October Fun - Climbing in the Woods

This past weekend, we were invited by our friends who live in Blaichach to climb an obstacle course in the trees. We arrived at the VERY early our of 8:30 AM on Sunday to begin our adventure at the Kletterwald im Alpsee. Here, you can buy a ticket that will cover your chair lift ride up, three hours of tree climbing, complete with guided instruction, followed by a ride down the Rodelbahn - a roller coaster that relies on the gravity going down the mountainside to get to the bottom. Our good friend from Charleston joined us, but because he had already done this adventure, he decided to be the photographer, and thus is not in any of the pictures.


The ride up the mountain


A guide to the courses and their level of difficulty: I made it through the white level before fatigue set in on my arms and legs, but our oldest, Hubby and friends went on through the purple course.

Getting roped up with gear for the climb

We're all ready!

Getting our instruction from the amusing but excellent guide

The first course - it is set up to help you get a feel for the more involved courses without being so high off the ground. Our younger and I did this one twice as it was still a lot of fun.

Our friend peaking out from behind a tree

Hubby in the background maneuvering the easy course

Now it's getting a little tougher

The blue-squared grid was one of the hardest things to cross just because it really hurt our hands. Climbing gloves would be a good idea if you picked a course with a lot of these.

Near the end, you really had to take a leap of faith off each course. All of them had you jump off daringly to get to the ground again. It was thrilling!!

Hubby's turn!

Not quite the landing he was hoping for. :-)

Our oldest about to embark on another challenge with Dad not far behind.

On a really tough part of the purple course - a giant spider web of ropes to cross

Our friend tackling the swinging ropes - "Tarzan"

Our friend about to approach the web

Balancing on the thin wire below was a bigger challenge than I thought it would be. I have a new-found admiration for tightrope walkers.

All of us way up in the trees. Just don't look down, right?

The end of the white trail has you ride off on a unicycle into the air. A slide on the wire above glides you down to the ground, but that initial drop is a doozy.

A twisty balancing act for our oldest

Our friend has reached the end of the line and is about to ride off into the sunset - make that lunchtime glare.

Last challenge for me before the unicycle ride down. My arms and legs were beginning to shake by this point, but sadly not from fear.

Our oldest finishing the course

My turn!

Last man down

The purple course - as I said, I was too tired to go on this one, but Dad and Son had a good time.

It was way up there!! The tires proved to be a REAL challenge.

We survived triumphant!

The gang again. You can actually see the tail end of the Rodelbahn in the background and how it is attached to the mountain. It follows the side of the mountain all the way down in a criss-cross fashion. At times, you can get going really fast, if you aren't a granny driver like me. :-)


The Alpsee - the lake right by the mountain we were on. This is a beautiful lake. In summer, folks sail, wind surf and parasurf. In winter, it freezes over and locals ice skate around the edges. It is the same lake as the one pictured from above on our hike when we were hemmed in by the cows.

We would really like to thank our friends for inviting us on this adventure. It was a really great time! Afterwards, we were treated at their house with delicious coffee and cake made with their very own homegrown raspberries (in German, that is Himbeeren). We'd do it all again, for sure!!

Amie