This week­end we did it… We tested a part of our equip­ment and dis­cussed the last details before our start in Janu­ary. It was also our first time that we came together as a team… team­build­ing. Unfor­tu­nately not every­body was able to join us. Robert and Franz have been sick home and only their good wishes have been with us.

After the energy-​sapping ascent of the icy north face of the Großen Lug­stein we found rest in our cosy tent and star­ted to pre­pare our meal. A lov­ingly hand-​crafted pad for our new XGKs (to pre­serve the bot­tom of the tent) was thrown out after 10 minutes due to con­stant noise, and Bar­bara who volun­teered as chef went the same way…

In the even­ing, it was already pitch-​black, bit­terly cold and we have been wrapped in our sleep­ing bags when we all of a sud­den got a vis­itor. Like Father Christ­mas he came and gave us four pair of hand­made wool­len socks and fit­ting frowsts. One had to freeze fur­ther. ;-) Who ever had a heart for freez­ing moun­tain­eers out there in Zin­n­wald we sin­cerely thank you and want to let you know that the socks keept us per­fectly warm.

The next morn­ing we stopped bee­ing hero­ic­ally. When we saw the sheer enorm­ity of frozen water­drops on the inside of the tent, just wait­ing to drizzle down on us at the slid­est bit of warm­ing, we decided to end the test and move our break­fest into the house 50 meters away.