Day 2 – From Leutasch To Burggraben
Today’s Blog Entry
On Sunday we took the bus to the Leutasch area for some cross-country skiing. We got off the bus at a wide spot on the road called Ahrn. From there we headed northeast on the valley floor along the beautifully-groomed ski trails or loipen towards Burggraben, another wide spot in the road.
The skies were crystalline blue, the scenery spectacular, and the terrain just perfect for working out the remaining jet lag cobwebs. Did I mention that it was incredibly cold, as in sub-zero? Normally when you’re cross-country skiing you build up a lot of heat so the trick is to dress in layers. In this case we made the mistake of waiting until we were off the bus and at the trailhead before we took off our heavy snow boots and put on the special boots for our cross country skis – and our hands got very cold in the process. For the rest of the trip we just started out from the apartment in our ski boots as they are actually quite comfortable for walking (unlike their downhill brethren). This also meant that we didn’t have to carry the heavy snow boots in our backpacks for the rest of the day.
After the sun cleared the edge of the valley and we made some gear changes we more or less adjusted to the cold – or maybe it was the coffee and apfelkuchen (warm apple cake) that we had at the Gasthaus zur Brucke in Burggraben (the mid-point of our trek) that made the difference. It was amazing how much the sunshine helped in terms of comfort, even though the air temperature hadn’t really changed.
Sunday and Monday were coldest days of the trip with mornings around zero and afternoon highs not even reaching the teens. The rest of the week was much more comfortable with mornings in the teens and afternoons in the 20’s or even low 30’s, but these warmer temperatures brought cloudy skies and snow … lots of snow!
The total trail length out to Burggraben and back to Leutasch was around 14 km or 8.4 miles, so we figured that we’d earned a nice lunch. We found a small bar/restaurant on the main street in Weidach called the Cafe Dohlenpic and enjoyed our first Wiener Schnitzel of the trip (washed down with a halfte or half liter of the fine local Fohrenburger pils, of course).
Following lunch we found our way back to Seefeld via bus and tumbled into the bed, buried ourselves under the down-filled duvets, and took a well-earned winter’s nap!
Today’s Map
Today’s Photos
