Me x Mountains x Fuji ≈ Austria

They said it couldn't be done. That it shouldn't be done. That it was a hare brained scheme thought up in an especially conspiratorial corner of the internet. But the internet had given me my itinerary, helped me book my tickets, remind my how to say spreken ze inglisch and had me pondering what a few days communing with mountain peaks in the Austrian Alps might be like.

The adventure was simple in its construct. A cross-land trip to the alps, commune with said snowy peaks, hopefully toboggan (kids from Bracknell don't ski), and maybe overcome my warranted hatred/fear of cable cars, funiculars and ski lifts, aka death-on-a-rope machines.

And, of course, it was an opportunity to continue the extended honeymoon with the Fuji XT-3, seeing how it'd fare in colder climes.

Exploring the alps

Fujifilm XT-3 + Google Pixel 8 Pro

Getting real high on a solo train adventure

Day 0

The Itinerary was pretty straightforward. Jump on a train in Bristol on a Monday morning, and 24 hours later, disembark at Innsbruck train station.

The route there could not have been smoother. From Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington, Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels Midi, cross-border into Cologne, Germany and overnight to Munich, with a morning train from Bavaria to Innsbruck, arriving at 9am. Then back in reverse 4 days later.

For the itinerary-nerds out there, the route from Bristol to Innsbruck over land (and undersea) looked like this for me (optimised for budget, rather than speed).

So there I was. Scooting my way across Europe on a red (yes, red) Eurostar train on my way to Austria. Specifically Innsbruck.

I was off on my first solo-holiday/adventure since the legendary expedition of 2007's "let's move to Iceland" moment which prematurely ended in spectacular failure - failure being by University failing to confirm my course would be in Icelandic...

Brussels station still had its Christmas lights up. Well, down. On the floor. Was this foreboding? A sign of impending misfortune? Unlucky Leon lit up by lights loses likelihood of returning back without incident? Perhaps.

I tried to shrug off the metaphorical monkey off my backpack-laden back, and focus on the tracks in front of me. The connection from my overnight train from Cologne Koln, to sourcing some breakfast during commute-o-clock in Munich bahnhof and to my last train, direct to Innsbruck.

I also became acquainted with these small enclosures which ate your backpack for a few euros, and spat it back out again a few hours later. I documented each of the 8 times I used these for insurance purposes. If I were a man of leisure, I'd create a company that designed and built these bag devourers in the shape of monsters, complete with unnecessarily realistic eating sounds. Clearly it'd make me rich beyond my wildest dreams.

Arriving in to a city at 8am and 4C is a sure-fire way to kick-start the day, and naturally, the first port of call was pastries purchase to bide time until check-in.

I was had found a nice little riverside apartment in Innsbruck, complete with mountain views, and mountain backdrop.  

Day 1: Innsbruck

Post-early morning arrival, Day 1 was spent exploring the immediate neighbourhood and all that Innsbruck had to offer. The view across the river to the city, and beyond it the snow topped mountains was a novel sight, and naturally had me reaching for the nearest go-pro to capture both sunrise and sunset. I decided to reach for said mountain - and face to face with the first of many death-defying stunts, aka solo-ing the cable cars. The views from name-of-mountain were incredible, and the sunshine helped dissolve the travel-hangover from the soul.

Rest was had ahead of day 2’s impending adventures, and much YouTube was consumed.

Day 2: Toboggan.

I'll be honest. The whole reason I chose Austria was after reading about the night-time lit toboggan runs which were counted in kilometers rather than seconds. After discounting a night-run due to public transport complexities, I quickly found a lucky 6km toboggan track that ticked the boxes - so proceeded to spend 3 hours deciding on how much entirely necessary kit to take with me. Naturally, I packed enough to get me through a the first few days of an Arctic expedition.

Included in the kit was; 4 different snacks + sandwich, a single walkie-talkie (good luck finding the logic), a glow stick, an emergency space blanket and a water bladder that started to freeze as I got into the sub-zero mountain ranges.

Having braved my third cable-car of the trip within the first 24hours, I could see the track glistening below me was glorious - a perfectly powdery playground, with a satisfying crunch as I took the first corners on my child-appropriate butt canopy of a get-me-down. Attempting to ignore the disparaging looks of the equipment hire crew of a solo toboggan run, and the fact the only check and balance of my existence on the mountain being a single digit marked onto a whiteboard - clearly the only toboganeer of the day - I set off down the track.

The top half of the track was incredible. Blue skies and winter sun, as I whistled through the trees at top speeds of at least 10, 12, 15kmp/h, thought a lot about bears jumping out at me, and took corners so slowly I had to kick-start myself down the next slope. It. Was. Allihadhopedfor.

@leojampup when you can't ski, but want a fun, scenic route down the mountainside 🛷#innsbruck #austria #mountains #dayout #toboggan ♬ Time (You and I) - Khruangbin

The second half of the route was a little more sketchy. I worked out the aforementioned disparagement was perhaps due to the fact the recent weather had perhaps not been too kind on our track. The last 3 klicks being made up of a combination iced-over water which made me feel like I was reliving early scenes of cool runnings, with other sections sending me aquaplaning across absolute slush, soaking me head to toe in muddy was-snow.

