Day 78: Irdning, Austria: The Dachstein!

August 5, 2012

Dodie's father, Walter, had to leave Europe in 1939 under the most tragic of circumstances. He left behind his wife, mother, and brother and never saw them again. He started a new life in Canada, and Dodie is one of the products of that life. He seldom spoke in detail about the past, but of course he never forgot his life here. In his last two weeks he spoke often to Dodie of it.

One of our objectives on this ride has been to revisit Walter's land, and some specific places where we know he had been. One of those places is the Dachstein mountain range. The Dachstein massif covers an area of around 20×30 km with dozens of peaks above 2,500 m, but there is one peak, the highest, that is commonly called just the Dachstein. We had passed close to the Dachstein as we came down the valley to Irdning, but left it about 40 km behind.

The Dachstein can be accessed by a gondola that leaves from near the little town of Ramsau. Christian and Birgit took us there, with the kids, and we all rode to the top. If you are very tough and have four hours to spare, you could conceivably climb to the cable car station. Otherwise, the fare is also "steep", about 20 Euros each.

Ramsau is a tourist town, but it also another example of what I now know is called the "Alm" - the landscape of mountain huts and alpine meadows. Ramsau also features lots of buildings that are in no way "huts" being large Gasthofs of three stories, with balconies and floods of flowers.

The cable car station gives access to the glacier behind the steep south face that it ascends. On the glacier, it is possible to ski and also to set off for the true summit. If you are double tough, you can reach that summit (with a guide and ropes) in a couple of hours. If you are not tough, you can walk to a spot where a tunnel leading to a series of caves has been carved into the heart of the glacier. This is the Ice Palace, where a display of ice carvings has been made. Right now the display features ancient Egypt. Go figure.

At the top we scattered some ashes, and played a recording of Walter's voice. It felt good to have his voice once again heard where he once walked.