We, climbing as well as life partners, love the adventure side of climbing. Getting up at 5am to catch the train to catch the bus to finally reach the hut, O the perils of not driving. Though, in many previous cases the “hut” is actually a tent or in one special case a toilette, but we leave that story for another time.
The problem with huts is that, as one of our so called rescuers put it, “the owners really care for their customers safety”. We, being a little on the wild side of things, are used to relying on our knowledge and abilities to get out of situations safe, not the omnipresent eyes of the hut master. Well maybe not “omnipresent eyes”, but those eyes were at least focused on the clock within arm length of the phone just waiting for the hands to strike 22:00 so he can call 140. For those not familiar with it, 140 is that number you call when you need help to get out of a sticky situation, or in our case the number you call to get someone else in an embarrassing situation.
So we are at the hut, excited to get out, clueless of the unwritten protocol that everyone ought to know, but no one speaks about, and we do as climbers do, start our hike to the wall as soon as we can. We notice, on the way out, a sign stating “Ruhezeit 22:00”, that is silence after 22:00, which we take to mean try to make it back by then, and if you don’t, be quiet. It was not on our minds that 22:00, in the minds of this mountain country, is when adventure ends and emergencies begin.
Where were we off to this time? A place we never visited before, a big wall, an Alpine wall, with few bolts and the recommendation to bring gear. Neither of us are completely adapt at traditional climbing, but at the same time this would not be our first big wall traditional climbing experience. Though, we pushed the grade of the climb up a little from previous times. Nonetheless, still way within our climbing ability. Though, we never did a climbing route labeled Alpin. We always looked upon that word in the climbing guides with a bit of awe and majesty. This was going to be the day we find out what it means.
Yes we found out, and it was not as amusing as we expected it to be, loose rocks all over the place and gear placements that you're afraid to even look at, let alone fall on. One time when placing gear I chipped the rock when setting it. I could only imagine what that chipping would look like if I fell on that piece. Though, we upped our constitution and pushed fourth.
By the 8 pitch I was ready to scream, so many placements, so many times I had to take care not to drop a hailstorm of limestone on my significant other. But, I was still ready to do the 8th pitch till I realized that the next move was a layback, a move I dread. I could not take it any more I did not want to climb, I did not want to think about rock quality, I wanted to abseil, get off the wall and have a cup of tea. I was not exhausted, I still had the mental abilities to go on but it was not fun anymore, I felt like every next step was a kick in the face, and if I am going to be kicked down might as well move closer to a warm cup of tea. Luckily my partner agreed and we set up for the slow ride to the base.
Now, one might not realize how the time has past. We left the hut at 9 got to the wall at 12:30 and it is now it is 19:30. If this was july, we would have another 2-3 hours of sun, but it is not, it is nearing the end of october, and the sun is already waning behind the nearby mountain tops. We get out the headlamps and prepare for abseiling in the dark. The hut master knew the time of the year as well and start preparing for the worst.
To tell you the truth, if we chose a day to abseil in the dark, we couldn’t have chosen better. The sky was clear and an innumerable blanket of stars covered the landscape. Though, it was a little too cold to enjoy for long as we would push each other to hurry up so we can get that damn tea. In the midst of one of my stargazing routines, waiting for her to finish her abseil, we were met with the rumble of a helicopter. When climbers are 50 meters away from each other this is the last thing you want to hear. It blankets the valley with a high pitch reverberation almost uncoincidently attuned to cancel out climbers voices. Little did it occur to me that our guardian angel, who also brews nice tea, called this nuisance for us.
Luckily, this mechanical vulture makes wide circles, it probably could not find the scent of blood it was expecting, thus giving us a chance to have short breaks of communication. And we continue down smoothly. Soon, towards the bottom of the route, we see light in the forest, and I think to myself, my god someone is in trouble, we should hurry up and help. Though, my partner, being a bit wiser at the moment lets me in on a secret, the rescue is for us. Though, I could not imagine her being correct, I mean it is only 23:30, 0 degrees, windy, and has been dark for the past 4 hours.
So it turns out that yes, the rescue was for us, and yes they had nothing to rescue us from, but they did tie our ropes for us. We also learned from them what Ruhezeit 22:00 means in hut-speak, and that calling 140 when nothing is happening is ok. Upon reaching the hut, our guardian angel expected a story, a struggle, a push for survival. You know something you’d see on National Geographic with bold imposing letters and baritone narration. Sadly, for him, nothing happened. Just another day on the mountains for us. Don’t know what he thinks of us for having such a nonchalant attitude towards a “dire situation”, but who cares, it was still fun, and gave us a chance to share a story with you.