E5 Oberstdorf - Meran
V different vibe this week working with Martin and how quickly student becomes master! It was his first E5.
Enjoyed the new role.
Day 1: Difficult group dynamic for me. Of my 12 8 were from same family. 76 yr old grandfather to 12 year old boy. Opa went well on the climb. His daughter was a nightmare and continued to be a drain on my resources all week: I can't think of a more angst-ridden negative person: neurotic (still putting on the boots of her 12 yr old and lacing them up). Ran from KH along to Madelegabel Joch and got onto some climbing terrain on the tooth. Bailed from it and ran back hard in 30mins.
Day 2: Incredibly stressful descent. Opa fell and was totally incapable of supporting himself. His legs and core were jelly. I actually thought he was having a seizure or heart attack. I took his pack and we descended at snails pace, one of his grandsons catching him from behind and me at front. Had to retire him at Holzgau. He was initially resistant so I had to be v clear and very firm. It was sad. He'd climbed Aconcagua, Mt Blanc and Kili but those were in younger days. He'd also told me about his descent from Matterhorn having abandoned and I related this to that. He understood. The office were great back-up and he routed round to Zams.
Stress continued into the pm with sluggish ascent to Memminger Hütte with Mum, arriving minutes before supper. Was happy to get away from my group and go up Seekopf with Martin and a few of his group. Saw a herd of deer through binos high on opposite hillside. Martin said they were steinbock. They were clearly deer 'hirsch'. Also saw a massive raptor: bearded vulture? stein adler?
Day 3: This time carrying 12 year old's pack down from Seescharte and adopting a no-nonsense approach. As soon as I saw how badly he was moving I said "Right, give me your pack". He took it back near the bottom of descent to Unterlock. More stress as we bunched with two Oase groups and had to move through them (50+ people on a single track moving at different speeds and knowing the Alm would only be able to deal with serving one group at a time). Deconflicted with their guides.
Daughter's boots had totally failed (10 year old hand-me-downs) and my tape and zip tie resources were exhausted getting them from Memminger to Zams where the family bought three pairs of footwear). Stressful talk with Mum and Dad at hotel where I made the 'suggestion' that Mum and 12 year old did not come with us to Braunschweiger. Martin v helpful.
Day 4: Happy to have Opa back with us for the panorama weg and then to leave him, daughter and son at Wenns. The whole mood improved without her thundercloud personality and the evening in the stubel at BH was the best of the trip. I played a lot of guitar and we sang songs and enjoyed ourselves.
Day 5: Weather warnings made us route around panorama weg and come via a lower route which was also v beautiful and actually a welcome change for me. Mum and son joined us for the pm hike to Martin Busch. Key decision making: with storm due we decided Martin should go ahead with faster ones and get as many to the hut before storm. I was surprised to catch him at the gate to the closed road. He was debating whether to go through the shorter closed route: some guys had just come down it and said it was "clear". He asked me and I thought the storm risk less than the stone fall risk and preferred to avoid classic heuristic trap. Sad guest faces when I told them we were descending, routing round and having to climb again. Somewhat satisfying then when we got around and heard the rumble of a massive stone fall and saw a group on the closed road running for their lives. The rain was just starting when we reached the hut and the thunder and lightning stayed away.
Day 6: Uneventful day. Mostly cloudy. No view of Similaun and a quick descent to Tiesen Alm with nothing to see except cloud and thus no reason to pause for long. A relief to be done. A good outcomes and one of the sons did tell me how great it had been and that one of the reasons it had been so great was that "we had the best bergführer" - I'll take that.
