Happy Saturday, everyone!
First off, please, please, please tell me this post is showing up in your readers??! I’m still at an absolute loss as to why WordPress has been boycotting my Iceland content – Surely, it can’t be that mad about me suddenly switching to travel blogging, not when I snuck in some books for consistency?! 😰 – but after having reset every single setting I can think of, I seriously hope it will be more open towards me talking about the Alps… Because I’ve got updates!
As most of you probably know – unless you’re totally new here, in which case, “Welcome!” 🤗 – I love hiking, and when the Bavarian Ministry of Education sent me to the Alps for my second portion of teacher training for an entire year, I went from occasionally climbing a mountain to becoming full on OBSESSED with them. One of my biggest goals in 2023 was to summit every single peak I could see from my bedroom window, but, to my great despair, I failed. Because of one mountain.
Whenever I tried to summit Hochgern, something went wrong. The first time, I realized partway up that I’d forgotten my phone and got so paranoid that I might not be able to call 112 if something horrible happened to me that I turned around. The second time, I was recovering from a bout of disgusting snot-inducing illness, and I realized halfway up the mountain that I might not be able to make it all the way back down if I tried to summit in my not-entirely-recovered state. My plans for a third attempt fell through when the weather turned too horrid to risk climbing. And when I returned to the Alps for a visit last December, there was just way too much snow for me to make it more than halfway up. I’d already had a near-death experience with an avalanche once, and I was not keen for another one!
Still, being thwarted that many times in a row was incredibly frustrating, and I was determined that 2024 would be the year I finally conquered this mountain. And, as luck would have it, there were a few days during Carnival Break that promised really good weather, which, paired with a horrifying lack of snow all year thanks to global warming, made a summit attempt possible. With a friend in tow, I ventured south for an impromptu hiking holiday – and finally achieved what I’d been trying to do for over a year now. I SUMMITTED HOCHGERN!!
Today, I’m going to tell you all about the hike that got me there – a journey covering an altitude difference of 1,100 meters and a distance of roughly 18 kilometers – while also recommending some of my favorite books set in the mountains. So, if you’re one of those people who has been whining about missing my Alpine content, here you go!
During all of my previous Hochgern hikes, I had attempted to climb the mountain from its northern face, starting from the village Bergen. This mostly boiled down to the fact that I could ride my bicycle to Bergen quite easily, whereas the southern route, which begins in the town Marquartstein, would’ve required me taking my car – and I just don’t like driving when I can avoid it! However, while a bit more scenic with plenty of waterfalls and cool rock structures, the northern route is definitely the more difficult of the two: It takes about two hours longer and, in winter, its rocky overhangs are so snowy that avalanches are not an uncommon occurrence. So, in order to put safety first, I decided we’d try the southern approach this time. Which also gave me the opportunity to discover an entirely new side of the mountain!
Starting down in the valley between Hochgern and its neighboring Hochplatte, the Marquartstein-route starts off pretty easily, with a wide snaking forest path that gradually takes you up to Alpine pastures. In summer, these are covered in cows with tinkling bells, but since it was winter, we had them all to ourselves. After walking for about an hour and thirty minutes, we reached Hochgern’s biggest alm – Agergschwendalm. But, of course, since it was February, it was completely closed, with all shutters drawn shut and, much to my friend’s dismay, locked bathrooms.
Speaking of alms and beginnings, though, I’m pretty sure that my own introduction to mountain literature was probably Johanna Spyri’s Heidi. My parents read this Swiss children’s classic about a girl who lives on an alm with her grandfather and is then spirited away to Frankfurt by her aunt to me before I had ever even seen the mountains, and there was also this 1965 movie adaptation starring Eva Maria Singhammer that my siblings and I were absolutely obsessed with. So if you’re craving an emotional, yet wholesome introduction to Alpine literature, I’d recommend trying Heidi!
