austrian alps – 4

My main
idea was to see snow. For this I would need to reach the higher regions of the
mountain where it had not yet melted. Every now and then it would look like we
were almost at the top, but as soon as we reached that point, another point
would come up which looked like the top. But so far there had been no snow. I
started to tire from the steep ascent and the frequency of our brief moments of
rest increased.

 

But we
kept going relentlessly and finally saw it. It was first in small patches…

 

 

but as we
kept going further and futher it became denser and denser, and finally we
reached the point where it was a thick white carpet.

 

 

 

 

 

The whole
journey had been too thrilling for me to bother too much about getting tired –
but now I felt my battery had run a bit low. We decided to head back and I
discovered that going downwards turned out to be much much tougher than I had
imagined. It was also starting to get late, and we had to get back soon and we
tried to make brisk progress wherever it was possible.

 

Finally
David took me to a road and we simply walked back – this was of course a longer
route, but less risky than climbing down a slope so it would save time anyway.

 

 

Finally
when we made it back to the farm house – I was absolutely ecstatic at my journey
and wanted to tell Ralf all about it. But there was no time – one of the cows
in the farm was about to give birth. Kramer had told us about it earlier, but
the exact time hadn’t been certain.

 

Ralf,
Doris and me watched with bated breath from a distance the amazing sight of a
calf emerging from the cow. We were all very still and silent and at a distance
so as to not disturb the cow. Only Kramer was next to it, lending it a helping
hand.

 

 

The birth
was successful, but something was wrong. The calf was very very still. Kramer
tried to get it moving… tried to get it on its feet and drink milk – even gave
tried giving it some artificial respiration – but it just kept falling back
into a slump.

 

 

He went
out and called a vet, even in this remote area they are well connected. While
they waited for a vet to arrive, Kramer kept attempting to revive the calf.
Everybody was extremely tense about the situation. The cow seemed to be totally
exhausted.

 

But
somehow something clicked… the calf suddenly kicked to life and sprung on its
feet. It was a moment of joy really.

 

 

Finally
there was a family get together with relatives from other places joining in. It
was fun, everybody had to hunt for Easter eggs… and I even found one having my
name – misspelt as Sanchey but my name nevertheless. Anyway the important part
was that it contained some chocolate!

 

Sanchey
was what everybody used to call me after all my failed attempts to correct the
pronunciation. The trouble was that the letter j is pronounced as “ya” in German,
and there is no equivalent at all in the entire language for the pronounciation
of “J”. Of course this leads to Yava and Ayay Yadeya but that’s another story.

 

Drove back
later through some very foggy weather and a very long dark tunnel.

 

 

 

 

the end