Kaprun construction

Our base is in the Austrian ski resort area of Kaprun, a small town a few kilometres from Zell-am-See and about 100 kilometres south-west of Salzburg. Nowadays it has adapted to the tourism associated with skiing, having some of the higher mountains close by and a glacier which can provide a snow experience throughout the whole year.

See Kaprun at the bottom of the valley, from my picture taken on the mountainside.

Right now Kaprun is part way through building two new gondola lifts from the centre of town which will link onto the route to the glacier. This significant civil engineering requires both a new cablecar system and also new roads and feeder infrastructure.

My diagram shows the planned new piece of infrastructure, which links right to the Langwied Mountain Station at around 1976 metres. Currently the way to get there involves a 6 km route out of Kaprun before reaching a base station at around 900 metres. Then it is separate routes at 1976m, then 2450m and finally 3029m to get to the top. The new route will go directly to the intermediate 1976m station and presumably will create a big new opportunity for the once farming village of Kaprun.

But these old pictures only tell a partial story of a village that came under Hermann Göring's rule as part of a German propaganda initiative.

In 1938, the Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg had been bullied by Hitler into agreeing a greater Nazi presence within Austria. Schuschnigg hoped that agreeing to Hitler’s demands would prevent a German invasion. Instead, German foreign minister Göring faked a "plea" for German assistance from inside the Austrian government. Then German troops marched into Austria and Hitler announced his Anschluss (the so called Union of Austria and Germany).

Göring staged the start of construction of Kaprun Dams in 1938, as part of plans for a "Tauernkraftwerk" mountain hydro electricity power plant. There were no plans so he simply used a field and some men with shovels to create the propaganda.

Despite the lack of plans, forced labourers (i.e. slaves) were used to begin the construction in horrendous conditions. As the war started, prisoners including Polish, French and Soviet POWs, Italians, people from the territories of the Soviet Union (‘Ostarbeiter’) and Jews were used to continue the work on power station and on the dam above it in the valley.

By the end of 1944, work on the site had come to a halt, but not before a crude barrage had been constructed out of any materials available at the mountain camp in a desperate attempt to produce some electricity. The propaganda value of this Kaprun Hauptstufe was considerable, even though the amount of power generated was negligible.

After the war the construction of the original Kaprun dams stopped. Then, in 1947, it was started up again and advanced quickly, albeit with still extremely challenging conditions.

Initially, the revised projects were led by the Americans, and the still tough working environment deployed local Austrians and added a few features like the working camp cinema, as was to try to improve morale for this second wave of the project.

Quite quickly, in 1951, the 120 metre high Limberg wall was finished and one year later the main power plant started to operate. Also, in 1950, the construction of the second Kaprun Oberstufe Dam started. Finished five years later, the two dams are connected through a 12 kilometre tunnel.

We found out most of this from a small museum in Kaprun and subsequently I noticed this Austrian movie dramatisation of the second wave of construction. Incidentally, notice the 'Sound of Music' moment in this movie (0:50-ish), ten years before the actual Sound of Music was made.

summit

I said I'd get around to posting some pictures from on the mountains. Above is my iPhone snap of the walk up - or down - with one of the numerous cablecars to the side. From the base station the first choice of cablecars are the Panorama or Gletscherjet (Glacierjet) which climb the first 1000 metres or so. Then there's a couple more to get to the 3000 metre summit.

My picture above is from the intermediate level, which already provides a pretty good panoramic view of the mountains. Then to the very top which stands at around 3000 metres. There's also about 3 metres (10 feet) of snow at this level, so the exact heights are slightly debatable.

My picture from officially 3029 metres looks down onto the glacier, where there's some signs of skiing activity. I'll put together a ski-slopes based post separately, because despite the apparent lack of people there's about 50 in the picture. You'll need to click through and magnify to see most of them although around the corner at the various cafes, restaurants and easier ski runs there's thousands more.

chiller

Another chilly day, temperatures dipping below -10C up top. So far our slightly technical clothing and layering is keeping us toasty, although the use of a sauna back at base is also quite handy.

Below is a quick late afternoon picture from half way up illustrating that the clouds are like a sandwich layer between the lower level and the peaks at the moment.

chill

We've seen quite a few of the signs saying, 'beware of the roof avalanches', although I'm wondering if we should also see some for the icicles, some of which are one a metre long.

The roof avalanche on our own balcony wasn't too bad and has since had its further light covering of snow.

I'm typing this on the balcony, but my fingers are cold from the Macbook's metal surface in -2C temperatures. Still, it's -7C up top at the moment.

Apfelstrudel

My other pictures are still in the camera, so this iPhone snap of Apfelstrudel from mid-afternoon will have to suffice until I can catch up.

I can see how it is sort of evocative of the Alps.

I accompanied it with hot chocolate with whipped cream (Heisse Schoko mit Schlag), so I can feel a little bit guilty now.

But not very. Particularly when I notice that the Austrians still have cigarette machines on street corners and ashtrays in bars.

But then, they also stage skier street races like tonight's through the shopping district.

valley view

A pretty view from the balcony here. We've travelled from Salzburg and set up in this valley surrounded by mountains. Next to explore.