I pootled past an elderly woman out walking her dog on the lower part of the track, coffee in one hand, reluctant mini-rottie in the other. I let out a little ‘morgen and she gave me a knowing nod as I used my feet to propel me a little faster than her pace. She was kind.

Day 3: Solden Eye

Another experience that caught my eye whilst researching was the James Bond experience a couple of hours from Innsbruck in the Otzel valley. It felt like a must-visit for a Bond-nerd and Given You Only Live Once combining it with a thermal-spafter, I made the journey to Solden.

The restaurant at the top of Solden; one of Austria’s highest peaks was one of four Austrian filming locations for the Craig film, Spectre. After three cable cars, each really allowing me to fully experience the white-out and windy conditions with more vigour the higher we got, I made it to the restaurant. As basically the only dude on the mountain who didn’t plan to ski down, I circled the summit enjoying the views of snowfall literally all around, which only slightly took the edge off the glacier laden valley I was meant to be enjoying, I headed into the purposefully unheated so therefore bloody freezing bunker which housed the Bond museum.

@leojampup [Lost in drafts] A quick trip up to a James bond museum on an Austrian mountain top. Solden, Austia #austria #Jamesbond #007experience #solden ♬ James Bond - The Skatalites

As mountain top museums go, this was pretty great. The novelty value was super high, and whilst the number of rooms were naturally limited, the curated items and experiences were pretty entertaining. Satiated with exploded planes and golden guns, I headed down the mountain in swinging metal death cubes and caught the bus to enjoy bathing with complete strangers in slightly whiffy waters.

Day 4: Final Explores

Day 4 was the relaxed day. A mix of cable cars, which I no longer greatly feared, and simply just feared, city wandering, cloud spotting and map reading.

The main aim being getting to the top of Nordkette, the highest peak in the nearest vicinity to Innsbruck, and take in the glorious views of the city down below, and the peaks rising up across the valley. It was not a disappointment.

I spent a couple of hours enjoying the views, and wandering the peak snapping photos looking across the city and back behind us over to the peaks jutting out above the neighbouring valleys and enjoying some hot drinks at the restaurant, looking down on the city way below us. I started to appreciate that the skiing holidays much just partly be getting to go up big mountains and taking in the view. I started to see the appeal.

Day 4 (cont'd) - Day 5: The Long Way Home

 The way back was a little more, let’s go with disrupted. Germany decided to spreken ze halt, and aggressively closed down its entire train system for the weekend due to strikes. Having navigated the cable cars down from Nordkette, I treated myself to my first and only apple strudel. Whilst enjoying the warming pastry I checked my train times, and what appeared on my screen resulted in my leaving the final bite of strudel and at Innsbruck's alter of pastries and saw me sprinting across town for the the last train of the day, 4hours earlier than planned. Feeling lucky to have made it aboard the last border-crossing chugger from Innsbruck to Munich, I soon found myself without any onward trains to Cologne.

The route back should have looked like this...

Instead it looked like this:

Having grown up on a relatively small island you really don’t have an appreciation for what cross-country looks like on the continent. A flixbus therefore provides a weary interloper with a crash course on just how large some of our neighbours are (the land-masses, that is), whilst giving you intimate opportunities to meet the lively and restless people who call it home and their eye-opening night-time habits that make you want to close your eyes real tight and pretend you're not seeing someone lotion their feet whilst eating a schnitzel at 1am. A delayed overnight Flixbus from Munich to Cologne become my only hope.

Arriving into Cologne airport at 4am, I camped out in the departures terminal to make the most of the warmth until 6am when I headed to Cologne, only to see my Eurostar cancellation pop-up on my phone as I left The Haptbahnhof (now in my top three all time favourite words, despite the associated-trauma).

At 7am, a new player entered the arena; my Bedminster oracle (in the Batman sense), Kate on the keyboard to help me navigate the 209km from Koln to Brussels. 3 hours to do a 2 hour journey with every other train being cancelled at short notice. Circumnavigating sleep herself, KP manage to route a route through the minefield of cancellations to produce another new journey, a local stopping service made up of three trains; Cologne to Aachen, Aachen to Liege, and Liege to Brussels.

Aachen station being a sight for sore-eyes in the cold mid-winter sun.

I managed to squeak back in time for my Eurostar at Brussels, and stumble back across town to Paddington, and the final train home, where I sat ate cookies silently for ninety minutes reflecting on my first solo adventure.

I hang out with just my brain for company a lot, but often drowning it out with podcasts, and I wanted to prove to myself that 24/7 with just myself for company was possible. That I could persuade myself to get out and make the most of the day, without a partner in crime to plan and execute alongside, or being accountable to others. And I did that. In fact, it was a huge success. I didn't just do it, I really enjoyed it. So in that sense, mission complete, learnings learnt.

But the reality for me is... Tobogganing would have been more fun with other people. Taking in the view, and spotting the spots visited already would have been nicer with another person. And whilst not having to split every pastry bought, and watching YouTube until I fall asleep a novelty, I'm lucky to have a gaggle of people I could ask to visit the mountains with, or throw myself down a snowy hillside alongside – I just need to get better at asking them. So I promised myself I'd visit the alps again, and this time, with someo