Ass over tea kettle

This was the toughest hiking day we have had so far. By 5:00PM, we were so exhausted, well, let me tell you how exhausted we were.

We were so tired that I tripped over something, maybe some air, and went off a ledge that had a drop of a few feet, followed by a long, steep incline. Luckily, a perfect storm of instinct, lack of coordination and low shrubs worked together to keep Petra from being able to guiltlessly find a better man.

The whole thing after I tripped went in slow motion. I went off the edge, flipped completely upside down, and landed on my face with an unhappy shrub in either hand. My urge to live was strong, so I did not let go. Most of this, aside from catching the two bushes, sucked.

Petra laughed and cried at the same time, and I asked her to please stop both until I reached the trail again. She did, and all turned out well. We will, however, see how sore I am from this tomorrow.

I would like to take this moment to thank my jiu jitsu instructers, who taught me that being upside down is ok, and that landing is not as difficult as one might think. I would also like to thank the US Army Airborne Instructors at Ft Benning, GA, who drilled into my head that I should land on the balls of the feet, the calves of the legs, the thighs, the buttocks, and the "pull up muscle." but most of all I would like to thank my mother, without whom this totally fucked up moment would not have been possible.

The Iceman Cometh

We left the hut this morning, and instead of heading straight down the mountain, we opted to climb to the spot where Oetzi the icman was found. We had to do a good deal of scrambling up rocks, and treked across a glacier for a while before getting to Oetzi's glacier. He was found after a 5000 year repose about 15 meters inside Italian territory. He, unlike the iceman in the movie, is dead now, and resides Ina glass refrigerator in Bozen, Italy.

We spent another hour going through a snow field, and as I was sporting my sexiest look, tall gaiters with surf trunks, my feet stayed bone dry (thanks for the tip, Matt), but The added benefit was that the chicks dug it. So at least I have that going for me.

The landscape was otherworldly, and the fact that I had never even considered cutting tracks across a glacier, I chalked it up as a super duper experience; Pera agrees.

After we got out of the snow and glaciers, we spent the next few hours heading steadily into the valley, where we will watch the Germany vs Spain game tonight.

That is all. Rob reporting from Vent, Austria.

From wine country back into beer land

After a few days of very hot weather, lush meadows, waterfalls, vineyards and orchards, we climbed onto a glacier today, but not just any old glacier, it's the one where they found Oetzi, the ice man. So, it's really a receding glacier, otherwise they wouldn't have found him almost twenty years ago. Now, he's in the fridge in a museum in Bozen. We decided not to go see him when we were there, but if the weather cooperates, we'll go see where they found him. It's cold up here and there are still plenty of snow fields around the hut. It's very busy up here with hikers and climbers. We'll be in the matress camp tonight, along with lots of others. Rob and my brother are sleeping the afternoon away right now, after having a few afternoon beers to incent us for the hard climb.

The last two nights we spent on farms, and although I love the cows with their pretty bells, their poop is smelly. The farmers collect it in big piles, so they can fertilize the fields later, but strangely enough, they also hang their laundry up next to that pile. My oh my - the last two nights, the sheets and the towels smelled like a cow just got done with them. Anyhow, no such smells tonight!

Last night we decided to have dinner on an Alm, a remote farm, about 30 minutes from our not so remote farm where they didn't serve dinner. It took us more like 50 minutes to walk there, but it was worth it. Dinner was yummy, the owner shared her homemade Schnaps, and she even made us a job offer to stay for a few days and bring in the hay - for room and board. It was a tempting offer, but we had to move on. Well, first we had to move back down the mountain to our farm. Rob did not bring his light, but thanks to the long summer days and hiking songs we made it. Rob's decision to challenge the Scottish highland to a bull fight also just resulted in some scrambling, scared cows, and we made it back just fine.

Tomorrow we'll be heading down into the next town. Can't miss the next soccer game Germany - Spain! We were on a TV-less hut for the Argentina game and had to get the updates from the cook who had a radio in the kitchen.

No service up here, but will post asap.

P reporting from Similaun hut on the Austrian-Italian border.

Things are different down here

The biggest difference since we crossed the Italian border is what people drink. They still drink beer, but the fact that a beer is way more expensive, while wine is considerably less so, I'd proof that agriculture and priorities are somewhat different down here.