Almdudler moment

Yes, we have already acquired some of that Almdudler fizzy drink, which is almost a tradition when dropping tinto Austria, yet largely unheard of in the UK.

snow report

Time for a few days in Austria, starting in Salzburg. There's some snow about, although I suspect there will be more when we get to the ski areas.

count the cages

Maybe some of the Cabinet are still protecting Theresa May, like some sort of Praetorian Guard, but the classicists will know that such situations can, of themselves, lead to demise.

The PM is off to China over the next few days, unencumbered by her Foreign Secretary, who is probably in Colebrooke Row plotting various li(n)es of succession.

We've Olly Robbins running the David Davies negotiation, whilst ruffled DD looks like he's just back from a night in the cells.

Oh yes, let the caged bird sing.

As well as no grip on colleagues, the government seems to have a limited grasp of the messaging from the EU. I don't think it is just a translation thing, but most of it gets spun to sound more positive. Mr Barnier keeps saying things about time frames which are at odds with what the Brits think. For example, would we be staying under EU legislation until 2020? Pay to stay but have no say? Only able to renegotiate trade terms after the payments and exit terms have been finalised? That's 2018 gone.

Then there's the anachronism of the Lords with around 180 peers requesting to speak and amend the exit bill on Tuesday and Wednesday. Goodness, they've had to open the Lords early (11 am) to get a full day of work in.

Meanwhile, the unscrupulous scavenger birds sit on the wires waiting their moment.

Exe Estuary Avocet Cruise from Topsham

Early morning on the Topsham Quayside. So early it was still dark when we first arrived.

I'd left home wondering whether my ski jacket would be rather excessive for the little trip along the river. It turned out that my clothing was somewhere in the middle of the range selected by others.

Yes, we were going out on an RSPB Avocet Cruise. We'd be on the same boat that takes people across to the pub in sunnier weather, but today it would be used to seek out the wildlife along the Exe.

Armed with the identification card and a pair of binoculars, we could soon start to tick off the various species. Waders, Ducks, Gulls and 'Others'.

Fortunately we had a couple of very knowledgeable RSPB folk to provide a commentary, which only paused for a short time whilst a BBC Radio interview took place. We saw birds from all the main categories.

It started with avocets - that's the bird on the RSPB logo, where it also represents conservation. Avocets were almost gone from Britain but with improved wetland management they've made a strong comeback as evidenced in the RSPB picture below.

Then there was a collection of godwits. Black-tailed, I think our commentator said. They provide a kind of identification challenge being a wader that looks completely different in winter compared with its its summer plumage.

At this time of year many of the species are using the river for overwintering and the mud provides a rich source of food with a square metre of mud housing a bird-slurpable energy equivalent of a couple of KitKat fingers (at least I think that's what the RSPB chaps said). The smaller birds need about the calorific equivalent of a four finger KitKat per day, consumed in the form of tiny creatures from the mud. No wonder they look busy.

Then, for something like a cormorant, the river is a great source of eels and fish and with their efficient hunting technique they may only spend an hour a day fishing. One I saw threw its catch into the air, like a test cricketer catching a ball, before downing it in one. Showoff? Apparently the reason cormorants are often seen with their wings outstretched is because their wing feathers are not waterproof, which assists their fast diving. It means that the birds will stretch out to dry their wings whilst digesting their food. My picture here of a young cormorant is a cheat, because I took it in Santa Barbara, but I think it still illustrates the stretched wings.

There were plenty more to see, but I'll finish with the brent geese, which were flying around in huge squadrons. Apparently the apocryphal cooking method for a brent goose is to put it in a pot with an old boot. Boil for several hours, and then take out the brent goose and throw it away, instead eating the boot which will taste better.

I suspect the brent geese came up with this recipe themselves, as a form of protection. After all, they have to fly from England to Greenland or Siberia to raise their next family and even on the mudflats around the Exe it is still easy to discern their family units staying together. Here's another RSPB impression of them flying.

For us, when back at the boatyard, it was time to follow our excellent organiser Ange back to the Globe, for a still fairly early breakfast.

time sink

I still can't believe how rude and inconsiderate the recent Windows operating system can be. This version of Windows 10 is running on the 'garage' PC which is mainly used for things related to bicycles (don't ask).

A few days ago it said it needed to perform an update. Did I want to do it now or overnight? Overnight, obviously. That way it'd be ready the next time I needed to use it.

Or so one might think. Next time I attempt to use it, it starts by telling me it still needs to 'complete' the update. This may take several more minutes. #herewegoagain

I let it run, including that 90% complete section that lasts way too long. Then, hooray, it worked again although refused to recognise my ANT+ components until I rebooted it just one more time.

Next day, I used it for about 10 minutes and then it froze with a sort of repeating buzzing sound. It was a software error. Reboot and guess what? Another (this time unsolicited) update.

box sets in the garage

The wireless is now working reliably in the garage. Normally I'd use an Airport Express to extend the coverage but this time I thought I'd try an inexpensive alternative. A plug and go TP-Link range extender, costing £25.

Remove from the box, plug into the mains close to the main router to set up the wifi connection, then, once initialised, move it to a point close to the outside wall where it can beam the signal across to the garage.

Setup time around 10 minutes, including unboxing such that I now have speedy internet in the garage, fast enough to watch Netflix whilst firing up the recently recommissioned bicycle turbo.