Outdoor Bloggertreffen – Zillertal 2013 #btz

It was an invitation from Bergfreunde that came knocking at my door months back for the first Bloggers Meet in Zillertal. This event brought outdoor enthusiasts from all categories together, be it the hiker, sports and alpine climber, boulderer, trail-runner and outdoor photographers. Coming from near andfor some, as far as 800km, about more than 30 enthusiasts showed up for this meet, even though the weather forecast did not promise good conditions. Test products from  Black Diamond, Edelrid, Brunton, Trek n’Eat and many more were organized and were waiting to be tested.

The Base Camp was set up in Zillergrund, a spot known to make every boulderer and high level sport climbers heart beat a little faster. 3 important Boulder sectors and the reknowned Schwarzer Wand are found in this valley.  Many hike trails were available in that valley too, making the Gasthaus Au an ideal place to start off on a sport of your hearts desire. The car was packed with equipment enough to keep us busy for the next 6 weeks. You will need rope, trekking shoes, boulder shoes, sport climbing shoes and back packs for bouldering and another one for sports climbing, and one more for trekking right? And then there was the ingredients to the salads planned on 2 evenings. Ahh and not forgeting the DSLR, objectives and compact camera for all situations…. I checked the forecast again… it didn’t look good, but hell I was optimistic and I pushed everything in and closed the rear door. My hubby looked at me in disbelief and asked me if we were going off again for a longer road trip like the last one to Spain.

 

We  arrived at the Base Camp to find the first few gathered together for a round of beer (and wine!) Those who came earlier has either topped the summit with a quick run (who else but Steve!) or sport climbed and bouldered.  After another round of beer, we decided to take off together with Stefan and Sibby and Nico, our official event photographer to check out the first boulders in Sundergrund. When we got back later that evening, the grill was ready to roast the meats, beers cooled in the river, the big tent was up, the Chill Out Lounge laid out with Edelrid Crash Pads and Black Diamond headlamps that lit up the night. Many more bloggers arrived and dinner was “served” with self-made salads, Obatzda, sausages and meat roasts, beer, wine and lots of good vibes.

The weather forecast held their promise and didn’t make any mistake. The big rain came and stayed. Not only did it rain, but the temperatures dropped the following night, bringing snow white tops to the summits nearby. The rumoured and feared “Eisheilige” arrived.  The motivation was nevertheless high and we all left in different groups to boulder and hike the day. A few of us checked out the Schettla’s Boulderhalle in Mayrhofen. Together with Uli from AufdenBerg, Erika from Ulligunde, Stefan and Sibby from Klettervirus, Jörg and Claudia from Minimulis and Magda from RadundFuss  we had the cosy and light filled gym for ourselves. The weather was no better that evening, but it was the perfect time for a session of Trek n’ Eat in all variations and sorts, and ended later for some of us only in the wee hours of the morning.

Looking out of the window the next day we knew there was not much hope for sunshine. Martin and Dalton from Crazy Climbers feared not the wet and bouldered in Magic Places, bringing back great shots like the one above. Highly motivated hikers Jens, Steve, Uli and Angelica  rounded the Steinerkogl that day. Another group hiked up the other direction. Our Motto for that weekend was definately “Bei gutem Wetter kann es jeder”  (which means “Everyone can do it in good weather”) We were all motivated and quoting Angelica with her  “We survived Zillertal’s Bloggertreffen 2013!” Yes, and we all do deserve a t-shirt souvenir, don’t we ?! 😉

Many Thanks to Wiebke and the Bergfreunde Team for all the organisation and giving us a chance to get a step closer to all those out there who shares the outdoor passion with us. It was really, really great!

Let’s do it again, SOON!

Check out what the others who were there too experienced:

• Jörg from Minimulis.de
• Erika  from Uligunde
• Andreas from Rad und Fuss
• Sebastian from 0817.de
• Angelica from Wandernbonn
• Christian from Outdoorblognews
• Jens from Hiking blog
• Uli from Auf den Berg
• Steve from Up to the Top
• Dalton from Crazy climbers