Snow covered mountains, bright blue skies, and a view as far as the eye can see – balloon drives above the alps are magical. At around 3000 meters above the sea level, you get to know a completely different kind of silence.
I was allowed to do this unique experience. Together with our regular guests and the wild boar balloon, we made our way to the starting point. The starting place is in Filzmoos at the “Hammerwiese”. We met a lot of other balloonists, who were setting up their hot air balloons.
We were looking for a suitable place and started to prepare everything. The set-up from the start to the finish took about 45 minutes. We slowly started into the air – this was a long-awaited dream from me, which finally came true. The sky above Filzmoos turned in all colours – and we were right in the middle of it with our yellow wild boar balloon.
We floated over Filzmoos in the direction of the big Dachstein. A few minutes went, and we were up high at 10,000 feet – these are about 3.5 kilometres. As you can imagine, the temperature is not so warm up there … if you ever go on a hot air balloon ride, be sure to dress well and put on very warm clothes!
I was lucky – the weather was fantastic, and the view was breathtaking. We had a wonderful 360-degree view, who left us speechless.
The balloonists stayed in contact with the car drivers on the floor. After 2 hours, we started with the landing. The wind brought us to Aich, this is in the neighbour federal state and is about 40 minutes far from the Neubergerhof. The drivers picked us up there and drove us back to the Neubergerhof.
At the end of this successful excursion, we had a hearty snack in the Neubergerhof. Of course, my balloonist baptism should not be missing – this is a duty for everyone, who has travelled in a hot air balloon for the first time. Have you ever experienced a balloonist’s baptism?
A big thanks go to family Suhr with their wild boar hot air balloon. You have fulfilled me a long-awaited dream and made me an unforgettable and wonderful day!
Martin Reiter jun.