The Pot of Gold

Embach receives plenty of weather. Not just balmy summer days, or brilliant, crisp winter sun, but every so often, boisterous, rough weather.

Perched on a plateau 1000m above sea level, Embach is easy prey to the elements blasting along the Salzach valley from both east and west. From the south, the Rauris valley opens out just on the corner of our plateau bringing occasional hot föhn winds and sometimes Sahara sand.  To the north beyond the Salzach valley is the 3000m Hochkönig from where the winter snows often blanket the village.

At this time of year, the hot, sunny days often end with a storm. We can see them approaching like a black wall along the valley to the west. Then violent winds preface thunderous rumbling, wild flashes around the neighbouring peaks and crashing rain. Within an hour, the drama is passed, the air sweet and fresh and the rumblings fade into the distance.

Every so often a rain shower interrupts a sunny day and then we are often blessed with a brilliant rainbow. A recent example dropped its pot of gold right on one of the village’s guest houses just as the guests were eating breakfast…what a shame they missed the spectacle.

Eyes down for a new view

A spectacular day. Air clear as glass. Embach’s “house mountain”, The Rauchkögel beckons. Calendar quality glimpses of the Hochkönig in the distance as the climb begins. Two and a half hours later, standing beneath the shining aluminium cross at the summit; there’s a huge, magnificent view in all directions. 

But at this time of year, there’s another good reason for a day’s hike into the mountains: the wild flowers are at their best. Nature’s pallet contrasts the blue of the sky with the vivid green of the grass and peppers it with purple, yellow, white, orange and red.

Lower your eyes from the distant view to focus on the tiny white blooms clinging to bare rock and to the opulent Almenrasuch with its bold daubs of colour splashed across the mountainside.

The Almenrausch - daubs of colour splashed across the mountain

Then, heading back down, a friendly welcome awaits at the Tischler Alm or Maschl Alm for some well-earned  bread with cheese or speck and maybe a beer before strolling back to the village.

The Tischler Alm nestles beneath the Bernkögel

Bride stolen at the fairytale wedding!

Fairytales can come true. For 20 or so years the family M from Cologne have been coming to Embach for their winter holidays, often with friends. Mr and Mrs M brought along their daughter Freddy and over the years became part of the village’s winter scene. However, the family M never came in the summer.

This year for the first time, Mr & Mrs M came in the spring, because one winter in one of the local pubs, Freddy had fallen for Fritz a local farmers’ boy – or he had fallen for her, and at the end of May the village resounded to the sound of wedding bells.

This was in every way the traditional Embach wedding which has not changed for decades. For an “incomer” to be part of such an event is to feel at once part of the community and at the same time an outsider. There is a ritual to follow, everyone knows the procedure and is in the right place at the right time.

First, the gathering in the village centre: the drinks flow and the band plays. Everyone is lined up behind bride and groom in strict order for the march to the church led by the 50 strong band…who stop playing at the point where the hill gets too step to walk and blow at the same time.

After mass, the happy couple troop back down the hill to be greeted by whatever club the groom belongs to – in this case the guys of the Krampusrunde (see Monsters on the Rampage blog) who put on a sketch involving men in skirts and wigs, schnapps, tractors and mowers – one of those things an incomer won’t ever get a grip on.

The stolen bride

At this point the band grabs the bride and marches off with her while, in a rather newer tradition, the groom is stolen away by all the single girls. It is never revealed quite what happens because other guests are entertained in the intervening hour or so with coffee and a table groaning with cakes, but Fritz certainly looked a little flushed on his return. Finally, the band marches up with the bride and the couple are reunited.

The bride is returned by the village band

Inside the hotel, guests are entertained with music while everyone enjoys a meal and of course there is no end of gossip just like weddings everywhere.

The great line up

At some point, almost unconsciously, everyone has formed a long, long line. And everyone is clutching gift-wrapped boxes, envelopes, plants – even a cherry tree adorned with Mon Cheri chocolate balls. This is the formal time for everyone to personally wish the couple many years of happiness – and to give a wedding gift.  Half the village is in the line and a conveyor system is set up to store the gifts safely and transport them back home – envelopes go into a special locked, wooden box with a slot in the side.

More music and dancing. Here one feels the outsider again. Everyone can dance! They whizz round in the fastest polkas, looking so cool – leather shorts and dirndls – young and old, as natural as walking.

The Gedicht

The formal proceedings are not quite complete. Beware, if you are an Austrian from this part of the world. If you intend to get married, lead an entirely blameless life or your sisters will compose and read out a poem which exposes every daft thing you ever did. Between the verses the couple whirl around to a piece of music which was obviously designed for this occasion.

Finally, it is every man for himself – after almost 12 hours, formalities are over and the dancing continues into the night.

The fairytale is only just beginning. Family M will now be visiting Embach at other times of the year, not just for skiing. Freddy will be getting to grips with some of the things a farmer’s wife has to do and Fritz will one day take over the reins of the farm from the generations (of Fritzes) who have gone before.

As with all fairytales, no doubt, they live happily ever after.

Green day white night

After a blazing March with balmy days and clear blue skies, April is biting back. One day this week lunch was eaten on the terrace in the sunshine and following morning Embach was white as in deepest winter.

Nature, and the rest of us were caught on the back foot. Buds bursting out on branches are now blasted and iced. In the garden, bushes had been unbound from the bonds that bind them tight in winter, protecting them from the weight of the snow.

Skis and boots have gone to the cellar and bikes brought out of their winter sleep. Scarves, woolly hats and winter clothes, washed and put away. Cars are running on quieter, smoother summer tyres. Heating systems turned off or down. Garden furniture returned to the terrace and now stand snow-bedecked and uninviting.

A few Easter guests are arriving for the last of the skiing on snow that will be a little refreshed. As they leave, the first summer arrivals will be on their way.

In a day or two this icy reminder of the winter will be gone and the spring flowers that brightened the meadows will raise their heads once again. It will soon be time for putting up the Maypole a traditional sign that summer really is on its way.

The ski or bike dilemma

There’s something special about springtime. It isn’t just the crocuses blooming in the meadows and primulas in the hedgerows, nor is it the pong that pervades the air as the farmers spread the winter’s dung across the fields. What is special about spring is the choice of activities that are possible.

Higher up, there is still good skiing to be had. For Alpine skiers, the slopes are quiet, the lifts empty and sometimes, like last weekend, the snow is in perfect condition. Ski tourers (the hardy types who hike up on skis just for the single run down) are enjoying the opportunities for reaching yet one more summit before putting the skis away. All skiers at this time of year enjoy the chance to sit outside the mountain huts with food and drink, and take in the sun and scenery.

 

Heading home after the last run of the the year

The early spring and warm March has cleared the snow from the bike routes and so it was perfect, on the following day, to ride around the Untersberg, the great rocky mountain that looms over Salzburg and straddles the Austrian-German border. While buds were bursting out on the trees, and the woodland trails were lined with blossoms, the snowy peaks glistened white in the sunshine.

Plenty of others had the same idea, had hauled their bikes out of hibernation and were exercising muscles that, like their cycles, had little exercise during the winter. Alpine skiing doesn’t do much for the pedalling muscles – nor does it do much for the bits that in spring make renewed and painful contact with the saddle.

 

Signs of spring and snow

The only difficulty in the spring is to make a choice: shall we have one last run on the ski slopes, or get the cycling season off to a good start? The many active people of all ages here are currently facing this dilemma. But it is possible to do both, if you are really keen or just can’t make up your mind.

A perfect spring picnic a day after skiing