk on a glacier, if not for the crevasses? they have them in Ice Age and Ice Age 2. i want more crevasses], but it was awesome.
i was tired.
after checking into the hostel, i went into town. on the way, some weird lady with ever weirder teeth started talking to me about glacier tours. i told her i was doing one tomorrow. she said they had a 2 for 1 special tonight. it was about 5.30pm and i had no idea what she was talking about. after much questioning and misunderstandings we finally understood each other - there was a 2 for 1 special for the indoor ice wall climbing center.
after much debate with my wallet ["quick? where do i sign up"] i paid half price for a ice wall climbing session. [the normal price is a serious rip off at $90 dollars for 90 minutes, almost 270 NIS]. i put on my fleece and came back 45 minutes later. i got a harness, plastic shoes and a helmet. i did not get a full face helmet, or a ice hockey helmet. just some construction worker's helmet. looking back, it was not much of a help.
we learned the basics of ice wall climbing ["you hit the wall with your axe as high as you can and kick with your shoes like *this*"] i was hooked to the belay and made my way up the easy ice wall. no probies at all. after the practice at Wanaka i was not even afraid of the height [mere ten meters in comparison to Wanaka's 15]. i belayed the only other guy in my session [they had to clip me to the floor with an ice screw because he was too heavy :")]. we moved to a corner climb - again, no probies. [did i mention they put on some cool music? well, they did] the next climb was called "stairway to heaven". it was a serious of steps in a corner and overhangs on the sides. what fun. when it was my turn, i climbed up about five meters. then, as i tried to get stick my axe into the ice hitting it rapidly an ice chunk the size of my fist hit me in the face. i started bleeding from my lip and was in a bit of a shock. i was brought down, got some tissue paper and waited for the bleeding to stop. bloody ice walls are out of style. it was my turn on the last climb - three overhangs. you have to climb diagonally between them. i fell off the wall after 1.5 meters. i tried again and managed to get onto the second overhang. as i was climbing onto the third, i could not get my axe into the ice. was too tired. exhausted. another 2-3 hits with my axe. no grip. i asked them to get me down and the ice climbing session was over. it had the best fun / time ratio i did in so far. i had some war wounds. i had a lot of bruises on my knees. happily i dragged myself back to the hostel and went to bed.
woke up early the next day, to go on a glacier tour. i haven't got much to tell about my glacier tour - the photos do a better job. the first two hours we climbed through dirty and rocky ice. we slid through one Ice-Age-like crevasse. i jumped over three scary ice cracks. we climbed over ridges. we walked on walls with a few meter drop between our feet. it was scary but fun. we walked through another crevasse, but not as pretty or as "ice age" as the first one.
i did expect more crevasses for my money [why would i walk on a glacier, if not for the crevasses? they have them in Ice Age and Ice Age 2. i want more crevasses], but it was awesome.
posted by yeara at
2:27 am
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