After finding some suitable bushes for my friend and ranting about how female anatomy put us at a huge disadvantage compared to boys in situations like these, we left Agergschwendalm behind for a narrower forest path. This took us past bouldery, fairytale landscapes, flowing streams, a creepy cross detailing how some guy had died on this path when he was struck by lightning several decades ago, and a small freshwater spring that immediately destroyed my good intentions to abstain from drinking anything until we were closer to the summit (in order to avoid putting myself into a predicament like my friend’s, obviously). Eventually, the trees started becoming more and more sparse, providing us with our first good look at the surrounding mountains, and the paths became steeper.
Since we were a little bit hungry, we decided to take a short break at Hochgernhaus, the last dwelling of any sort before you reach Hochgern’s summit. Theoretically, you could also spend the night there and grab a bite to eat, but on the day we stopped by, the cook was on vacation, so we had to make do with our own cereal bars – a hiking essential, if you ask me!
But anyway, if you’re looking for a book that, like Hochgern’s middle section, shows off a bit of Alpine variety – lakes, pretty mountains, and cabins with traditional Bavarian/Austrian food – you could check out Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett, which is set in the Austrian Alps. Of course, you’d also have to read the first book in the series, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, in advance, but since that features gorgeous landscapes, too, that shouldn’t be a problem!
Up until Hochgernhaus, I figured maybe I’d overestimated Hochgern. Hiking it from the south was so easy! There weren’t any particularly steep rises, you didn’t have to rock climb, and lots of the paths were gravelly, flat, and generally kind of boring.
But, boy, did that change. At around 1,500 meters above sea level, we crossed the snowline, and suddenly, things got messy – particularly since I noticed on the mountain itself that the rubber on my ancient second-hand crampons had become so worn out that they didn’t exactly stay in one piece when I tried to attach them to my shoes. Which means I was faced with either turning around or hiking up slippery inclines covered in ice and snow without any additional spike support.
Obviously, I did not want to turn around. Not again! And besides, I had plenty of experience hiking Hochfelln and Hochplatte without crampons when having some would technically have been a good idea. Worst came to worst, I thought, I could just turn around later if things got too difficult.
In contrast to Hochfelln and Hochplatte, though, it soon became pretty evident that Hochgern was not the type of mountain that would forgive mistakes. Whereas the worst-case scenario if you slipped on the previous two peaks would probably be sliding down a few meters and maybe breaking some bones, slipping on Hochgern would mean you had about ten seconds to find something to hold onto on a 45°-incline of nothing but snow before you fell to certain death. There were yawning drops spanning hundreds of meters right next to the path, which, quite frankly, nearly paralyzed me with fear! Logically, I knew for a fact that I’d have no trouble at all hiking Hochgern’s slopes if they had been next to a pasture or something, but just the mere presence of those drops had me doubting my ability to walk on even the flattest of surfaces. I was so scared of falling that I was seriously questioning my sanity for liking this sport in the first place and triple checking every foothold before stepping there, which, in turn, freaked out my friend – who has less Alpine experience than me – so much that she crept up the mountain even more slowly, despite not being scared of heights.
Which is why, instead of the allotted one hour to reach the summit from Hochgernhaus, it took us a positively nerve-wracking two. But we did it! And the endorphins and the views we got at the peak made everything so completely worth it!
But yeah – if you’re not too creeped out by my Hochgern account would like to read a bit more about serious mountaineering – with crampons, dizzying drops, ice axes, crevasses, death, and the whole shebang – I’d recommend Gordon Korman’s Everest trilogy! One of my absolute childhood favorites that I love rereading to this very day, it follows a group of kids vying to become the youngest person ever to summit Mount Everest. The suspense will definitely keep your heart pumping!
Around midday, we reached Hochgern’s summit to spectacular views of the entire surrounding area. To the north, we saw Bavaria’s second-largest lake, Chiemsee, sparkling below us; to the east, south, and west, an overwhelmingly beautiful mountain panorama stretching from Germany far into Austria (and of course, like always, my phone immediately thought we were in Austria and bombarded me with messages about data roaming regulations within the EU 🙄).
