This is a rather attractive although some might say cliched Tirolean property. Whilst most things in life are subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I just say kudos to the owner who has created a floral balcony for their own pleasure as much as for anyone else’s:
In one of those why/why not photographic moments, this scene of freshly-cut lumber was encountered alongside a road on the edge of forest between the Schwarzsee and the Geiringer Weiher swimming lake. Who can say what the timber’s future life will go on to consist of, but such an amount of boughs and logs will in all likelihood have been hewn for a specific purpose. Either way, I doubt it made a dent in the overall percentage of land around, above, and beyond the Schwarzsee that is forested:
Topping out above nearby Brixen im Thale the Zinsberg gondola is a very new, extremely modern, and reassuringly comfortable cableway which on this occasion it was far better to travel than arrive. Now, that is not a harsh critique of the admittedly extensive walking available from its top station to the likes of Hopfgarten, Ellmau, and Soell, but the photograph speaks volumes as to not only the poor to non-existent visibility from its 1,667 metres above sea level top station, but also the futility of trying to hike to the aforementioned destinations in such conditions. It could with some justification be asked why I journeyed to altitude on such a day, but sadly my schedule could not accommodate it at any other time. It does though represent a priority for the ‘next time’ and I can at least confirm that the cleanliness of the toilets at Brixen’s middle station were beyond reproach:
Once besmirched as conspicuous a blot on the landscape that you will ever find, the communications tower used by state broadcaster ORF that unashamedly protrudes from the Kitzbueheler Horn’s summit is now as iconic as the mountain it sits atop, offering an intriguing cross valley counterpoint to Kitzbuehel’s Hahnenkamm-dominated visible mountainscape, and in the individual and collective consciences of the town’s visitors and residents.
A solid hulk of reinforced concrete, first planted like a summit flag by a conquering mountaineer in the late 1960s, the transmitter is visible for many miles around and serves as a useful reference point from which to orientate the immediate and relatively distant Kitzbueheler Alps. Whilst acting as a dramatic focal point the transmitter continues to serve a very real purpose – as it obviously should do if such a controversial edifice is placed in such a noticeable location – and is not a tourist attraction that can be visited insomuch engaged with, although those who travel to the Horn’s summit can get up close and personal with the tower’s exterior.
There is a certain synonymity about the transmitter being a leitmotif for man’s indifference, even animosity, towards his surroundings – something the Alps in general has suffered from for some time. However, abstract from the questionable need for so many ski lifts and their often polarising designs, it does at least earn its corn and was presumably chosen as the ideal geographic location for what was likely a blackspot for receiving ORF’s radio and television output. To think otherwise would just take one’s mind down the road of the transmitter being a maliciously located carbuncle but no, it has to remembered that such alpine locations are needed to ensure egalitarian access to broadcasting services:
Further information:
Geiringer Weiher: https://waldbad.me/
All photographs are the copyright of Charles Bowman, and may not be reproduced without express permission from and full acknowledgement of the rights holder.
Alpine Adventures, Soccer, Central Asian Autocracies & Secessionist Politics 
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