Going off with a bang

Dynamiting the rock face which threatened traffic onthe road below

It seems as if everyone is holding their breath. We’ve enjoyed three months of cloudless skies broken only by two short bursts of snow. Now on the north-facing slopes where the sun no longer reaches, there is deep frost, the rime crunching underfoot, the crystals standing tall and packed together like a micro-Manhattan.

Now, though we are ready for the snow, there is no sign of its arrival: creeping up in the night, laying a sound-deadening blanket over the land or blasting down from the mountain and whipping with the wind into corners and crevices. The first Advent Sunday is just about here – the atmosphere is not the same without the snow when we hunker down cosily with candles and glühwein, coffee and biscuits.

One event went off with a bang this week. The Bogensperger Palfen, a rock face which showered tons of rock across the road between Lend and Embach in August and had not been fully cleared, was dynamited to send a further 1000m³ of shale down into the valley. Care had to be taken not to blast it on to the railway or into the river. Now this has to be cleared before we can drive directly to our sister village down below. The event was seen on TV and watched by many residents.

(For why this is called the Bogensperger Palfen - see Bogenspergers in the News - this blog and for what happens to the spoil, see Moving Mountains)

Meanwhile, the only other road out of Embach has suffered a rock slide which also means a long diversion. It is the same whichever direction we take from here at the moment.

Something else went off with a bang: Sunday was the annual Advent Market organised by the Katolische Frauenschaft (something like the Women’s Institute) with hand-made Christmas decorations, seasonal foods and an amazing number of huge creamy cakes for immediate consumption. A great deal of time, effort and creativity go into putting on such a display and it is enjoyed by whole families who crowd into the Gasthof where it is held .  To mark the 20^th of these markets, there was a free mug of glühwein for all visitors.



TV news reported on the dynamiting of the rock hanging over the road between Embach and Lend