No outdoor excursions during the corona pandemic? No way! Not for us at Salem! On 1 October 2020 the students of Year 10’s German-language track didn’t undertake the traditional glacier excursion, but instead hiked up to the pre-alpine Hochgrat summit (1,834 meters high). After a two-hour drive to Bavaria’s Allgäu region, we began the uphill climb, bundled in warm jackets and with rations in our backpacks. Ahead of us lay a hiking trail that could take up to three hours to complete, covering more than 850 meters in altitude. Since we had to distance ourselves by means of delayed starts, we hiked in smaller class groups. In this way we had the chance to get to know each other and deepen the bonds within our class groups.

For some the hike was quite tiring, but everyone had a good time. Along the way we encountered not only other friendly hikers, but also quite a lot of snow. We had a snowball fight against our teachers which we were even able to win. A few hikers were able to reach the mountain-top restaurant in under two hours, while other small groups straggled in one after the other. Most of us were happy to relax in the restaurant, but a few highly motivated hikers even conquered the remaining 100 meters of altitude to visit the cross at the summit. In the restaurant we all enjoyed a well-deserved and delicious warm meal. And everyone took pleasure in the panorama view of snow-covered mountains before boarding the gondola cable cars back to the base station. There we found our bus waiting to give us a relaxing ride back to Salem, and to our evening study hall.

Eileen Mühe (10D3) and Ariane Hellenbach (10D1)