On the other side of the Eisack there is an excursion that leads to the same altitude where Oberbozen lies. I mean Kollern on its wooded mountain. The walk up there is much more pleasant, because almost from the Eisack you are constantly walking in the forest or at the edge of the forest while on the other side it takes hours to get away from the farmers' plantations. The Kollerner Berg is "shady" i.e. facing north, and it would not be worth growing vines on its soil, which receives very little sunlight. We already know the mountain above Kuepach, past the small chapel up to Seit, the mountain village. This is the further but more beautiful ascent to Kollern for those who want to enjoy wide views.
From Seit to Kollern, you pass through a young forest on beautiful, dense moss. The lights of Bolzano shine up through its rows of trees at night from the great depths. Emerging from the wilderness, we see Kollern, called Herrenkollern in contrast to the group of houses on the other hill, which are frequented by farmers.
During the summer, most of the "Frischler" are accommodated in a large inn, which was built with these guests in mind. However, we prefer the smaller inn, which keeps the thirsty hydrated at all times of the year. Of course, the food for the hungry is less good.
However, this is compensated for by the character of the good people. Now in autumn it is easier to socialise with them than during the summer holiday season. We get an idea of the hustle and bustle to which they are condemned in those days when we hear that, in addition to so and so many adult guests the simultaneous presence of 40 children at the summer resort is considered nothing unusual. And indeed, there are many things to recommend a stay here over in Oberbozen:
The fresh air at Kollern:
Kollern, although situated just as high, is not as far from the town as its favoured rival on the high plateau on the other side. The same cool air blows over both, but the people in Kollern are refreshed by the resinous scents of the forests that surround the fewer houses on all sides. The same forests provide the pilgrim with shade in many places on this mountain, while the path to the Ritten becomes a road of despair at all hours of the day from the heat rays that are just striking and reflected back.
But the thing to be praised most in Kollern is the water.
For its sake alone, and in order to take a refreshing drink to recover from the purging light that is drunk in the city during the summer, many Bolzano residents go up there. It sparkles from the bubbles of carbon dioxide that want to escape and is also said to contain a quantity of other healing additives that in a busier region would perhaps elevate it to the rank of so-called mineral water. It is certainly a fountain of health in the original meaning of the word, the source of the Kollern forests. I have no doubt that years ago, when the Ritten was still as forested as this mountain, equally cool waters collected under the protection of the forests. But since it has been inhabited or deprived of its trees by "forestry" practices, the veins in the sparse humus layer have dried out or become excessively warm.
The landlord has something else in his house that is reminiscent of a spa. It is a thick book, apparently printed around the middle of the 16th century, in which the "power" of many plants is described in detail. The first part of this work and the title page are missing. The good woodcuts depicting the plants were painted with watercolours by a contemporary artist.
This "herbal book", which promises effective remedies for all kinds of ailments, is held in high esteem by the local farmers and is often consulted by them with the owner's permission.
If staying on this high mountain ridge is obviously good for your health, you have to admit that you need a pleasing treasure of health to live here. The ascent and descent from the mountain to the town, from the town to the steep heights, exposes the lungs and muscles to strenuous tests. Although not Kollern itself, Kollerner Berg is on the shady side, so the snow does not disappear on it as soon as it touches the ground, as it does on the slopes of the Ritten. I have sometimes waded through deep snow here, while in Bolzano all the fruit trees were in blossom and spent no more than two hours on this crab walk from spring to winter. Nevertheless, the mildness of this stretch of sky is enough to thaw the snow a little where it is packed down, whereupon the wet thin layer is often transformed into black ice by the coolness of the night and the radiation into the thinner air.
If you chat too much with the landlord...
I have my own memories of what these crampons are all about, or rather what can happen to you if you don't use them.
I once used a cold January afternoon to see what people were doing up there in the snow and also to escape for a few hours from the plague of dust that was constantly being chased back and forth through the paths of Gries. The over-travelled ground did little to hinder my ascent, for I covered the distance just as quickly as in the snow-free period and enjoyed the advantage of being less plagued by sweat in the cold air than in the days of the long summer. Night fell unexpectedly over the chatter with the innkeepers.
I took comfort in the fact that at the same time the full disc of the moon became visible over the Ritten and the trees were already casting shadows in its light and the snowy slopes were covered in the golden flood before the sunset had even faded over the Mendel. The people warned me and tried to force the crampons on me, claiming that I wouldn't get down to the valley without them.
I did manage to get down, but only after five hours of groping, sliding and cursing my own folly, during which the moon's glow did not help me at all to walk straight across the sloping ice.
The comparison with the ox!
