Climbing Mountains in Innsbruck

When I arrived in Innsbruck, the sun had already fallen out of view and darkness concealed the surrounding mountains. I ambled my way from the train station to my hostel; frequently, although unsuccessfully, trying to glimpse the purpose for my revisit to Austria...the Austrian Alps.

That evening, while one of my roommates and I were talking about Oregon, he mentioned his desire to “go to the top” before he left Innsbruck. Being uninformed exactly what that entailed (I had yet to even see a shadow of the mountains), I casually agreed to accompany him on his journey. I awoke the following morning (Sunday), walked down the stairs and out the front door. As my lungs filled with the crisp, cool air, I starred straight at the mountain range I had agreed to climb. Oops! We walked into town, ate breakfast at McDonalds—the only restaurant in Austria open on a Sunday—and started the assent.

Four hours, thousands of steps, and several extra gashes in my shoes later, we were standing at the base of the last gondola looking up at the summit. Ahead of us lay the final hour of the climb—the stretch that was formed by basketball sized, razor sharp rocks that would slice any contacted skin or clothing and come crashing down the mountain if a climber was careless with his/her footing. After a few minutes to recover and mentally prepare ourselves, we headed up.

There is always a decisive point during an ascent where the rewards (views) begin overwhelming the struggles—the climb starts to “make sense.” That point of understanding materialized about halfway up that last gondola ridge. I turned around, looked over the city below, and “it” just made sense. In those moments, the energy boost received is staggering. Especially because you know that from that point forward, with each additional step, the views are only going to get better and better and better.

We reached the summit, greeted by several others in flip-flops, and enjoyed our accomplishment. While the majority of people that were joining us on the summit arrived via a cable car, I believe we were able to enjoy and appreciate the scenery more than the others. Our sweat, hard work and determination had propelled us to the top, not a machine.