After some obligatory pictures at the summit cross, we wandered further across the ridge to a small mini-chapel that contained Hochgern’s summit register, which we obviously signed after it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to open the metal box containing it. And then, it was time for a well-deserved lunch! Eyed greedily by Alpine choughs trying to steal a bite, we snacked on a mixture of bread rolls, apples, cheese, and cereal bars, which, despite having been slightly squashed in my backpack, tasted like the most delicious thing ever after half a day of hiking.
For even more summit content, though, you could check out Roland Smith’s Peak – a book about a juvenile delinquent whose long-lost father wants him to become the youngest person ever to summit Mount Everest. (Do you see the common theme in little Naemi’s reading tastes yet? 🙃) Although it is apparently part of a series now – HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?? I HAVE TO READ THE OTHER BOOKS ASAP!! – the book can easily be read as a standalone and is lots of fun if you’re looking for a middle-grade adventure.
Although there’s always a ton of fanfare around making it to a mountain’s summit, it’s actually getting back down that’s the most dangerous part. It can be all too easy to be lulled into a false sense of security because you already know the route from the way up, especially when you’re tired from all the hours you’ve already spent climbing.
Hochgern, however, offered at least a bit of safety in that regard – thanks to the fact that we were now staring straight into the chasms and precipices we had been hiking away from on our way up, I was not lulled into any sense of security whatsoever! Instead, I basically waddled down to Hochgernhaus like a squatting penguin because I thought that, if I fell, having my butt as a potential brake would make it less likely that I would start sliding towards the yawning abyss in front of me. Since I never actually fell, I can’t tell you if that strategy was sound or not, but, even after laughing at how dumb I looked, my friend still adopted the same tactic when we got to the really steep parts of the trail. Which I feel should count for something!
After we reached Hochgernhaus, though, the hike back down was a breeze! We occasionally made a stop to consume the last of our cereal bars and trail mix and also tested a more interesting looking alternative path here and there, but, all in all, we kept up a pretty quick pace to ensure that’d we’d be off the mountain by sunset. Which we just barely made – giving us about half an hour before we would’ve stumbled around the mountain in the dark and me about ten minutes to buy new crampons before the local sports store closed.
As for those of you craving a mountain book that doesn’t gloss over the descent, maybe you’d like Lisa Thompson’s memoir Finding Elevation, which is about her journey towards becoming the second American woman to ever summit K2. I only just read this myself, but really appreciated how brutally honest the author was about her life, her shortcomings, and her ambitions. And, of course, the mountaineering content was top notch!
But yeah – that, in a nutshell, was how I successfully summitted Hochgern. I hope you had at least a bit of fun following along with me, and do let me know about your own hiking experiences! Have you ever summitted a mountain? If so, which one was the most memorable? Or do you prefer fictional peaks to real ones and have some book recommendations for me? I would love to know!
A Book Owl's Corner 
Ah, congrats on finally getting there!! It looks like you had a great day for it!
I’ve only done Yr Wyddfa and Cader Idris (both in Wales). Both were cloudy 🙈😂 so no views yet for me.
They were both over 10 years ago, and I really want to get back into hiking this year. So this post is great motivation!! 😄
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Thank you! 🥰 The weather really couldn’t have been better – it was so sunny and there was barely any wind. It felt nothing like February!
Ooooh, hiking in Wales sounds pretty epic, too, though, even if you couldn’t see much. That’s definitely on my bucket list as well. Like, can you really be a proper English teacher without having been to Wales at least once? 🤔😂
Anyway, I really hope you go on some nice hikes this year! If you want to give us updates, I certainly won’t complain! 😁
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I’m so glad to hear it!
Well hopefully you have better luck with the weather than me, when you tick it off your bucket list! 😄
And I certainly will! Not a mountain, but I’m planning on hitting a trail in Eryri (Snowdonia) next month. There’s a village I visit regularly, but have never done any of the trails of (as it wasn’t my parents thing). Will be great to see more of the area 😍
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Oooh, have fun! I always got struck by wanderlust when covering Snowdonia in class with my students, so I’m slightly envious that you’re able to visit so easily 🤩 Hopefully, you’ll also have some good weather when trying those trails!
