2010-01-03 47 10

Sun 3 Jan 2010 in 47,10: 47.8488458, 10.6673194 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

In a field close to highway B12, approximately 5 km South of Kaufbeuren. zb dragged Mar along and both enjoyed a wonderful day full of views that white winter picture postcards can only dream of.

Participants

zb and drag-along Mar.

Plans

The planning phase was first brief, then confusing, and finally as spontaneous as geohashing should be.

Expedition

It has been zb's wish for quite a while to spend a day on trains, particularly on a route that involves the Außerfernbahn between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Kempten (Allg.). A day like this just recently became his xmas present when Mar had suggested spending some time looking out of train windows and had thought about Jan. 3, 2010 being a good date for the adventure.

However, the weather forecast wasn't all too good for this particular weekend until early in the morning on Sunday, Jan. 3, when zb's alarm clock rang -- by accident -- at 6 a.m. As he was awake anyway, he saw the moon and stars on a clear and otherwise dark sky outside and decided to check the weather reports again. They expected cloudy skies over Bavaria, but a bit more sun towards the alps. He told Mar, who was still more asleep than in the mood for talking, that today might actually be really good for getting up early and going outside.

Just then, zb also thought about checking again for nice coordinates that might be somewhat close to one of the train stations they might pass through anyway. It was found that a spot near Kaufbeuren, in the Kempten graticule, might be reachable by foot within those every two hours that trains came through the town anyway. Hooray. zb carefully tried bringing up the issue during breakfast and suggested considering the idea further when they were on the train, meanwhile having printed and packed satellite images with a marker none the less.

What he hadn't checked during all the planning was the Sunday morning schedule of the subways to the main train station. zb and Mar left the house at 8:05 a.m. and hurried to the subway, only to find that there was no subway at 8:11, but only one ten minutes later, at 8:21. This looked bad in terms of reaching a train to Garmisch at 8:32 and also had serious potential towards devastating every other connection on their way via Reutte i. Tirol, Kempten and back. There was another connection two hours later, but spending these two hours in München Hbf was not as nice of an option as spending them in the Alps, or even geohashing. However, they took the subway anyway and found that they could do the trip the other way round, just now, on a Kaufbeuren-bound train that was about to leave München this very minute, with a delay of 20 minutes because a brake had done weird things. Yay. Sometimes, delays do come in handy.

What also came in handy was the fact that the train they had just jumped on would only go as far as the station of the geohash anyway, so it was easy to convince Mar to give it a try and use the stop in Kaufbeuren for both a geohash and the changing of trains that had to be done there anyway.

Schedules for the onward journey via Kempten, the Außerfernbahn, Garmisch and back to München were quickly checked at a ticket machine and off they went into what became a very bright and sunny geohash.

The pictures will tell the rest...

Photos

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  The train that brought us to Kaufbeuren.

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  Class 218.

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  Mar. She looks rather committed considering she's just a drag-along, doesn't she?

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  On our way South through Hirschzell. Alps in the Background.

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  Drag-Along Mar has nothing but the horizon as her limit to the coordinates.

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  Below, the fresh snow looks like a fluffy carpet.

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  And on towards the coordinates. Note how there is fewer and fewer clouds and more and more sun.

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  Some drawings in a tunnel below the B12 just north of the coordinates. Aliens are bound for Earth. The mission is set to: Party.

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  Looking W from the coordinates.

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  Looking E from the coordinates. You can't see the signs on google's satellite images, but you can clearly see how the road becomes narrow N of the location.

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  Looking S from the coordinates towards the mountains.

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  All along our way, the snow next to the path was untouched. Just where we found the location according to the surrounding landmarks, there were footprints by humans and dogs. We clearly were not the first ones at the location today, but were we the first geohashers there?

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  We marked the spot anyway...

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  ... and sported two Stupid Grins^tm

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  On the way back to Kaufbeuren...

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  ... the dogs that may have left the tracks in the snow were seen.

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  An Alex train is leaving Kaufbeuren for München. We would soon head on to Kempten on a similar train. Engine is a class 223 (Siemens ER20)

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  Another train provides entertainment while we wait in Kaufbeuren.

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  The altitude of the geohash.

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  Still in Kempten, but already on the tracks of the Ausserfernbahn, a very cool vehicle can be seen through the window.

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  Epiphany is on Janurary 6. You're some days early, folks! Also seen from the train between Kempten (D) and Reutte in Tirol (A).

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  Snow cannons are active on skiing slopes near Nesselwang im Allgäu.

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  Some 10 km above, there are naturally created snow crystals shining in the sun.

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  Not really a border geohash, since we had planned to come through Austria anyway. Honestly, I have to admit we would have done the trip w/o the geohash, too.

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  The train that had brought us from Kempten to Reutte.

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  Reutte in Tirol.

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  Later, we would even be taken to about 1100 m by another train on the Außerfernbahn.

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  Kempten-Reutte: Diesel. Reutte-Garmisch: Electric. This type of train is nicknamed strawberry basket.

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  Awesome.

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  Awesome.

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  Awesome.

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  Awesome.