Greetings from the Alps

training stats
We 18/07: bike tour up to Timmelsjoch, 20K, 900m, 1:59 hrs
Mo 16/07 to Tu 17/07: hillwalking in Oetz valley
Su 15/07: hill run to Taschach house and Lake Riffel, 22K, 1000m, 2:45 hrs
Mo 09/07 to Sa 14/07: hillwalking in Pitz valley

I am now staying in a superb modern hotel in Obergurgl, 1900m, the farest village of the Oetz valley. But holidays are too busy to post regularly. Walking programme all day, extensive meal in the evening, email and homepage work and suddenly the day is more than over. I get to sleep not before midnight and get up earlier than at home. Okay, I can relax when I am back home.

The other luxurious problem is the diet. Breakfast buffet in the morning, 5-course-meal every evening, accompanied by red wine what is regarded as medicine by serious advisors. So I stick to this habit.

The highlight of the week was the climb of Wildspitze, Tyrolias highest peak at 3,772m.
It was a 9-hour-walk helped by a mountain tram which elevated us to 2,700m. Most of the day we spent on the glacier which demanded full gear and walking with rope as the glacier is dotted with hidden crevasses.

You might like to see my daily photo gallery of current Alpine adventures.

I am now counting down to next Sunday when I will take part in the Zugspitzlauf, a run up to the peak of Germany's highest mountain at 2968m. We will start with 10 runners from Witten, forming two teams of 4 runners each. My challenge is that I was forced to be part of the faster team with the other three guys being much faster than me. If we don't make it to the podium it will probably be me who has slowed down the team. Last year I reached the top after 3:04 hours. I would be happy to confirm this time again. To be honest, I will try to beat the 3-hour-barrier. But I fear if I start too fast it will end with a desaster.