First week recap

Wow!  This first week has been great.  I feel like I am learning a lot and can really sense the lord's presence here at Tauernhof.  I'll go through a quick day by day.

Wednesday, June 4th

Today, we got some hands-on experience with mountain rescues.  After a quick "map and compass 101" course from Heli, Tauernhof's expert mountain guide, each small group (made up of 8 - 9 students) was given a map, compass, and instructions to go find the "injured person" (one of the leaders) who had fallen somewhere up in the mountains.  We made the trek up north into the hills, asking some of the locals for directions along the way, and eventually found it to the designated spot on our map.  Sure enough, there was our leader, Luke, sprawled out on a side hill in one of the most awkward spots imaginable.  It took us several minutes to diagnose his condition, and figure out a method of transporting him to the local hospital.  We ended up constructing a stretcher with a couple long sticks, a mat that someone had, and our mountaineering ropes.  Hauling our 200 pound leader the couple of kilometres back to the "hospital" was no easy task either.  However, with teamwork and a lot of sweat, we eventually, we were able to make it.  Upon arriving, we were greeted enthusiastically and congratulated for our work by some of the other UB leaders who were waiting there for us.  We were supplied with juice to go with our sack lunches, and waited as the other teams arrived with their fallen leaders.  Of course, as soon as the stretches were laid down, our leaders made miraculous and instantaneous recoveries!

Thursday, June 5th   

Today, we were instructed to get up early, and be to the dining hall by 6:30 for breakfast.  After breakfast, we learned that we would be doing some trail maintenance today in an act of good will toward the local mountaineering groups.  My group, the "mountain goats" or "MG's" as we like to be called, all piled into the Opal UB van, and George (pronounced Gay'org in German) drove us east to a little town called Überhaus, where we then took headed north into the Dochstein mountains.  Apparently last year there was an avalanche in this canyon, which partially washed up some stretches of the trail.  So, armed with pickaxes, rakes, and clippers, we marched up the steep trail, carving it back into the side of the mountain, digging well placed trenches to help with water erosion, smoothing out certain spots, and trimming back overgrown foliage.  Near the top, we stopped at a little meadow, ate lunch, and read some scripture.  The view was amazing!  George, told us there was a little lake just over the top of the mountain, so we scaled the last couple hundred meters and sure enough, there was a beautiful lake nestled down in a valley on the other side!  Myself, and a couple of the other guys in my group jumped in.  It felt great to cool off!  On the way back down the mountain, I tried to converse with Rebecca, a German girl in our group.  She refreshed my memory on a lot of German vocabulary, and I helped her with some English words (and sounds, like the 'j' in jug).  We also found a bull frog on the trail, which we all kissed.  That frog must have been pretty confused.  Near the base, we also stopped at this nice little Austrian restaurant, where the owners gave us free "Schiwasser," a lightly flavored drink, and pancake bits with apple sauce (so yummy!).  Right before we got back to the van, we found another excellent swimming hole in a river that was pure blue.  Upon jumping in, we realized this was a glacier fed river, and easily the coldest water I've ever been in!  It was extremely refreshing though.  On our way out, some workers were just preparing to replace the (only) bridge.  Luckily we were able to convince them to let us pass first, or else we would have been stuck waiting quite awhile.  George, drove extremely fast in the way back!  This may have been because, as I found out, he used to be a world class downhill mountain biker.  We were all tired by the end of the day, but felt that we had done some good work and really made a positive impact on the community.

Friday, June 6th

Dachsteins!

Tauernhof valley and beyond

Today was a big "non-work" hike through the "Obertal" and "Untertal" mountain ranges and up to the top of Guschen peak, 1983 meters high.  Starting at Tauernhof (750 meters), this was a sizeable elevation gain, along with the roughly 10 flat meters distance.  The views from the top were worth it though, as you could see for miles around, including all the Dachsteins, and the ski hill that is above us at Tauernhof.  There was also a large wooden cross at the top, and a little booklet where we signed out names and where we were from.  Beaverton, Oregon has now been in Austria folks!  After eating our lunches, we headed back down the mountain.  As soon as we started, however, it began pouring buckets of rain!  This made the trip down a little more treacherous, but also more fun!  I was again very glad to have my rain jacket with me.  Once we got back into town, I saw an extremely old lady feeding some geese in her yard.  I asked Rebecca about it, and she said that geese are common pets in Europe.  Who knew?  After we all got dried off, we had a group meeting in "the hut," a little wooden house near the edge of Tauernhof.  It was nice and dry, and we all shared some laughs.  Later that night, we set-up our tents in the yard for practice, played some games and enjoyed some worship time.  I had just gotten to sleep at 11:30, when I was woken up and told to come down to the bistro.  Upon arriving at the bistro, we were told that we would be sleeping in our tents tonight, and to pack our bags for a hike.  So, we all grabbed sleeping bags and piled into the 4 person tents.  In another hour or two (it seemed like no time at all) we were again woken up, and told to come to lecture hall. There, by candlelight, Martin told us a story of Austrian Christians (Lutherans) during the 16th century Catholic oppression, and how the Austrian king (a Catholic) would not allow the people to have bibles.  A few brave mountaineers, however, would hike through the mountains by night, and smuggle bibles in from Germany.  Tonight, we would re-enact this piece of history.  Each group was given a bible, and, tieing each other together with rope, we hiked up the Tauerbach river (as we had done earlier that day), single file, silently, should the Austrian gov. catch on to us, until we reached the Obertal/Untertal valley.  We then headed east, back down to Tauernhof.  Along the way, you could look down on the city of Tauernhof and see the lights, with the Dachsteins, veiled in mist, towering behind them.  It was pretty incredible!  Upon arrival back at Tauernhof, we climbed back into our tents, and slept until morning (uninterrupted).