Winter Sport - Snowshoeing in Bavaria

Snowshoeing

Snowshoes have been used by mankind for centuries to move around in the snow. Ötzi the 5000 year old male body found frozen in the Öztal Alps on the Austrian/Italian border had snowshoes with him. If you've tried to walk in deep snow you will know that it is hard work. Snowshoes were formerly tennis racquet type constructions of wood and animal gut, attached to the feet to spread the weight in snow. Modern more sophisticated models resemble short wide plastic skis with a studded base and a front claw to kick into snow on steep inclines. They can be adjusted to fit your boot and are fastened around the toe and ankle. They are normally used with a free heel to make walking easier.

 

Snowshoes let you walk more easily on deep snow. However you do not float on top of the snow. Your weight compresses the snow until it'll bear your weight and you can walk without let or hindrance on the surface, or across, down and up steep slopes. 

Balderschwang

Years ago we went downhill skiing until our fear of breaking some important bit of ourselves became greater than the joy of almost frightening ourselves to death at high speed or at least what seemed to us to be high speed. In addition we were not impressed by the time spent in lift queues. Then we took up cross country skiing, but because of climate change snowy periods became more irregular, so we took holidays in winter walking in places with a warmer climate. Our cross country skiing boots fell apart and our skis no longer have modern fittings. We still enjoy the mountains in winter and so were pleased to find that snowshoeing is offered in more and more resorts. We had enjoyed a walking and snowshoeing holiday with Liz and Mel of SpaceBetween in the Mercantor National Park in the South of France some years ago, so we looked for another resort. The German Wikinger Reisen company was offering holidays in Balderschwang in the Allgäuer Alps in Bavaria where the hotel we'd be stopping in offered a week of guided snowshoe trips in January 2017 at no extra charge. Balderschwang is Germany's highest continually inhabited community (think top of Ben Nevis) and has the reputation of being Bavarian Siberia, so snow looked likely. It was a close run thing. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and it had been snowing heavily from Saturday. Christmas had been a largely green celebration. 

Do you need a guide?

Christoph asks, "Shall we dance?"

The best views

Into the woods

Letting the pig out!

Elegance is not important!

Our hotel,  Berghotel Ifenblick  had organised guides from the Planet B winter sports centre in Balderschwang. In our opinion hiring a guide for a small party greatly improves the experience. Without a guide you can follow the partially cleared winter walking routes or walk along the edge of the cross country pistes. This not over exciting. The guides know where to go.  As one of our number said, he had planned not to have a guide but was very grateful that he had joined the group, because he would have then tried to do trips that were much too long. The guides know where you get the best views. Where you can "let the pig out" as the Germans say and run down slopes, for example. Our five days were so organised that we had a short 2-3 hour trip on the first day with successively longer trips after this. We walked about 8km (5 miles) most days. Both guides were excellent. Our guide on the first two days, Jogi was the owner of Planet B and he made sure that we were fit enough, instructed us in various techniques and gave an introduction to the history, geography, geology and agriculture of the area, as well as a number of slightly scurrilous stories about smuggling and less than honest farming practices. Our second guide, Christoph took us off on more advanced trips into the wild country of fallen tree and boulder strewn river valleys. Occasionally snow/ice bridges had to be tested by one of the sturdier menfolk, but none of us got wet feet. We joined a thirteen person group of jolly 60 or so year old Germans and our working language was German, but I have the distinct impression that both our guides spoke enough English to lead a party of English speakers. I was somewhat worried on day one when Jogi enquired who was over 60 and the majority put up their hands. He then enquired who was over 70 and just us two were in this group. We formed the Zimmer/walking frame group and were, as usual, to be found at the back, panting! The others had to wait for us, but took this in good part. We think that several folks were secretly pleased on the last day when we suggested that we should walk 15 minutes back to the van rather than "enjoying" another 45 minutes walking along  a frozen river bank in a heavy snowstorm. 

Philososphical discussions

The Hotel

Snowshoeing is an energetic sport. Although we ate very well, we both lost weight the week we stopped at the Berghotel Ifenblick, Balderschwang in Southern Bavaria (http://www.berghotel-ifenblick.de/allgaeu-hotel-english/). This was not due to us eating too little, but due to the added exercise. The hotel offers sport programmes and a wellness area - indoor pool,  sauna, infra-red room, a tepidarium and a small sport studio free of charge. The hotel offers various indoor and outdoor sport programmes, e.g. the Five Tibetan Rites. Massage is available at extra cost. The original plan was to come back from our walks and have a swim or even half an hour in the sauna, but the restaurant followed by forty winks was too attractive. What impressed us most of all was a boot drying room with electrically heated hooks, meaning that we could climb into warm/dry boots every morning. This was a real luxury.

We were much taken with the food which is all of certified bio quality with the exception of the mineral water. (It would appear it is difficult, when almost impossible, to obtain bio certification for mineral water in Germany. I suppose because it is obtained rather than being manufactured or grown.) Most meals were served buffet style.

• Breakfast (07:30 - 10:30) offered: 

• a choice of cereals including an excellent Bircher Muesli, fruit salad, fruit sauce, a range of yogurts; 

• scrambled eggs with and without chopped ham; 

• cooked vegetables, hot cooked grains, compote; 

• hotel baked fresh bread and rolls;

• cold cuts, local salamis, local cheeses; butter and vegan butter, vegan spreads, cottage cheese, quark;

• homemade jams, a range of honeys and a chocolate nut mixture for addicts of the brown gunge who need a sugar hit in the mornings, but not the one advertised on TV;

• a platter of raw vegetables;

• coffee, chocolate, fruit teas and infusions. Unfortunately I doubt whether you can make a decent strong cup of tea with the tea bags on offer, but you are in continental Europe, where in the main they have no idea about tea. I drink coffee in the mornings anyway;

• breakfast cake.

• Midday snack (13:00 - 17:00) offered

• cold cuts, local salamis, local cheeses; butter and vegan butter, vegan spreads, cottage cheese, quark;

• salad;

• soup;

• coffee, chocolate, fruit teas and infusions;

• cakes;

• a small hot meal, e.g. pasta was served from 13:00 - 14:30, but we were always too late back to find this.

• Evening meal six nights a week (Monday to Saturday 18:00 - 20:30)

• soup;

• salad;

• roast meat, fish

• a wide range of cooked vegetables

• two puddings, e.g. panna cotta, apple crumble

• cheese

• On Sunday evenings guests are served a three course meal with a choice of meat or vegetarian main dish 

We paid for own holiday. We have no financial interest in Wikinger Reisen, Planet B or Berghotel Ifenblick.