The Unexpected Climb of the Nordkette Range, Innsbruck

The Unexpected Climb of Nordkette Range, Innsbruck

By Nayonika Goud 2019

Our day began later than we had anticipated. We had been traveling for about 4 days now, and the jet lag had not yet worn off. The expensive hostel we accidentally booked turned out to be way too cozy for our traveling needs and we ended up sleeping in. We were in Innsbruck for 2 nights of which we only got one full day. We felt a little bummed that we had slept in. Nevertheless, we walked out with a fresh mind and determination to make the most of it; little did we know how much was in store… We grabbed some sandwiches from the local bakery and ate them on a public plaza in front of an old baroque church. It’s plazas like these which really help one connect with the city’s past and culture. A simple open space surrounding a monument gives it the importance it deserves. Gardening and trees help create the appropriate microclimate to have a pleasurable human experience. These gardens and plazas are not gated or compound-walled, but are well connected by pedestrian crossings and paths making them easily accessible. It is woven into the urban fabric by these paths; humanizing the city.

Innsbruck is nestled between mountains.

During the winters it becomes a ski town. We took a bus here, and coming into the city district past the mountainous “ghats” made us realize the majesty of the surrounding ranges. Glacial peaks of the mountains are veiled by the passing clouds; a common sight. ZHA designed a ski jump in Innsbruck which was on my list of possible things we wanted to do here. When they say the mountains are calling and I must answer shouldn’t be judged as cliched too soon. We were legit attracted to the mountain as bee to nectar. We chose a random direction to walk towards; a favourite mountain perhaps, and we headed in the “general” direction.

Lucky for us, a trail emerged. And soon enough, there were hikers passing; assuring us that we were on the right path. The snow was still further up on the peak. At a significant height, we saw the ski jump all the way across Innsbruck, but hey, atleast we got a good view of it. There was no way we could’ve walked down the mountain, cross the city and see the ski jump in the same day, so I made my peace with admiring it from a distance.

In the hurry of exploring the city or maybe not realizing that we would be climbing a mountain, we forgot to pack a lunch. So we were up on this mountain and it was almost 3 pm. All we had eaten were the sandwiches in the morning. A local hiker pointed us in the direction of a log cabin cafe – Umbruggler Alm. So after another 20 minutes hike up and down a twisting trail, we found ourselves seated on a picnic bench on the side of a cliff.

The valley to one side, Innsbruck visible far below and the evergreens surrounding all around us.

We ordered Schnitzel (thin slice of battered fried ham served with potato salad, cranberry jam, and lemon) and Spinach Ravioli with salad and two glasses of white wine to quench our amazement of where we actually were. Austria is famous for its Schnitzels. Umbruggler Alm is at a height of 1,123 m (the Europeans have interchanged the use of a period and comma while writing number, for eg.

1,123.00m is written as 1.123,00 m ). It began as a small cafe in the mountains but has modernized at present to also house a museum of the Nordkette Mountain ranges, birds and wildlife of the area. There was a model of the range and they had marked various points on it for reference; from it we could decipher the trail that we had taken along a glacial creek and the highest point we had

climbed to, which it turns out, was still not even 1/3rd the height of the mountain. The snow line was marked as well and we then comprehended just how dense the mountainous range that lay beyond Innsbruck valley was. We were sitting in clouds at that picnic table, literally. There was an ongoing joke between the two of us as to what a perfect date this would’ve have been. The chilly clouds brushing past us and the log cabin with its picnic benches giving us the feel of “outdoorsman.”

The world in the city is completely different from that up in the mountains. We crossed the river passing by the base; immediately entering into the core plaza of Innsbruck. There was live music, and waiters bringing out hot food to tables.

People wandering over the cobblestones, peering into store windows. After the late (and expensive) lunch, we weren’t really that hungry to buy dinner, instead we settled for ice cream and continued walking. We also bought a parcel of apple strudel for dessert. The promise of hot yippie noodles dragged our tired asses back to the hostel. We needed to start early the next morning, our train to Salzburg departed from the station at 5 in the morning and the station was about a 15 minutes walk from our hostel. We spent our evening with our legs propped onto the balcony grill, bowl of hot noodles warming our hands and the panoramic mountains giving us the sense of gratification.

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