 1 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Today our plan is to visit the Partnach Gorge. To get there we drive to the ski stadium in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and park the car in the stadium car park. |
 2 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Schlitten farten means sleigh rides - presumably not now in summer |
 3 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The stadium was built for the ski jumping events of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games and for the opening and closing ceremonies. Adolf Hitler opened the games in February 1936 and this was the last year in which the Summer and Winter Games were both held in the same country. |
 4 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Australia sent a team but did not win a medal of any kind. Norway topped he medal count and Germany came second. |
 5 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The ski-jump hill was upgraded in 1978 and again in 2007 to meet the changing requirements of the International Skiing Federation (FIS). An international architectural competition in autumn 2006 led to the construction of the new cantilevered (supported on one end) structure on the right. |
 6 Thursday 1 July, 2010 This jump is called the Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Olympiaschanze. It has a hill size of 140 metres, (the lower of the two red lines) and a K Point of 125 metres (the upper red line). Flights that exceed the K Point have points added for every metre over the line and deducted for every metre short of the line. These "distance" points are added to the "style" points. |
 7 Thursday 1 July, 2010 After the distance and style points are added, points are deducted if there was a head wind and added for a tail wind. Finally, points may be added or deducted if the gate was moved up or down from its starting position. The gate is where the athletes start their in-run down the slope. On this hill they typically takeoff at 90 kmh and land at 100 kmh. |
 8 Thursday 1 July, 2010 When we came here last year, it looked more menacing. The box sticking out on the right is where the five "style" judges sit. They award points out of 20 for the flight and the landing. A "telemark" landing is required which is where one foot is in front of the other. The judges also agree on the gate position as it is dangerous if the athletes exceed the hill size by too much. |
 9 Thursday 1 July, 2010 It is a bright sunny day and the canyon is open. |
 10 Thursday 1 July, 2010 You can walk to the entrance or take a horse and carriage. |
 11 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Timber is a surprisingly large industry in the European Alps. It is carefully managed and harvested so that the countryside does not finish up looking like Spain. |
 12 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Making hay while the sun shines. |
 13 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The horse and cart drops us off at the terminus and we walk to the canyon entrance. We fail to see the nearby cable car which later events show to have been unfortunate. |
 14 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The Partnach Gorge (Partnachklamm) is a deep gorge cut by a mountain stream, the Partnach River. |
 15 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The gorge is 702 metres long and, in places, over 80 metres deep. It was designated a natural monument in 1912. |
 16 Thursday 1 July, 2010 In the Triassic period, about 240 million years ago, on the bed of a shallow sea, dark grey relatively hard layers of limestone were laid down in the area of the present day Partnach Gorge. |
 17 Thursday 1 July, 2010 At that time this area was part of the ocean that surrounded Pangaea, the supercontinent that existed about 250 million years ago before the continents separated into their current configuration. |
 18 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The single enormous ocean which surrounded Pangaea was named Panthalassa. These rocks are formed from the trillions upon trillions of dead sea creatures that once lived in this ocean. |
 19 Thursday 1 July, 2010 On the bead-like strata of this rock the traces of the burrowing and feeding of marine animals can still be seen. |
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 23 Thursday 1 July, 2010 During the 18th century, woodcutters used the gorge to transport firewood on timber rafts from the Reintal valley to Partenkirchen. |
 24 Thursday 1 July, 2010 From the 18th century to the 1960s the river and the gorge were used as a rafting stream. |
 25 Thursday 1 July, 2010 In spring, logs marked with an owner's symbol would be thrown into the stream and carried by meltwaters down the valley. The freeing of jammed logs required much daring and men were frequently killed carrying out this dangerous task. |
 26 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Boards on a wayside cross between the Olympic Stadium and the entrance to the gorge bear witness to these losses of life. |
 27 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Since 1912 the gorge has been developed for tourists and can be visited all year round. |
 28 Thursday 1 July, 2010 An entry fee of €3 is charged in summer between 08:00 - 18:00 and in winter between 09:00 - 17:00. Outside these times the gorge may be visited at individual risk. During snowmelt in spring the gorge may also be closed for a short period. |
