Recently, I was on an Anglo-Austrian Mountain Activity course at the Jugend-Herberge (Youth Mountain Cabin) in Fragant, Austria, run by the Österreich Alpenverein (Austrian Alpine Club). There was a complete mix – 10 girls, 11 boys, 5 Brits, 16 German-speaking.
I owe this trip to the Jack Bloor Fund, and I made memories that I will never forget.
We had to walk up to the cabin, so the walk up was the perfect opportunity to talk to people, practice my German, and enjoy the view. As we rounded the corner, we were all astonished at the quality of our accommodation. The cabin was shaped like a horseshoe had four main sections – the games area (which had a bouldering wall), the dining area, the sleeping area, and the outside area (which had a ping-pong table). We immediately dashed upstairs to check out our rooms. The boys were all in one room, and the girls in another. I can’t say anything for the girls’ room, but our room was incredible. We were in double bunks, yet the mattresses were super comfy.
There wasn’t a whole lot of space, but we didn’t need it, as we spent most of the time outside. Taking a trip outside, there was a large river, which had formed a small plunge pool. I went in a few times, it was absolutely freezing, but it was a good cold, the rewarding kind. One of the campers told me that cold water tightens your skin, and after those trips, I can well believe it. Downstream, there was an incredibly beautiful waterfall. It was small, but easily accessible, and the perfect size for dipping in and out of. I went in several times, and it was absolutely amazing. At a different point in the river, some of the lads built a dam to form a large pool. I didn’t go myself, but supposedly it was great. We had an amazing meal in the evening, chilled a bit, then went to bed. And thus concluded day one.
I rose for day two at 6:30 – really early, but the other guys are teenage boys after all, and when two of them got up they weren’t exactly subtle. I practiced some bouldering on the inside wall, and before I knew it the others were up. Breakfast was served, and it was good. We had some language lessons in the morning, after which we rendezvoused and hiked up to the top of a nearby mountain for lunch. Post lunch we had the option to either go back down and do some rock climbing, or take a longer hike. It was a tough decision for me but in the end, I opted to do go down and do the rock climbing, as it’s not something easily achievable here in the UK. I was the first up the wall, and while it took me several attempts to find the best approach angle, I think I made a decent hash of it. After dinner, we made a campfire, and was among the group of those who took a leap of faith in the weather and slept outside.It was thoroughly refreshing experience, and we saw several shooting stars; it was truly beautiful.
Morning on day three was a slightly chilly start, having woken up outside. It thankfully hadn’t rained, or at least if it had no one had noticed and we were all dry. The day commenced with breakfast and a scramble of getting ready for a hike. We went from the cabin to a place called the Goldberghutte, where we ate lunch, and some of us (including me) bought a skiwasser (a common local drink made using raspberry and lemon). We then hiked back and had dinner. After dinner, we performed a group task, which at the end involved some hectic performances, with some notable occurrences.
At breakfast on day four we were met with a choice. Stay behind to clean the cabin, hike to a lake, or hike up (+viaferrata/klettersteig) a mountain and then drop down to join the others at the lake. I joined the mountain team on their journey up, and then half an hour from the top, I had some fun and ran the last bit. It was great training on the lungs, because we were at extremely high altitude, and it was very steep. I arrived at the top in under 15 minutes – and I’d been told it would be 45. I had a shock arriving at the top to find that two members of the lake team had walked up the other side of the mountain and had been waiting there for over a quarter of an hour. I waited with them for the others to catch up, we had a bit of a break, and then proceeded to make our way down the other side to the lake. Upon arrival, after a quick change, I was straight in the lake. It was surprisingly warm, but getting out was the real hardship. The cold shock from entering was minimal, and once you were inside it was pleasant, but once you got out the cold chill was substantial. We hiked back, ate dinner, and did other various activities.
On day five, we had some lessons, played some games outside, and generally chilled a bit – some of us were a bit sore from the previous day (the wimps). We had a great time just relaxing and enjoying the alpine setting, as well as playing ping-pong. Once again, we were treated to delicious food by our kitchen team.
Day six was our last proper day, and no expense was spared. There was a large team fun run where pairs ran a 3km course, completing challenges along the way. The stations ranged from poetry, food identification and Spanish numbers, to blind directions, tower building, and doing yoga while carrying your partner. Everyone had a great time.
Unfortunately, we had to part ways on the final day, and we hiked down to our original meet point where we said our goodbyes (with lots of hugging), were picked up by parents, and eventually all went our separate ways.
I will be forever thankful to the Jack Bloor Fund for assisting me to go on this trip.
Jack Bloor Race & Fund 