"Don't look down"

Third day and apparently we tried to get ourselves killed for some reason...

Pragser Wildsee from above

The day started lightly, we had a bit more sleep because we thought we didn't have to go to work. We started making fliers on a computer about the hiking trips planned for customers. Markus came to check out our work at 10 o'clock and suddenly we decided that we needed to go to Pragser Wildsee again to try out some hiking trips.

Easier part of the route

So, at 13:30 we were on our way, by car, back to the lovely lake we had just visited yesterday. We wanted to try out a few hiking trips in there: one to the lake's nearest mountain top, one continuing from there atop the mountain and one around the lake and to a cottage called Grünwaldalm. But we only tried the first one. You can figure out why reading the first words of this blog again.

Gleb leading the way

The route started from the lake, looking good and being in a decent shape. It continued up to the mountain and we got already a bit out of breath. When we got a bit higher, there was snow on the route, but we didn't mind, though we were wearing only sneakers. The route looked good after that, so we continued.

The next snowy part was a bit trickier, a bit steeper. So we tried going around, near the wall of the mountain, but after all, we needed to get our socks wet again, kicking the snow to make some holes to put our feet in, so we wouldn't fall. No big deal, the route looked good after that as well.

Aino following on Gleb's footsteps. Literally.

The route disappeared. We continued nevertheless. We had to be really careful looking where to put our feet, because of the tiny rocks the steep mountain was full of. Then we had to cross another insanely steep snowy part. One mistake and we would fall or slide down 200-300 meters. Gleb made a path in the snow, kicking it with his shoes and using rocks to keep his if his legs would slip. Aino came after begging the snow not to let her fall.

Beautiful view made it all worth it.
Until we had to climb back down...

We made it up to the mountain, to a beautiful place where we could see the lake below. We rested a while and continued the path trying to look for a safer and easier route down. After walking about 15 minutes we faced snow again. This time there seemed to be a bit too much snow to cross and on the wrong way. So we had to come back down the same way we came up.

Safe

Already tired from the ascent we made our way down slowly and steady. This made us really push us to the limits. Our shoes and toes were wet, we were struggling against fatigue, snow and steep
 hills, but working together and taking our time, focusing on every step, we made it back down safely after all.

The trip was hard but we learned a lot from it. We wouldn't recommend it to anyone without proper equipment or hiking and climbing experience until the snow melts away.