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Coming here straight from my reader so I guess WordPress is done being mad at you 😄 But congrats on summitting Hochgern!! 🥳🥳 AND you reached your goal of hitting all those peaks! I’m so jealous but from your descriptions I also know I’m way too much of a wuss to ever get into mountaineering 🙈 I need motorized vehicles to take me to these tops. Also, what would I climb here? Our highest point doesn’t even hit 200 meters 😅
I’m probably not into reading about mountains or the act of climbing them but I still appreciated you writing this post so I could see your pictures! 🤗 The weather looked perfect!
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That’s such a relief – thanks for letting me know! 🥰 Although I am still extremely suspicious of WordPress after this… Particularly since I’m also not a huge fan of their new look for the reader. Why can’t they just keep functioning systems in place and focus on changing what ISN’T working? 🙄
200 meters is so low, though! Even after having been to the Netherlands and flatter parts of the US, it just seems so weird to me how a surface can be that even 😂 But hopefully, you’ll still be able to experience plenty of peaks in motorized fashion elsewhere! (And, who knows, maybe even some of the not-so-scary ones in non-motorized fashion eventually? 🙃)
Happy to hear you liked the pictures in spite of my over-the-top mountain enthusiasm, though! 😁😇
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Your post is definitely showing up in WP reader so hopefully any glitches are now fixed. Well done on achievement. I’m far more off a walker than a hiker and the only mountains I’ve ever got to the summit are in Wales so only babies really. I did get to the summit of the Grossglockner in Austria many years ago but we went most of the way by coach so I guess that it doesn’t really count. The marmots were really cute though.
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I hope so, too! I’m still a little suspicious, since I have no clue what went wrong last time, but I guess that’s just something you have to get used to when working with WordPress 😂🙈
Mountains in Wales sound so gorgeous, though! 🥰 I’ve only ever seen them in pictures, but whenever I have to teach about Wales in school, I immediately get the urge to go there – the country looks so beautiful and has such a fascinating history! I definitely intend to visit at some point.
And Großglockner is on my list, too 🤗 Considering how high it is, I feel like it’s perfectly acceptable you took a coach shortcut, and I’m glad you got to see some marmots. I agree that they’re absolutely adorable!
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You’re back in my reader, huzzah! I’m glad you were able to finally tick this mountain from your list, talk about try, try again!
It looked beautiful, the sky especially. Quite an adventure!
I’m also impressed by how many books you were able to mention with mountains in. Thank you for sharing because I don’t think I’ve read one, unless it was a passing location in a fantasy book (and most the time they seem to go under them)!
I hope you are able to enjoy more mountain in the future, both in books and real life! 🥰
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Yay!! 🙌 I mean, it’d still be nice to know what went wrong last time, but I’ll take it!
Haha, now that I think about it, I HAVE read way more fantasy books where characters go under mountains than over them 🤔 I wonder why that is? However, if you continue on with the Realm of the Elderlings, you’ll also get a few more mountains there, so those fantasy books are definitely out there! We just have to find them, I guess 🤣
And thank you! 🥰 I’m definitely also hoping for more real and fictional mountains in my future and will keep you posted!
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I do wonder, the mysteries of WordPress!
Haha it is strange, for the hiding in plain sight factor 🤔 oohh I look forward to the mountain exploration in those books then ⛰️
💙💙
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i came to this post through my Reader so you have nothing to be worried about!! awesome photos as always. ‘Climbing every mountain can see from my bedroom window’ is a really cool goal and I LOVE all your descriptions of the hike up the mountain. i’m not that into mountain climbing but i love heights and views from high places, which are always gorgeous.
