Update and stay tuned

Since my last post I have spent some incredible days as I headed further east along the Alps. To report very briefly with more detailed blogs to come; four days in northern Italy exploring the stunning Dolomite Range and visiting a series on amazing museums all on various mountain themes built by world famous climber Reinhold Messner. Then I even got to meet and have my photo taken with him – a rather neat experience. Into Austria for a couple of days of exploring castles, art museums, and spending time hiking up among the alpine meadows and glaciers. Across the border into Slovenia for a glorious relaxing day in the "almost too idyllic to be true" town of Bled before setting off on my own for a really tough two-day climb to Triglav, the famous highest peak of this beautiful little country (the mountain even features on their national flag).

The massive north face of Triglav.

The next day back into Austria to meet my guide Marcus and together we climbed a wonderful mixed rock and ice route (the highest level of technical climbing I've ever done) to reach the top of Grossglockner, the nation's highest peak at 3,798 meters (12,461 feet).

Grossglockner - up via the Stuedlgrat route on the left ridge then down via the ridge on the right.

After an incredible month of climbing in the Alps I am now going to spend a few days of not doing much. Reaching the highest summit of five countries in five weeks has been a once in a lifetime experience and I've loved every second of it all. But I am tired, my legs are sore and feet hopelessly blistered, me and my clothes kind of stink, I am way behind on my blog, and I'm ready to start eating three meals a day hopefully putting back on a little of weight I've lost with these demanding climbs. So, stay tuned as I get caught up on sleeping, laundry, eating, and of course, blogging. Cheers.

Time for chilling out in the Austrian Alps.