 29 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The sound of the rushing water is fabulous. |
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 34 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Fabulous in summer . . . |
 35 Thursday 1 July, 2010 . . . it is even more fabulous in winter. |
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 40 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The gorge starts to open up as the rock becomes softer. |
 41 Thursday 1 July, 2010 We are nearing the southern entrance to the gorge where on 1 June 1991 about 5,000 m³ of rock broke away from a rock face that blocked the old path as well as the watercourse. |
 42 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Fortunately the rockfall did not claim any lives. The rockfall formed a small, natural lake and the Partnach River channelled its way through the giant boulders. |
 43 Thursday 1 July, 2010 In 1992 a 108 m metre long gallery was blasted out of the rock to bypass the rock piles. |
 44 Thursday 1 July, 2010 A small waterfall is near the southern entrance. |
 45 Thursday 1 July, 2010 We are just about at the end of our uphill walk through the gorge. |
 46 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Now we are out into the bright sunshine and leave the gorge behind us. The river looks quite placid now. |
 47 Thursday 1 July, 2010 We did not realise it at the time, but the mountain in front of us is the Zugspitze and its melting water is what created the gorge. |
 48 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The entrance to the gorge is now behind us. |
 49 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Now, how do we get back? Should we walk back through the gorge or take the cable car? Take the cable car. |
 50 Thursday 1 July, 2010 To get there we had to walk to the top of the gorge to catch the cable car back down. |
 51 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The ultimate humiliation was groups of people walking easily down the hill to walk through the gorge while we struggled painfully upwards to catch the cable car. They had more sense than we did and oh how that hurt. |
 52 Thursday 1 July, 2010 It was a struggle for the both of us. My ankle started to hurt again. |
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 54 Thursday 1 July, 2010 As we get nearer the top we can see the limestone cliffs through which the gorge was cut. |
 55 Thursday 1 July, 2010 I thought this might be a winter refuge but it was a barn used to store whatever farmers put in barns. |
 56 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The sign said twenty minutes to the cable-car station and we are not there yet but at least we are at the top of the climb. |
 57 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Now we can recognise Zugspitze and the wondrous German/Austrian Alps. |
 58 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Words fail. |
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 61 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Everything is so lush and green; quite a sensation for an Australan. |
 62 Thursday 1 July, 2010 I could live here except I would want to know how far to Bunnings? |
 63 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Thirty minutes after making our poor decision, we arrived at the station where there was a very nice guest house. We stopped for lunch, liquid refreshment and quite a rest. |
 64 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The area surrounding the gasthof is mowed for hay which is stored in the huts nearby. |
 65 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Also, timber is harvested to use for fuel. This house is just up the hill from the gasthof where we are enjoying rest and refreshment. It must be possible to drive a motor vehicle to this place. |
 66 Thursday 1 July, 2010 Stupendous. |
 67 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The entrance to the cable car is just near the gasthof which we ride back over the northern entrance of the gorge. |
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 69 Thursday 1 July, 2010 The cable car was a small gondola with standing room for about six people. It had no controls and was operated entirely by the man at the bottom of the hill looking up the hill to see if there were any passengers. The toll station is below us now. |
 70 Thursday 1 July, 2010 To rub salt into the wound, it returned us exactly to the spot where the horses had dropped us off earlier. Neither of us had lifted our heads to see the cable car. Of course, when we carefully reread Claus’ instructions we did the opposite of what he said to do. |
 71 Thursday 1 July, 2010  72 Thursday 1 July, 2010 She seemed concerned that I might be travelling home against medical advice to the contrary. Amazing stuff. She asked me to send her the eight questions I had asked the professor, a copy of our E-tickets so that the company could arrange earlier transport, and for us to follow up on the report from the hospital. |
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 73 Thursday 1 July, 2010 We take the horse and cart back to the Olympic Stadium where it is now very hot - about 31° - and very windy. It was like being home because the car park was not sealed and the wind blew dirt and dust everywhere. Next stop: King Ludwig's Linderhof Castle |
