It's so hot. It's like a curry.
I suppose that line is probably overused a bit lately since Flight of the Conchords is taking off in popularity, but we're slightly removed from pop culture at the moment so forgive us if we still find this line hilariously funny.
Back to my original point: months of rain and now I'm going to complain that it's just too damn hot. At least the camp sites in Klagenfurt bordered some of the most swimmable lakes we've come across on our trip. I admit the surrounding architecture wasn't as charming as Lake Maggiorre in Italy and there weren't any huge waves to play in like in France, but these lakes could easily be mistaken for bath water – clean bath water without bubbles.
Lake Worthersee located right next to our campsite
And even better, we also had a Klagenfurt connection to help us sort out a few issues and show us around town. Kurt is the brother of my good friend, Karin, and we owe him a million thanks for his help with the van, taking us on a killer hike, our inability to move for 48 hours and the large purple bruise on my ass.
Now before you get the wrong idea, let me explain. Kurt is one of those uber fit Austrians who does Olympic length triathlons in his spare time (let me remind you that Austria is also responsible for producing Arnold Schwarznegger). You know the type – they claim they're taking you on a super easy hike along a paved road. “Just two hours up and there's a nice hut that serves food and beer at the top, then 1 hour down!” But in reality 3 hours later you find yourself clinging to a rock face, shaking with sweat and promising God that you'll start going to church again every Sunday if only you can get down alive. (Sorry Mom – I didn't make it to the top of the mountain so I'm not sticking to that promise.)
The hut 2 hours up the hike. It was one hour to the summit from here.
Karin had promised us that Kurt would show us the most stunning side of Klagenfurt, if not Austria, and he 
certainly delivered. Friday evening he whisked us to a large mountain chalet perched on a lookout over Klagenfurt for dinner, successfully flirted with the pretty Hungarian waitress who returned at least 5 times to check how our meal was going, then spent 2 hours with us drinking litre steins of beer and cheering on Holland in the Oktoberfest tent next to our camp site. (The Oktoberfest tent was on loan from Munich for Euro 2008).
Saturday morning our alarm went off at 7:30am and we crawled out of the van with massive hangovers, in full dread that Kurt was due to arrive at 8:30am to whisk us up the “easy mountain”. Why did I drink that 2nd litre of beer?? As extra support, Kurt had arranged to meet a friend who also had a visitor in town which made us probably the most international hiking group on the mountain that day. We had a German, an Austrian, an Italian, a New Zealander and an American. Unsurprisingly, everyone spoke English, German, & Italian... well except the two English speakers.
In all fairness to Kurt, the original plan was to hike 2 hours to the hut but when we reached it at 11am and the summit was only an hour away in full view, everyone was keen to crack on to the top. As Kurt put it, “to climb a mountain without the peak is like sex without orgasm.” Enough said.
Looking back on the trail
After another hour of skating up a narrow loose gravelled trail and clawing up jagged rocks with no room for an accidental trip, I chickened out about 10 minutes from the summit. My vertigo issues seem to be getting worse on this trip and the trail involved far too much rock scrambling with thousand foot falls to your death on either side for my liking. Bevan later said it was probably the best decision I could have made, as he's seen me in full anxiety attack mode atop a puny church steeple. Evidently the trail became far worse after I turned back, but his photos from the top still make me kick myself for not making it.
Christina (Germany), Bevan (New Zealand) and Kurt (Austria) at the summit
It took us over 48 hours to recover from the muscle pain and a nasty fall on the hike down left me with a purple bruise bigger than an IHOP pancake on my left butt cheek, but summitting that mountain was Bevan's favourite moment of the trip so far, and possibly one of my biggest motivations to kick this vertigo issue. Kurt, thanks so much again for insisting that the hike was easy!
View from the top
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