The other difference is that the German dialect these guys speak is sometimes impossible to understand. When they talk to me I understand them, but as soon as they speak to another local, they might as well be speaking Hungarian.

The landscape and hut attitude has changed somewhat, but it is still seriously congenial. We have had a few hard days of hiking, but have felt at home wherever we've stayed.

Petra's brother, Lothar (Lothar, of the hill people.....), has joined us for a couple of days, and he is very tired after the first day. He is, as I write, snoring like a chainsaw, and I am glad that one of us can sleep.

Our room tonight is in a very old house, and it is the coolest room we have stayed in so far. Gotta go, because I have to find a t-shirt to put in Lothar's mouth.

Feelin' hot, hot, hot!

It is blazing hot here in Bozen.

A little about Bozen before we go on. This region belonged to Austria before WWII, but was given to Italy after the war. German is still the predominant language here, and it very much feels like Austria here.

One cool thing is that most people here can jump back and forth between Italian and German with great ease, and this makes sitting around at outdoor cafes especially interesting, as the people will switch between languages at will, sometimes in the middle of a conversation. Very cool.

The town itself is lovely, and we spent the day looking around, eating and drinking a very cool drink called a Venetian. It is a mix of Aperol, prosecco and mineral water, with ice and an orange slice. I will add thus to my favorite recipes.

We spent the afternoon at the pool, but we barely put a dent in our farmer/sock tans. We met the handyman from the hotel -his name is Ronald- and his enthusiasm for Bozen was highly infectious. He clearly loves his home, and Petra and I are also believers at this point. It is wonderful here.

We are looking forward to getting back on the trail tomorrow, though. It was great, but equally weird to be in the city, and for all of its positive points, we are ready to do the Sherpa act again.

Impressions

We had no reception for a few days, and as this makes catching up while writing on an iPhone keyboard laborious, I will keep it short.

Here are our noteworthy events:
Petra's boot seam tore open, and we were able to find a shoe repairwoman (sexy!) with unexpected ease.

Petra loses her favorite pair of shades. She is devastated, but refuses to replace them until we get to Italy ("where the fashion comes from").

We bought poles, and now use them all the time.

Watched the US soccer team lose to Ghana. I wished a year of loose bowel movements on the the nation of Ghana, but took it back once I replayed the game in my mind, suddenly remembering that our boys played like crap, and that Ghana brought its A-game.

At the Karwendelhaus (a killer hut, I must say), watched the German team -my second favorite team, for reasons that should be obvious- kick the bejesus out of the English. And no bitching about disallowed goals, England fans, the Germans beat you 4-1. That is what is known in soccer circles as a serious ass kicking, so suck it!

Rob establishes a positive relationship with large glasses of fresh buttermilk.

Petra drops a pole on the trail, and it lands in the only loogey that we see that day. Gross.

We did, not counting our detours, 76 kilometers since our last post.

We met some great people, and stayed up way past quiet hours singing and drinking with them at the Lamsenjochhuette.

These were some great days, and we just crossed the border into Italy in a train. Tomorrow is our first non-hiking day, and I suppose we will spend a large chunk of it eating and trying to even out our sexy farmer's tans.

Rob reporting.

Three Philosophers

This was one hell of a day. We hiked a little over 15 kilometers as the crow flys, but we do not have the wings to keep the distance that low. We had a steep descent out of the mountains, followed by a long and steady downhill through a lush valley.

On the way, we met a 75 year old man who was almost at the hut when we left it. This means he probably started his trek around 5:30 or so. I would have been fighting off the urge to pee around that time, followed by another hour and a half of dreaming about chasing people around with a Super Soaker that didn't work. He talked about his travels through the alps with his wife, and how he was happy that he could still get out and hike once in a while, even though his wife was paralyzed now from a stroke. He told us that his memories from his time in the alps with his wife have carried them both through the tough times they have faced, and that we should use the time we have while we are still young. Later that day we sat next to an old couple, and they delivered the same message about enjoying life when you can. Towards the end of our hike we met up with a mountain biker who tried to help us find our way to the little town we we headed to, and after he heard what we were up to, he told us it must be great that are able to pick up and go, just roaming around and checking out the world. He has cancer, something like leukemia, but he is beyond treatment. He told us to get out and do everything while we can. He was beyond helpful, and was out there tearing it up on his mountain bike, even though he is sick.

It was a good lesson that day.