Dead Mountains

The Great World-Space-Walk

Natural wonder: the birth of a human being, associated with the birth of a new day.

(Bild: Markus Zucker)

Six days of hiking far away from civilization in the stony desert of the Totes Gebirge, spherically accompanied by fourteen listening and experience spaces. The "Krone" was there for the first ascent.

Even as an experienced hiker, I reached my limits at times this time. The Great World Space Trail is no walk in the park. Walking through the largest limestone karst area in Central Europe is challenging - both physically and mentally.

Here, you leave behind the comfort of everyday life and your usual comfort zone. The huts for overnight stays are mainly mattress dormitories and the lack of water in the stony desert makes things that are taken for granted in "normal life", such as a daily shower, impossible. The trail itself is a constant sweaty up and down over stone and scree in the summer heat with no shade.

INFO

• The Great World Space Trail is a project of the Bad Ischl parish church: www.salzkammergut-2024.at/projekte/grosser-welt-raum-weg
• Up to six daily stages in the mountains - a total of 56 kilometers, 3000 meters in altitude, 14 audio listening rooms
• Good physical condition, sure-footedness and adequate equipment required - trekking poles, Grödel for snow fields (July to September)
• Packing list, interesting facts: www.grosser-welt-raum-weg.info

A dip in one of the cold and clear mountain lakes along the way is all the more refreshing. Despite all the difficulties and restrictions, at the end of the challenging tour, the feeling of happiness that I have made it prevails. A special experience that allowed me to grow - even beyond myself.

Together with 37 like-minded people, I started the first ascent of the Great World Space Trail from Bad Ischl to Hinterstoder on July 7. The route is not new. But the audio experience is. Conceived by Christoph Viscorsum and Andreas Hagerlücken as an audio artwork as part of the European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl 2024, the route leads out of everyday life in six daily stages on a section of the Welser Höhenweg.

So-called "listening rooms" accompany the hikers along the way. Audio files consumed via headphones that unfold their special effect at specific locations. Prominent speakers such as musician Hubert von Goisern, mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and cultural scientist Aleida Assmann enrich the listener with their thoughts: "I walk very slowly, very consciously, I walk uphill. Am I still the same as I was five steps ago?" On the steady ascent from the Rettenbachalm to the Ischlerhütte, I listen to the first tracks, which now accompany me harmoniously for six days through the high alpine hike.

A birth at sunrise
On the second day, we set off from the Ischlerhütte shortly before three o'clock. It is pitch dark and I try to block out my tiredness in the light of my headlamp. The goal is the sunrise under the Schönberg. And while individual veils of mist mystically drift through the green landscape of the Salzkammergut below us, the first rays of light make the dewdrops on the grasses shine like sparkling diamonds, we start the audio file just in time for sunrise, in which midwife Anne Tlach talks about the processes involved in giving birth.

A path full of contrasts: rock, water and vegetation.

(Bild: www.markus-zucker.de)

This is probably one of the most fascinating and intense moments of the Great World Space Trail. From the Hochkogelhaus, the trail leads through high alpine terrain. Rocks protrude from the landscape like bare bones and in places give a lifeless impression.

Living animal kingdom in the Totes Gebirge
I pause again and again, becoming more and more a part of nature. The terrain with the sinkholes (funnel-shaped depressions in the karst) resembles a bizarre lunar landscape. But this stony desert is by no means "dead". Even in this barren environment, nature manages to unfold its beauty with all its might - we see chamois, eagles, alpine salamanders, snails and snakes on our way.

Connecting paths lead from every hut into the valley. This is good if you only want to walk part of the way and also practical for those hikers who can't do the whole tour in one go. Whether six days or less: the Great World Space Trail was created to stay and offers unforgettable views, inspiring moments and stimulating thoughts as a nature experience with listening experiences. "Am I the same now?"