It was sunny and hot, very hot, as we arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen after visiting Berchtesgaden. The upside, however, was great views of the surrounding peaks. As we ate dinner that evening we debated whether we wanted to go up Zugspitze or Wank the next day.
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Zugspitze from the grocery store parking lot. |
In the end we decided to see what the weather was like the next morning. It was overcast, with a decent chance of rain. So, it was decided Wank was the answer. It was a pleasant walk from our hotel over to the base of the gondola, through some residential areas of the town.
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Wank, peeking out from behind a church. |
There was no line to get on the gondola, and we were soon heading up the hill. As we climbed, the views over the valley got better and better. There is a station halfway up where the cable makes a turn. We could have gotten off here and walked the rest of the way, but we were feeling lazy.
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Looking towards Zugspitze. Partenkirchen is closer, Garmisch farther. |
From the summit station it was a few minutes walk up the last few meters to the summit. There is a large cross at the high point, and a restaurant. For an activator, the best part was all the benches at and around the summit.
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Similar view, but from the summit. We sat on that bench to operate. |
We picked out a bench with a nice view, and I got on the air. There was cell service on top, using the Magenta SIM card we got in Vienna. This helped me a lot, being able to put out spots. Conditions had also seemed to improve after the bad time I had in Austria. I had no problem getting contacts, and even had a small pile up. One or two chasers "worked" me, but they were just calling over someone else.
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Playground and other stuff at the summit. |
Once I had tired of the unruly pileup, I packed up. It seemed like it was going to rain, but we never got more than a few drops. We walked around the summit area some before getting in the gondola back to the base. Later we went over to Eibsee for lunch, another picturesque area just outside of town.