I’ve only read one book here which is heidi, and the only one that i’ll likely read from the rest is emily wilde. However that is very high on my tbr! (I say this every time and then probably read the book a couple of years later lol)
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That’s great to hear! After no one apparently saw my last post, I was seriously questioning whether I had unknowingly done something dumb that had banned me from the reader… But even if I don’t know how, I guess the issue’s been fixed! 😂
And I’m glad you liked the post! 🥰 I’m definitely a bit jealous of your love for heights – personally, I’m terrified of them, but the views and surrounding nature always entice me to keep coming back to the mountains anyway. So hopefully, all the exposure will eventually cure me of my fear 🤣
And fingers crossed you’ll like Emily Wilde when you finally get around to it! The characters and their relationships were my favorite part, and I can definitely see you liking them, too! 💙
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Congrats on having climbed Hochgern 🙂
Offhand, I can’t think of any mountain I’ve ever climbed. Somehow, most of my holidays were by the seaside. I like hiking (well, walking) in the woods and the seaside. Also hills. But mountains? Nope — I’m scared of heights and although I do challenge myself, I prefer having something to hold onto. And then, I’m probably not fit enough to go climbing up a mountain like Hochgern.
I found your post in my reader, too 🙂
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Thank you! I love the seaside, too, so I definitely can’t fault you for spending your holidays there 🏖😊 And I also totally get being scared of heights – that’s actually what’s keeping me from climbing anything where you have to hike narrow ridges to reach the summit, like Watzmann, for example 😬 I do love the views in the mountains and the exhilaration of reaching a peak, but Hochgern is pretty much already at the far end of my comfort zone… So to each their own, I suppose!
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Congratulations on finally doing it!! The pictures are sooo pretty, I’m imagining how it would be to live in a place where these mountains are visible through your bedroom window!
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Thank you!! That bedroom window view is definitely one of the things I miss most about my old apartment – watching sunrises above the mountains was such a great motivation to get up in the mornings! 🌄
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Sorry I can’t really help with the reader question as I generally keep track of posts through my email. Next time I spot an email I’ll try to remember to check if it also shows up there though.
Also yay for finally getting to summit that mountain. It must have been so disheartening to have so many troubled efforts in a row. I’d say it was wise to turn back when you realised about your phone though. Same with weather and health issues, you don’t want to run into trouble in an environment like that.
It looks lovely and the views up there must have been incredible. Although your panicking would have definitely freaked me out too. I don’t know exactly why but I have a major fear of falling (maybe because I trip so much 🙈) I’ve done some pretty steep waterfall and slippery gorge walks and visited castles with really narrow twisty steps but every time I panic. Although I was a bit better on one of the waterfall ones so maybe I’m improving 🤷♀️ I definitely find going down worse than up though. I know physically it seems harder the other way round but I guess it’s because I can see where I’d fall when climbing down 🤔
I also love how you always suggest books which I’ve never heard of. Two I’m familiar with but I’ve never heard of the rest. It’s nice to see such a variety of books mentioned.
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Don’t worry – so many people have told me that the reader is apparently behaving again that I feel like I can tentatively trust it! 😂 Even though I am a bit paranoid at what else it might’ve been up to… Like, my posts can’t have been the only ones affected, right? What if I’ve been missing out on loads of people’s content?? 😨
It was definitely beyond satisfying to finally have made it to Hochgern’s summit after all those failures! Although you’re also right that I couldn’t have done anything differently before – I mean, those views might be spectacular, but I’m still not willing to risk my life for them! Safety has to come first!
And, lol, I totally get your cautiousness on those hikes because I, too, am terrified of falling from high things. Or, even worse, jumping. Like, rationally, I know I would never do anything that stupid, but there’s always this really weird part of my brain suggesting things that would happen to me IF I jumped off whatever high thing I was standing on, which is what actually mostly fuels my fear of heights… My mom thinks that sounds absolutely bonkers, but my dad’s the exact same way, so I guess I just inherited his strange genes in that regard 🤣 Hiking a lot has desensitized me considerably, though, so fingers crossed you’ll get there eventually, too!
