After the storm…

The aftermath of the storms here only became apparent after day break and we could see around the valley. The power was still off in the entire village until late in the afternoon and all the shops and cafes were closed except for one cafe that had a generator and a gas bbq. They seemed to be doing a very good trade! Walking around the village, it seemed pretty normal, but only after getting some info from the tourist office and then trying to go climbing was the full scale of the storm seen.

The winds had been recorded at 100mph, roads closed, power pylons flattened and there had been numerous landslides and 1000s of trees uprooted! And that was just in our valley – apparently a lot of Austria was hit too! As it was drying up, we went over to our local crag, but only to find a huge tree had fallen from the cliff, crush the picnic tables and blocking the cliff.

We decided to go elsewhere!

It was looking brighter down the valley, so we drove down to Oetz where we hope the power was on and shops would be open to buy some food. We passed swaths of forest that had been flattened by the wind, with tree trunks snapped like match sticks.

As climbing is such a popular activity around here, most of the cliffs have signs on how to get there – even road signs!

Happily, we found dry rock! Our first taste of Austrian granite. I think we last rock climbed in Austria in 2007!

As I neared the top of the cliff, I got a glimpse down the valley that made me rush! Rain was approaching!! I was back on the floor as the first drops arrived and luckily the car was only 30seconds away, as no sooner was the boot shut, then the rain turned torrential again!