A month in Innsbruck, Austria

Thoughts after moving to a city near the mountains to see how I feel for a month.

✍️ Here’s a list of things I learned about moving to Innsbruck.

I’ve kept this blog for more than 5 years now and called it the ‘Mountain Diaries’ which is very ironic considering I spent majority of those years in Berlin, one of the flattest (?) cities in Europe.

As much as I loved the city for its freedom and openness, its artsy music scene, the countless events and communities of all niches, the greenery and parks, the lakes, diversity and international community, the tech scene, the startup scene … not to mention friends and relationships I’ve built over the years.

But I just missed the mountains.

So when I heard that an acquaintance of mine was looking for someone to take over her room in Innsbruck, I thought ‘why not’?

It took me a while to really commit to the decision though I must say, and I also didn’t have the courage to sublet my Berlin room straight away (in case I needed to come running back) - I was scared of moving, of re-basing, of moving to a city I didn’t know anyone, without a good reason (e.g. a job, a study program etc) Especially now that I know how hard it is to start from scratch in a new city. Would I be able to make friends? Would I not be lonely?

But like any decision, it’s always better to take action than to choose not to. So I did.

Week 1: Be patient, first week is never easy #

I landed in Innsbruck without having ever visited the city before, and I’m not sure if moving to a city you’ve never visited is a completely nonsensical thing to do or an actually kind of smart (in hindsight, more on this later)

I just knew that Innsbruck would be a city I might enjoy, based on multiple people I’ve interacted with in the past (it’s funny how these chance encounters and casual conversations with random strangers plant a seed of an idea in you that just seems to grow over the years)

I do believe that one should commit to a place for at least a few weeks before deciding whether the place is a right fit for them or not, and I feel like a weekend trip to Innsbruck wouldn’t have really helped anyway. I might have hated it and decided never to move. But then again, maybe taking a sublease for a month or two before renting out an unfurnished apartment would’ve been a smarter thing to do.

The first few days were tough - I felt like I missed my friends in Berlin all of a sudden, feeling FOMO from all the artsy events I was missing out on that I never would’ve attended anyways, and wondered ‘Are existing friends and relationships more important than exploring a new city or a place to live that felt more ‘right’?’

I was here in Innsbruck to do one thing - to be outside, to go climbing, trail running - things I knew already I would enjoy. So I set myself a goal of attending as many related events and communities as I could.

I also set myself a goal that I would go running every single day for the next 30 days and climb the height of Everest while doing it (because why not) - when you don’t have a job or a study program tying you to a place, you need to come up with some kind of a made-up goal or a reason for a bad day when you’re contemplating on every decision in your life. Let’s see how that goes.

Some highlights:

Went climbing outside!
Hiked to and swam in Möserer See
Joined the first Innsbruck Parkrun
Ran the Zirbenweg
Climbed in Kletterzentrum Innsbruck
Ran to Umbrüggler Alm and had coffee all before work

I was calling a friend and he pushed me to attend any meetup/event I found slightly interesting, so I did. I hadn’t done this in a while - in Berlin, I rarely joined a new community anymore and stuck to existing friends or activities I knew I enjoyed already.

I joined a German language meetup, where I met some people who invited me to some hiking and climbing Whatsapp groups. I also found a Whatsapp group for outdoorsy girls in Innsbruck where I met some climbing partners - and went climbing outdoors with them on weekends and even weekdays (!!!).

I also joined a bunch of running groups in the morning

I discovered the joy of eating out in the huts, of hiking up a mountain afterwork, sleeping on the mountain top with just your sleeping bag, looking up at the stars.

It’s interesting how the environment shapes what’s considered ’normal’ - for example, here in Innsbruck, it’s normal for everyone to commute on their mountain bike, normal to go on bike + hike, to do at least 2 sports (seriously), most people climb (it’s a matter of how often). WGs I’ve been to have hangboards, homemade system boards in their basement (!?) …

Some highlights:

Joined a few community runs (morning and afterwork trail runs)
Did my first easy klettersteig called Glungezer Sagen Klettersteig Tulfes (A/B grade), not sure if I really enjoyed constantly having to clip and unclip, eager to do something a bit harder.

Week 3: Finding a routine #

I more or less have a routine now - I wake up, go for 1 - 1.5h trail run, login to do some work, sometimes work from the climbing gym, meet up with some new friends and go climbing outside/run/hike/swim in a lake … I’m eating healthier, my bulimia is a lot better, I’m in a better mood in general.

Some highlights:

Got to see some professional climbers leading up to the week of IFSC Climbing World Cup in Innsbruck. The gym is partially open to the public during the day even during the World Cup so I got to climb next to them (or mostly watching & admiring)
A few easy multipitches around Innsbruck with J, so much fun!
Attempted hiking Habicht but retreated at the Innsbrucker Hütte due to bad weather, still fun though
Vertical 1000m climb up to Seegrube from Innsbruck city center (4km) was hard but satisfying and doing it in a group was super fun

Week 4: What’s next? #

I keep bumping into people I met in the past few weeks I’ve lived here and it reminds me how small the city feels compared to places like Berlin or Tokyo. Do I like that? I’m not sure yet but coming here has opened me up to a lot of different outdoor activities I’d be interested in getting into and mountain ranges. It’s so easy to meet people with similar hobbies here. I do wonder how I would like it here in the winter, or if I get injured and can’t do sports, how things would feel for me then. But it sure feels good to be surrounded by mountains and the accessibility to trails.

I did manage to run every day for 30 days with 8000d+ which I’m a little proud of.

Next Steps #

Want to get into more alpinism (basic mountaineering course, glacier course)
Big wall climbing & multi-pitching
More trad climbing
Ski touring in the winter!
Dry tooling and ice climbing?
Connect with female mountaineers (start a podcast?)
Bike touring, mountain biking
Try out other mountain areas in the Alps (Annecy? Pyrenees? Chamonix?)
Run a UTMB trail race
Run an ultra 50k+
Do something for the community
Volunteer at a sporting event (maybe next climbing world cup?)

Week 1: Be patient, first week is never easy #

Week 2: Show up, be social, reach out #

Week 3: Finding a routine #

Week 4: What’s next? #

Next Steps #