Der Hausberg

The House Mountain

Whilst in Salzburg last week, we had the good fortune of lodging in a university guest apartment on the outskirts of town.  The dominant feature of our marvelous view from our expansive windows and balcony was the breathtaking Untersberg – a snow-capped mountain towering over the Salzburg valley.  Mama Theisl explained that every Austrian city, town, or village with even a little bump in the nearby landscape points to that bump, no matter how big or small, and claims it as their own, their “hausberg”; Untersberg is Salzburg’s house mountain. 

A free Sunday, bright blue sky, and the promise of a glorious view resulted in our all-day excursion to Untersberg that began with a gondola ride up more than 1800 meters.  Then we trekked up up up even higher.  With a bit of slipping and sliding, we traversed hills that skiers, snowboaders and mountain climbers were taking. Surefooted Travis ascended to the very highest point possible (at 1856 meters).  Not wanting to chance a fall on the steep, icy slope, Karla stayed at 1805 meters and established relationships with all sorts of folks, including dear Salzburgian grandparents and their almost four-year-old granddaughter (who has been skiing for three years).  These natives explained that, thanks to a funky inverted weather pattern, it was sunny and 50 degrees on the mountain, and a hazy, chilly 20 degrees in the city – an unusual occurrence. 

We, and everyone else on the mountaintop, sated our hunger at the alm (cottage) where we feasted on steaming hot gröstl (lots of meat mixed with potatoes) and kasnockel (cheesy noodles), schnapps and coffee.  Fortified from our hearty meal we again set out for more hiking until we, along with the alm cook and the two waiters, took the last gondola down the mountain.

A view of Untersberg from the base - see the descending gondola?

Now ASCENDING, we're not even half-way up!

And now we're at the top!

Enjoy the vistas

Hungry?  Here is the "top" of the cottage where you can get a delicious meal and enjoy the delightful company of fellow travelers.

And here is the North side of the alm - COVERED in icicles!

This is the sort of grub that serious mountain climbers like us require.

It must be repeated:  We love the mountains!