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Published: October 1st 2007
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Lago di Como
calm water in the morning. wind to start by afternoon. mountains surround. 1 car, 1 toyata hiace (camper from the 80's) 3 Germans, 2 Americans, and several surfing boards and sails made their departure last friday early in the morning from Fischbach on their way to Lake Como.
morgan and i carried our bags to andreas' appartment. we drove to friedrichshafen to meet Gotti and Anja. we helped pack for an hour and then we were off. we drove around the bodensee, through austria, lichtenstein, and switzerland. we drove over the Spügelpasse. hairpin turns, switchbacks, curving mountain roads with no guardrails. the border between switzerland and italy was at the peak. the descent into the italian alps was just as unnerving. few kilometers traveled at such a slow cautious speed. we reached lake como in the afternoon. the lake reached as far as the eye could see. mountains surrounded the campgrounds on all sides. small towns dotted the shoreline. we wanted to make camp but the campground owners were nowhere to be found. so we all took a nap on the beach. after andreas and gotti did some factfinding we decided to camp at the next campground which was almost filled to capacity. we set up the vehicles, pitched the tent, unloaded
Winding Mountain Road
This is just before the Switzerland Italy border. Constant switchbacks for 2 hours up and then down the mountain. notice no guardrails. surfboards and sail and kayaks and wetsuits..... it was too late in the day by this point to surf so we made dinner together and talked and went to bed early. the men slept in the van and the women slept in the tent. andreas could not sleep with the noise in the van so he took his sleeping bag out onto the ground where he soon made enemies with a friendly dog that roamed the campgrounds. andreas grew to despise this dog. the next morning we ate breakfast together and gotti and anja went to work assembling the surfboards and the sails while morgan, andreas and i relaxed on the beach. gotti soon rushed us into ill-fitting wetsuits explaining the we needed to hurry into the water before the wind starts. one amazing thing about lake como is that in the morning the water is a mirror. there isnt a hint of wind. but then as the sun heats the mountains surrounding us the wind begins to gently blow. then by the early afternoon there is a consistent strong wind blowing which is why hardcore windsurfers and kiters love this lake. so we were given wetsuits to squirm into
Campsite
This was our home for a week. Andreas' car, the tent, and Gotti's van. and a board and a sail and we were put in the shallow waveless water. that first day all that we did was try to balance on the board and slowly pull the sail out of the water by a an attached tether. 8 hours of balancing on a board and pulling on a wet cord to pull a sail out of the water then falling into the cold water and trying again. this frustration was accented by the dozens of others around us simply standing on the board and deftly harnessing the winds power to slingshot them across the gaining waves. it just seemed so simple and effortless it was irritating. by the time the wind was at full force, as soon as the sail came up we were toppled over. it was time to quit. while gotti and anja windsurfed, andreas, morgan and i drove to find a shop to buy sunscreen and bread. we got lost in a small town and sat down for authentic italian gelato. after driving through 20km of tunnels in the wrong directions we found an italian shopping mall called 'fuentes'. andreas despised the size but we eventually found what we wanted. we
Josh Windsurfing
totally gnarly dude made our way back to the campgrounds and dinner was followed by some talk, chasing the friendly dog away, and sleep. the next morning we were in the water right after breakfast. i was sailing my first time on the board. morgan and i sailed easily back and forth with so little wind. by the afternoon morgan gave up on the strong wind but i couldnt stop. i caught ahold of the wind one time and rode it across the lake quickly. but i couldnt get back on. the wind was strong and i was tired and unexperienced and there were kiters and windsurfers zipping back and forth all around me. i swam with a surfboard and a heavysail in tow. early the next morning while everyone was asleep i took the kayak out into the calm lake. later morgan and i kayaked together into the middle of the lake and took in the beauty. i windsurfed when the wind came but morgan took the day off due to frustration. the next day was our last day at lake como because of a death in anja's family. she and gotti had to leave that night and would take the gear
Aquaman and Aquawoman
wetsuits are uncomfortable when they dont fit. with them. i had gotten the hang of windsurfing and worked on beach starts where from standing i let the wind catch the sail which pulled me up onto the board and so sailing was immediate with less work but needed more control. morgan had more fun swimming in the waves than fighting the board and sails. morgan found me and came up with an idea to hold onto the back of my board while i surfed. i was surprised to find that the wind pulled the board and i with morgan being pulled through the water. it was awesome.
we helped pack but soon got in the way. two germans had parked their retro red vw van with popup top nearby. axel and flo were very friendly. we started a fire with them and shared stories in their van as the weather turned and it began to rain. gotti and anja had left, so andreas morgan and i stayed at the campground one last night through constant downpour. we left the next morning and began our slow trek up the winding mountain roads toward the mountain pass. we soon found that what was rainfall at the lake was snowfall
Breakfast Time
the folding plastic table where we gathered for our meals. From left to right Andreas, Anja, Gotti, Morgan at the peak. when we reached the border at the peak, they told us to go back the way we came. the snowplow had gone through but it was still icy and drifting and without guardrails on 13% grades without chains we couldn't make it. so we drove back down through the mountains and took a 3 hour detour that led us to a tunnel under the snowy peaks. we drove the rest of the afternoon and stopped at the trainstation in Bregenz, Austria. we bought our tickets to Schladming, Austria at half price due to a well timed promotion and ate our last meal with andreas before he left for bodenseehof. after andreas left we sat at the bahnhof for 4 hours waiting for our train.
1 week camping with electricity double lot and warm showers on lake como
+3 meals per day
+fuel for2 vehicles across 4countries there and back
+wetsuits and windsurf gear
= €85 per person
next schladming and the austrian alps
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Michelle
non-member comment
You guys rock!
Ummm....you two rock!! Way to make dreams come true. It looks like you're having an amazing time. We wish we were there with you! Much love and many prayers, Michelle and Kevin.