Canyoning!!

We still had a few days left of block leave, so Jay and I decided to head down to Austria to go canyoning! What is canyoning you ask..... a life threatening event taking place in a canyon that includes jumping, repelling, and sliding off cliffs into snow run off. Sounds crazy, yes, you are correct!!

We left for Garmisch Friday night, went to Edelweiss Resort to check in and get our voucher. We stuck around for a couple hours, using their plug in to watch a movie on our computer. After that, we were ready to sleep. We pulled off on a side street in Garmisch and slept in the trunk for the night. We layed the back seats down flat opening into the trunk, making a bed. We layed out a sleeping bag, Jay took the sheet, I took the blanket, and off to sleep we went. When we woke up in the morning, we were both freezing. The temp was in the 40's and it was raining. Definitely not a good day to be outside. We went back to the resort and asked the desk if canyoning was still going on. They said it will be, rain or shine, as long as it wasn't lightening. She asked if we were staying on the economy since she didn't see our names in the hotel registry. Jay and I looked at each other, then said yes. After we walked out, Jay thought we should have told her we were staying IN the economy.... an economy car!!

We drove down to Haiming, Austria for canyoning. It was still absolutely freezing outside and raining. We were given full wet suits, including socks and a hood. We also put helmets on and harnesses. We took a taxi ride up a mountain to 1750 meters. Once we got out, we had a quick saftey briefing. We were told that we had to walk and we had to repell, but if we didn't want to jump or slide, there were ways around it. Then, we went to our first spot. To our dismay.... to get down into the canyon, we hooked up to a bridge and basically did a free fall from it. Our guide stopped the rope a foot above the water and then lowered us into it. I was in tears as I was watching everyone else go. I wasn't so sure I could do this. Once we got into the canyon, we did a lot of walking through the water, repelling down cliffs, sliding down rocks, and we even jumped off 20ish foot rocks into the water. It was freezing cold out and the water was even colder. We eventually became numb that we could barely feel it. I shivered the entire time and my lips were purple. Besides the cold temps, it was amazing! We had a ton of fun and Jay really wants to do it again.

We finished around 5:00 and thought we better head for home because it was a four hour drive. But, we decided we should head to Innsbruck first since we hadn't been there yet. It was the last place in Austria that we wanted to go, and didn't really want to make another drive down there, so we went for it. We went to the Olympic ski jump and then walked around down town. We spent a lot of money in a short amount of time, but got some neat things.

We got a pair of sweatshirts, matching yes, but we figured we would never wear them at the same time.