The hooves of all the animals here are also fitted with crampons. Some, of course, do not want to tolerate them and before the Kollern farmer can think about keeping an animal, he must first know whether it is also willing to be provided with this support for its movement. The only thing that amused me as I slid down that night was the comparison of my stubbornness with that of a mighty draught ox, which, as the landlord had told me earlier, showed just as little desire to put on crampons as I did.
The material ropeway, predecessor of the world's first aerial cableway
The steepness of the slopes can also be seen in another custom, which was, however, brought over from Welschland. Those who want to transport small pieces of wood, logs, shafts and bundles of branches down to the valley make use of a device that saves them the trouble of carrying these loads down the slopes, which are densely planted with trees, on their backs or in some other way. This device consists of the following.
At the top, where the bundles of wood are piled up to be transported to the depths, a wire rope is looped around the nearest best trunk, the other end of which is also fastened to the depths by the woodworkers. They take a pole, tie a bundle of wood to each end and place this pole on the steeply inclined wire, on which it glides down with its load. If you walk in the mountain forest, you can see the black stripe high above you and the treetops.
Of the flying dumplings...
Those who know nothing of the custom are astonished to sometimes hear a strange moaning and groaning in the air in the middle of the forest, similar to the singing of a telegraph line in the wind. Even food for the labourers is sometimes carried down in this way.
I learnt one day from a group of grumbling farmhands that things are not without their misfortunes when they opened the basket and found only one dumpling. The others had fallen out of the poorly stored basket due to the speed of their movements. Anyone who had been at the spot in question at that moment would no doubt have cried out in wonder at the beautiful dumplings that fell from the blue sky between the tall spruce trees at his feet, and the chronicle of natural wonders in the newspapers would have recorded a rain of dumplings as well as a rain of frogs, blood and sulphur.-The cost of such a wire, which may amount to several hundred guilders, is more than offset by the saving in labour.
A marvellous view from afar!
It goes without saying what the visibility is like at this altitude and in the area around Bolzano. On a beautiful autumn morning, lie down on the hill on top of the inn, which is marked by a land survey signal, in the dense forest and look out over the treetops, which stand namelessly still in the blue air, into the distant world. The peak of the Ortler lies on the edge of the Mendel like a triangular cut diamond.
It is well known that some poor peasants find the joy of the lords in such naked, snow-covered peaks foolish. Just in front of us, the Sarner Scharte, strewn with snow, rises out of the background of the long valley of the same name, which seems to be an insignificant trench running down from it into the Eisack valley. Of the other mountains, it is the Geisterspitze that is seen here just as beautifully as from Ritten.
The telescope sign language...
The houses on this mountain, with the exception of Klobenstein and other northern villages, are all clearly and tangibly visible on the green map; the distance as the crow flies across the narrow valley is so short. The summer holidaymakers in Kollern and on the Ritten are also used to communicating with each other by signalling and having meaningful conversations by means of signs. The parents of such children, who spend the agonising months of summer in the mountain coolness of Kollern to promote their growth and health, sometimes do something similar and want to make sure of their little ones' well-being every day without having to write letters or run errands.
From the town, you can't see the immediate surroundings of the summer residence itself everywhere; on the other hand, those in Kollern don't need to go far to reach a spot in the meadows or a clearing in the forest where you can see each other. An hour is set for the maid to appear at a certain place with the child. From below, the relatives look up with a telescope and perhaps also take note of all sorts of prearranged signs through which the maid sends them information about a few important matters.
Rubies and glowing coals:
No less splendid are the evenings, in the splendour of which above all the ghostly lace stands out, with whose redness in reality rubies, glowing coals and other bodies popular with poets for such comparisons cannot be put together. In this respect, the describer of the phenomena of this land is limited to simple mention.
"Like stereotypes to simple images". It is also worth noting the strange clouds that can be seen in the evening sky at this altitude due to the clear southern air.
These clouds often drifted along in the shape of a cylindrical ball, physically rounded, and relate to the haze trains seen outside in the north like stereotypes to simple images. Their appearance could also be characterised by the difference in which the full moon appears to a strong and a weak eye. The latter sees it as a disc, the latter as a sphere. Similarly, roundish clouds float through the air here in the evenings, which look like monstrous tree trunks that have suddenly become glowing through some process.
The way back
Many paths lead back to the town from the Kollerner Berge. You can go via Bad St. Isidor and Kampenn, via Virgl, you can come down in a straight line without a specific path. In 2 hours, everyone can get away from the forest grounds, on whose dry moss red heather blooms, on whose clearings young undergrowth stretches over dry piles of leaves, finally down to the river, whose sound is amplified by the lowest walls, into the vineyards and between the walls.