Alpine first ascent

On the “Great World Space Trail” across the lunar landscape

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

(Bild: Markus Zucker/markus-zucker.de)

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 high alpine crossing from Bad Ischl to Hinterstoder.

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.

Push yourself to your limits and surpass yourself
Here, the comfortable everyday life and the familiar comfort zone are left behind. The huts where you spend the night are mainly mattress dormitories and the lack of water in the stony desert makes things you take for granted in "normal life", such as a daily shower, impossible. The path itself is a constant sweaty up and down over stone and scree in the summer heat with no shade. This makes it all the more refreshing to jump into one of the cold and clear mountain lakes along the way.

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. The audio experience is. Conceived by Christoph Viscorsum and Andreas Hagerlücken as an audio work of art 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.

A birth at sunrise
So-called "listening rooms" accompany the hikers along the way. Audio files consumed via headphones, which unfold their special effect in special places. 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.

Great World Space Trail

• A project of the Bad Ischl parish church: 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, useful information:
  big-world-space-path.info

On the second day, we set off from the Ischlerhütte shortly before three o'clock. It's pitch dark and I try to block out my tiredness in the light of my headlamps. 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. This is probably one of the most fascinating and intense moments of the Great World Space Trail.

Living animal kingdom in the Totes Gebirge
From the Hochkogelhaus, the trail leads through high alpine terrain. Rocks jut out of the landscape like bare bones and in places give the impression of being lifeless. I pause again and again, becoming 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, alpine salamanders, snakes, eagles and beautiful plants such as the limestone bell gentian on our way.

Connecting paths lead from every hut into the valley. This is good if you only want to walk a section, and also practical for those hikers who can't do the whole tour in one go. 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?"