GOING UP?

Salzburg rests just over the northern border of the Alps; though we enjoyed the grand sight of them from our hostel window, we craved a closer look at these famous mountains.

Sam found out that we could get a panoramic view of the Alps and the city from the top of Untersberg, the looming alpine mountain peak that separates Salzburg, Austria, from Bertchesgaden, Germany. We took advantage of a clear sky Friday morning and headed ten miles outside the city to take a cable car up Untersberg.

I was completely engrossed in dreams, journals, and sketches the night before while Sam and Elizabeth were making our monumental plans for Friday morning, so the reality of what we were about to do didn’t hit me until our bus pulled into the cable car station and I saw the first car lumbering out of the dock, dangling on a braided rope of twisted steel over the valley below. I just then remembered my fear of heights……right before we were about to travel 2.2 kilometers up a steep rock face in a tiny windowed metal box. Awesome.

I reassured myself that the enchanting views were sure to dwarf my fears, and besides—the ride was only nine minutes long. I was still smiling (though a bit nervously) when we settled ourselves along the windows inside the car.

For six minutes, we glided smoothly upward to Untersberg; I was stunned at the stark jagged rock face in front of us and appreciative of the lush greenness of the valley dotted with tiny red roofs below. As we neared what we assumed was the very top of the mountain, we felt a great lurch of the car and suddenly sped right over the crest of the nearest peak……only to gasp in surprise as a canyon of rock and green wilderness opened far below us and we continued to chug toward the true peak of Untersberg. Everyone else’s gasp was an “oh!” “wow!” or “incredible!”; mine was an “oh shit.” I snuck a panicked glance at my watch and realized we still had three minutes to go.

After a few more good jerks of the car on the cable, I rigidly shuffled toward the center of the car while everyone else looked down in awe. I’m sure the rest of the ride was equally spectacular, but I’d had enough to last me until we made it to the firm ground at the top.

As exhilaratingly-terrifying as the ascent was, my experience on top of the mountain surpassed everything else I experienced in Salzburg that weekend. The next post is simply going to be a section pulled from my personal journal from the hour or so I spent alone on top of the mountain.