Inside the mountain

On the trail we met a group from New Zealand and one Kiwi told us of a climb inside a cave near the hut. He said in his 9-day trip it was his favorite experience. So off we went to find it. There are remnants of WWI all over the mountains including rock bunkers at many of the passes, memorials, and foundations for old lifts. Getting the supplies up these mountains jump-started the ski industry after the soldiers found the easier way to get gear up mountains by building lifts and then got themselves down the mountain faster on skis. Arlo read that over 60,000 soldiers lost their lives in avalanches alone.

With our headlamps we entered a hole in the side of a rock outcrop and had to watch our heads and feet all at the same time. A helmet would have helped! The tunnel climbed inside the mountain with stairs and cables to help us navigate in the dripping damp darkness. We had fun climbing up higher inside the mountain with occasional lookout holes. We climbed and climbed and Arlo's GPS told us we had gone a kilometer up. At the end of the tunnel was a cable for klettersteigers (rock climbers) to hook in to climb on the outside of the mountain to the top. We wish we had the gear and skills!

Sent from Ann's iPhone