"The last day of my first holiday alone in Austria I decided to go home with a smile. It was quite an insane attempt; about 12km and 1600 heigth meters on a late august day, exhausted from the active week. I wonder if I can still handle a trip like that today... From Vent I took the hike towards the Martin Bush Hütte through the beautiful Niedertal. After 3 hours I decided not to rest at the hut because I could not risk the extra time it required. The first part of the ascend is quite unsatisfying, mainly because you won't get to see your actual goal until you can basically lick it. From this side of the valley, Kreuzspitze is not visible and it takes a while before the view becomes interesting. To top that, when you reach the middle plateau around 3000m, it becomes a true Mario experience! Hopping from boulder to boulder is fun for 5 minutes, but the danger of hurting oneself kind of breaks the fun. After a gruesome hike through the barren 3000+ wasteland I finally reached the last climb to the summit. Suddenly the entire world appeared in front of me and I was totally flabbergasted! When I escaped the abysmal walls of the mountain, an entire sea of seemingly tiny mountain bu..." — nwpwillems • Aug 22, 2008