Vierbergelauf – a non-believer on a christian pilgrim path

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In a world where so many bad things happen out of religious reasons, it’s more than easy not to follow any religion. Being unaffiliated with any religion showed its advantages already in my high school time and I was very happy that I was allowed to skip religious education. Instead I could go to school one hour later, go home one hour earlier or simply do my homework in between. Given that it’s a bit ironic that I turned out to be such a moralizer who really believes that the Ten Commandments build a pretty good framework for a fair-minded life. Anyway the only reasons I went to church in the past decades were either the architecture or weddings. The only thing that I skipped even more than churches were pilgrimages.

Several years ago I heard of a pilgrimage called the “Vierbergelauf” or the “four mountains run”. I was never interested to walk this path. First of all, I was too lazy to walk a total distance of 52km, 2500m difference in altitude divided between four mountains, which takes hours and hours of walking. Secondly, I was not too much into hiking in the past years. Luckily, I changed my mind and this year I decided to participate in this hiking madness.

The “four mountains run” can be misunderstood as a race. Originally, the word ‘run’ was used instead of the word ‘walk’. The 2500-6000 (depending on weather conditions) pilgrims walk 52km over the Magdalensberg, Ulrichsberg, Veitsberg and Lorenziberg, which are situated in the direct proximity to Klagenfurt, the capital of the region Carinthia in Austria. Some people believe that this tradition started long before Christianity. Anyway, we started as a group of 12 people from different countries and with different religious backgrounds but no one of us did it for a religious reason and I’m sure that most of the 6000 participants didn’t either. The challenge is just to reach the end of this backbreaking hike. That goal is even more impressive considering that it starts at midnight and you skip sleeping for that day.

We met at the bus station at 10pm and reached the roman excavations on Magdalensberg as planned at around 11:30pm. The small narrow road was totally blocked and I never saw such a traffic jam on a mountain before. The first mountain on this pilgrimage is the easiest because of the shuttle bus. From the excavations to the top it’s a piece of cake and we usually went there on sunny lazy Sundays to enjoy traditional food and the overwhelming view. This time it was around midnight and totally dark. Still there was enough to see. From the top you can see the city lights in the valley and an endless light chain from the cars and busses on the road. Exactly at midnight the masses started marching downhill. My body was tired and wanted to go to bed at that time of night, but very soon fresh air and cool temperature kept me awake. And to be honest, you can’t sleep just out of excitement. Thousands of people with their headlamps enlightened the path through the woods. Headlamps or at least a torch are a must on this hiking trip. From Magdalensberg till Ulrichsberg it takes ages to walk through the valley.

The good thing about this pilgrimage is the professional organization. Many taverns and farms are open during this event and provide food & drinks while you are taking a break. In regular taverns and pubs there are price lists, but private helpers who also offer everything that you need, ask only for a donation. This is brilliant because it’s very cheap and you don’t have to carry too much food and drinks in your backpack.

           Taking a rest after Ulrichsberg.

Ulrichsberg, the second mountain, is very tough. Most parts are steep and you run out of breath fast. At the top we made a break to wait for all the people from our group who got lost during the path. At that time we were only 11. Our youngest group member was always ahead. We started moving on because it gets too cold to sit on the ground for more than 20 minutes and no one wanted to risk catching a cold. On the way down it was maybe 6-7 am when the sun came up. I finally switched of my torch and more and more of the beautiful landscape unveiled.

Ulrichsberg in the distance and a hill inbetween – view from Veitsberg

The distance between each mountain is the biggest part of this hike. It feels like an endless march and you start to question why you’re doing all of this. I had my weakest moment between Ulrichsberg and Veitsberg in the morning hours, but giving up wasn’t a solution. Plenty of positive aspects made up for all the torture. One of them is that you get to know your hiking mates better. There’s plenty of time to start chatting with friends that you haven’t seen for ages or to get to know strangers.

In the valley between Ulrichsberg and Veitsberg a member of our group left us because she had to work in the afternoon. Another one had serious problems with his knee and two of us stayed with him to walk slower and help him. Reduced to only 7 people out of 12 we made our first bigger break with free “Leberkäsesemmel” and free beer, which were a promotional tasting from a brewery and butchery. We walked for almost 10 hours already but still had around 60% of the path left, which was a bit discouraging. Also the steep lawn straight after the village and the fact that it’s not all flat between the mountains require a strong will to keep on walking. There’re always some small hills in between and it goes up and down.

      2500 – 6000 pilgrims every year on their way over four mountains (and many smaller hills)

The third mountain Veitsberg is the steepest. Although it takes longer to go up the Ulrichsberg, Veitsberg was very exhausting after all that walking. The worst thing is that it takes 1 hour to get up to the hill and only 1km of walking distance has passed on GPS. On the other hand the best thing about Veitsberg is the lovely meadow and the beautiful view at the Southern Alps. We didn’t know if the app worked correctly or not but reaching the third out of four mountains and still having 20 km to go didn’t seem quite realistic. However, the weather cooled down and although the meadow was perfect for a rest we had to move on. My legs felt like they were made out of stone but after so many hours of walking pain becomes a very natural feeling.

           Alpine Panorama – view from Veitsberg to the southern Alps

On the way down from Veitsberg I heard an older lady saying “the Vierbergelauf is comparable to life itself. Sometimes it goes up and sometimes it goes down”. Admittedly this isn’t a philosophical masterpiece and sounds rather like a quote of Forrest Gump’s mom, but basically it is exactly what it’s all about: A long walk where you have plenty of time to think and to reflect about everything.

Before we reached the last mountain Lorenziberg around three or four smaller hills had to be crossed. At my last break an important thing happened which changed my motivation. The weather was very unfriendly and I know that only walking could keep me warm. Also the fact that only 10 km were left made me continue walking quickly. After a while only my friend Stefan and I were left marching very fast and overtaking everyone else in the end. I don’t know where we took that energy from but we left the others far behind.

Almost done. Last picture before reaching the end of the pilgrimage. No sleep for 1 1/2 days, totally exhausted but happy!

Lorenziberg was in front of us. It’s the easiest one and not steep at all. The pilgrimage ends close to a tavern and a church not even on top of the mountain. We were almost there and decided to take a quick picture and then surprisingly our friend Joanna caught up. I mean, we were really fast but she must have been running. We were both astonished and impressed of her performance. The last meters on this crazy path are painless. You don’t feel any pain in your legs nor anywhere else, because you start getting euphoric that you made it. In the end we made a small race to see who will be the first of us and Joanna won that challenge.

The first of the whole group was our youngest member. He finished more than a whole hour earlier than anyone else. We three were the next ones. After about 20 minutes four others finished and I don’t know when our friend who had knee problems arrived but even he showed an iron will and we could be proud of him.

After a long break at the tavern on Lorenziberg there was one last challenge for us: The way downhill to the buses. Many of us just fell asleep in the bus and it was indeed a pretty tough struggle, but I was surprised that my legs didn’t hurt as much as expected. Once you reached a particular level of exhaustion it didn’t get worse, until the next day. Although I haven’t found the promised enlightenment I was happy to find at least the way into my bed where I slept for 12 hours.

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Author: GP / Pictures: GP, Stefan