Pyramidenspitze Via Ferrata

Yes, that's right.  I gave up a perfectly good flying day for my first love, a good via ferrata.  I really needed a long workout, and hiking up to launch was good, but not long enough for a hard day.   So I woke up early (again) and hiked quite a few miles to get to the start of the hike, on what seemed like the hottest day of the summer here in Austria.   By 7 am it was scorching, and I burned through all of my water for the day on my way UP the mountain!  (Yes, I found more later)

It's about a 1400 meter climb from the valley up to the peak, which is named Pyramid after its shape. The trail really is split into 3 sections.  A nice road up the valley, then a huge section of scree in the middle of the trail, then a short bit of via ferrata at the end.  The section of cables was so short and easy that I didn't even use my klettersteig kit, although I did put on my helmet and gloves as there was a chance of rockfall from people above me.   This trail was actually more of a hiking trail with a klettersteig problem. The cabling was much easier than some of the hard ones we had been doing lately.   Jim stayed back to get over the cold that I had given him, but he didn't miss much.  Coming back down the scree was slow going.



Luckily the view from the top was really nice, especially since I had taken the tough way to get up this time.  Just yesterday I was cruising around some nice alpine peaks, but flying around them seems too easy, sometimes!   Stopping at the peak was deliciously cool, too...I felt like I had been sweating buckets since starting out this morning.

This cross looks like the lightning got it

Passing by the Walchsee on the way to the peak

The pyramid is there in the distance...it still seems a long way away!

The pyramid waiting above me

Almost there

Finally, a water refill!