And I’m happy to hear you liked my book recommendations! 🥰
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Thats good then but yes, very true too. I guess the only way to find out is to check people’s pages out but even then remembering everyone can be tricky. It’s done weird things for me before too.
It must have felt good too with it being the last of the ones from your view. And yes, definitely safety first. Even being sensible in that way you got there in the end.
I have heard of that happening so it’s not that strange. I think my dad even had it happen to him in the past. I’m glad to hear that continuing to hike has helped though. Hopefully the feeling will fade entirely one day 🤞
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Congratulations on summiting Hochgern! And I’m so jealous of your old apartment’s view! Like seriously, how did you manage to do anything other than staring out the window 24/7? 😂
I loved this line: “I basically waddled down to Hochgernhaus like a squatting penguin”! 😅 People think climbing the mountain is the hardest part (which of course can be hard), but descending is the tricky part! I also use your squatting penguin method, even if it makes me look like a dummy, I don’t care. I’d rather be slower but get back down in one piece than rush and trip. (Though of course you can trip even if your pace is of a slug’s. 😂)
My tallest mountain was in Seefeld in Tirol with 1495 meters, then the second one probably was Hungary’s highest peak with 1015 meters. I still admire your bravery, like seriously, you say you only got into mountains a few years ago and you’ve summited a lot of really challenging ones already! What is the next one on your list?
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Trust me, there’s a reason I read way less last year than in previous ones – I wasn’t kidding when I said the Alps were a serious distraction, and I’m sure all the time I spent staring out of that window is partly to blame! 😂
The penguin waddle really is the perfect hiking method for creepy steep slopes, though! Nobody can convince me otherwise, and I’m perfectly happy to have looked like a dummy right along with you. Maybe my tripping chances still weren’t non-existent, but I’m sure they must’ve been way better than standing up! 😎
To be fair, I did hike a lot even before I moved to the Alps and went full on crazy trying to summit everything near me, so it’s not like I went from 0 to 100 all in one go – you don’t need to be too impressed! And you’re already ahead of me by having climbed the highest peak in your home country 😉 I’m actually really hoping to do that this summer, so I guess Zugspitze is officially next up on my list? There’s no telling if I might not be distracted by other mountains first, though…
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Ahh, I see! Still, you’re inspiring! I hope you can safely climb Zugspitze this year!!
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Alsoo, have you been to the Großglockner? I mean, if you run out of German mountains, Austria has a bunch. 😂
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Nope, not yet! I actually haven’t been up anything higher than 3,000 meters yet, so that’s definitely on my bucket list, too 🤗
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*let’s pretend i’m not over a month late for this*
I LOVE THIS POST. what i would give to hike in the alps right now. congratulations on summitting Hochgern!! i would kill for a view like that and i mean it. my trekking has been limited mainly to the Himalayas, but i think it was around 6 years that I did a snowy alps trek in switzerland which i still vaguely remember. you ever notice that food tastes better on the trek? like, even food you’d never eat normally, or don’t like as much becomes your favourite meal on a trek?
anyway i loved this post. it brought out my mountain-obsessed side briefly and a part of my life i really miss right now. i loved reading this ♥
ps. THOSE PICTURES ARE AMAZING.
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Haha, don’t worry about being a bit late – I’m so behind on not just keeping up with everyone but also posting itself that I definitely don’t get to judge 🤣
Besides, I’m just so excited to have found another person who loves the mountains! Like, you’ve been to the Himalayas?? That’s basically my ultimate dream, so, trust me, the envy is mutual 😁
And I know, right? Food you normally wouldn’t even touch suddenly becomes the most delicious thing ever on an exhausting hike! 😂 I’m not even sure I’d have eaten the cheese we had on Hochgern under normal circumstances; it had such a strong smell that we locked it out on our balcony overnight because we couldn’t stand having it in the room with us…
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Now I wanna know what cheese that is 🤣
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I wish I could tell you, but I’m afraid it was just this random one we picked up at a grocery store because it looked tasty? I have no clue whatsoever what it was called – probably something Swiss, though! 🤔😅
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