Hiking through the decades

He was one of the very first hiking guides in Saalfelden Leogang – and he’s still out and about. He thoroughly enjoys it. But there’s one thing Edi doesn’t quite understand sometimes.

A true legend

“I’m still out and about quite a lot,” says Edi Hammerschmid, not without pride. By “out and about”, he means: in the mountains. It’s worth adding at this point that Edi, one of the region’s first hiking guides, is 78. And he’s still going strong. That’s why everyone in Leogang knows him. Or rather: everyone knows him. Edi enjoys it: “You can really feel the appreciation.” There was just one time when it was a bit of a nuisance: “I had a plaster cast on my hand. I could hardly leave the house because I had to explain to everyone what had happened.”

The important things

Edi completed his training as a hiking guide back in the 1980s. At that time, the qualified bricklayer began working as a school caretaker, and hiking fitted in quite well with the summer holidays and his generally flexible schedule. “There was a job advert from the tourist board,” says Edi. “Those were the very first hiking guide training courses ever. Up until then, the hotel managers had simply led the walks themselves.” First aid was the most important part of the training, he recalls. And being able to “read the weather”. Dealing with guests, on the other hand, was something you had to have a feel for. Edi finds this easy. “You just end up chatting about everything under the sun.” As a hiking guide, it has always been important to him that the group adapts to the slower members: “The fast walker can slow down, but the slow walker can’t speed up.” Logical.

Giving free rein to the imagination

Edi also really enjoys being out and about with children – even if it’s a bit trickier to find a pace that suits everyone when leading a group of children. “The faster ones are allowed to go on ahead a bit. But as soon as we come to a fork in the path, I whistle or ‘do the owl’, they have to stop. It works.” He is constantly fascinated by the children’s imagination and creativity. For example, when they build a miniature stable out of leaves and twigs in the woods and use pine cones as cows. “The things children come up with. It’s incredible. That really fascinates me.”

There is no such thing as bad weather,...

Edi isn’t at all surprised that hiking in Saalfelden Leogang is more popular today than ever before. “You don’t need much: good footwear, a rucksack and water.” Just go for a walk, really. Incidentally, Edi also goes out walking when it’s raining. It’s a highly recommended experience, he says: “You experience nature in a completely different way and gain a whole new perspective. I always say – whatever the weather – that you can walk the same path a thousand times and still discover something new every time.”

The stress stays at home

Edi has now been in the mountains with young and old for over three decades. He likes to listen to his guests, adapting to their different demands. There's only one thing Edi sometimes doesn't quite understand: "Some people already ask in the morning when we'll be back - because they still have something planned. They have stress even on vacation." But Edi also has a solution for "stress on vacation": "You just go off then. And then your head turns off - and you leave your cares behind."

 

Images: Florian Lechner