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adventure & travel

Story | On the road with the Alpine Club's trail team

A voluntary work assignment

by Stephanie Jagl-Posch • 07/16/2016
Hammer in the marker post

Hammer in the marker post

Stephanie Jagl-Posch
When we are out and about in the mountains, we often hardly notice how many small details have been changed by human hands so that we can travel safely and enjoyably. We take path markings and signs for granted, and we usually don't think much about the use of handrails either. We often don't even realize how much work goes into building and maintaining trails. I volunteered to spend a weekend working on the trails team of the Südwien-Mürzer-Oberland Mountain Association. I wanted to gain an insight into what work is needed to make life easier for all those interested in the mountains and to actively contribute something myself.

When I arrive at the meeting point in Altenberg an der Rax at around 10:00, Otto from the mountain club is already waiting for me. He's going to teach me the art of trail maintenance today and tomorrow. After a short stopover at our accommodation, the Lurgbauer-Villa, we head straight on towards the Schneealm, as thunderstorms are forecast for the afternoon.

We drive up the forest road in the off-road vehicle and soon we stop - a signpost needs maintenance. We improve its fastening with better screws and immediately speed on to the next signpost, which needs cleaning. Next up is cleaning up the Kutatschhütte, an emergency shelter. Not all visitors leave the small hut as they found it. So that the next visitors can enter an inviting hut again, we fold the blankets neatly, dispose of the garbage and sweep the floor.

On the top of the Schneealm plateau, we take care of the small wooden poles with path markings. Some are crooked, some are wobbly, others are already too colorless. A red-white-red adhesive foil and a hammer are therefore used quite frequently. The wooden poles also all need a piece of barbed wire around them, otherwise the cows grazing on the mountain pasture will scratch and play with the poles until they fall over. We also check the distance between the marker poles, and where they are already too far apart to provide sufficient orientation in the fog, we hammer in an additional pole between them. We take a short break in the hut and then carry on: we use a touch-up pen to redraw the lettering on the signposts and touch up a few more poles.

Otto improves signposts

Otto improves signposts

Stephanie Jagl-Posch

Otto improves signposts

Stephanie Jagl-Posch

After that, we drive further down and walk a little way up to the Knappensteig, carrying a cordless screwdriver and a brush cutter for cutting grass. We attach a sign firmly to a tree and then cut out the Knappensteig in a few places. I've never mowed grass in the forest before, but there's a first time for everything! The mower gets heavier and heavier in my hands as time goes on and I'm glad that we finish our work at 17:00 because of the approaching thunderstorm.

After a very restful night at the Lurgbauer villa, we set off again on Sunday at 10:00 despite the rain. There are four of us today; in addition to Otto and me, Nikos and Peter have also arrived at the hut that serves as a materials store. We load up the off-road vehicle with the tools and then squeeze in. We drive up the forest road to the Nasskamm ridge and then discover that the railing along a section of the path up a steep slope is broken. The railing is broken in one place and two other parts are completely missing. An avalanche may have been the cause. So the target for the first job is found!

We take a closer look at the situation and find the missing pieces of railing. They have fallen down to the edge of the forest road. We first think about where which part might fit best and how we can best patch the individual parts back together. Then we start to pull a heavy wooden post with a rope up the slope to the path. A shorter post is hammered into the ground and the ends of the long post, which is to serve as a handrail, are expertly adjusted by Peter with the chainsaw so that they fit perfectly. We fasten the handrail with long nails and the first section of the railing is thus restored. The rain is getting heavier. We use a pathmaker's pick to hammer steps into the muddy path, as we have to be careful not to slip. The footholds created in this way provide much better support than a slope. We work for a total of 2 hours, then the railing is usable again.

Luckily, the rain starts to let up again and so we pack our paintbrushes, boat paint in red and white, posts with marking foil, the sledgehammer and the chainsaw and start the ascent. After about 20 minutes, we reach a meadow where it would be difficult to find our way in the fog. The existing marker posts are too far apart and the markings on the two trees at the start and end of the meadow are too faded.

Broken railing repaired

Broken railing repaired

Stephanie Jagl-Posch

So we make improvements. Nikos and Peter take care of additional marker posts and cutting out a marker on a tree, Otto and I freshen up the paint on the trees and make the marker even bigger. Then the first mission of the day is over and, after a short break, we drive down a bit.

Next, we follow a path on foot, where we hammer in additional marker posts and cut the grass around all the posts. This makes it easy to recognize the posts afterwards. Afterwards, we put the tools back in the car and round off the working day at Altenbergerhof.

After two days working in the path team, I'm a little physically tired, but I'm happy about the many new impressions. The hard work on Sunday was particularly enjoyable, as the success was immediately visible. I learned a lot. I wasn't really aware of all the work that volunteers do in the background to maintain a continuous and well-maintained network of trails.

I would like to take part in more assignments so that I can gain enough know-how to be able to make myself useful near my home later on.

Information on volunteering in the mountains can be found on the Alpine Club website.

This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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