As Major Smith scales the outside of the Schloss Adler and after fortuitously bypassing German soldiers who conveniently do not turn around in the room below and see him, Mary Ellison makes the following observation as a flushed and bothered Smith enters terra firma once again.
" You're too old for this. Why do you go on these insane missions? "
Richard Burton did not scale the outside of the castle leaving it to stuntman, Alf Joint. I have no head for heights either but whilst over visits to Austria and Switzerland since 1982 I have had an easier ride, I do sometimes chuckle at what makes me embark on many insane but, I hope usually, safer missions to see Where Eagles Dare locations.
It started in 1982 when my parents took me to Austria for our summer holiday. The car broke down before we had left England and I was told off by my father when, the car repaired, I had asked to listen to Test Match Special for coverage of the England and Pakistan Test at Edgbaston. No further dramas happened and we reached St. Wolfgang where the Cosmos rep, Karen Johnson, asked if we knew of the film, Where Eagles Dare. I most certainly did and three of the seven days in Austria were set aside to visit Ebensee ( for the cable car) and Werfen (for the castle) at Karen's suggestion. Karen, thank you.

We went to Ebensee the very next day and took the cable car to the Feuerkogel. My father was in the R.A.F. but, well, declined to fly and it took some persuasion to force him into the cable car. On that first day, he watched my mother and I go up in the rickety cable car and took a photo (with two men on the roof testing the cables). I am delighted to be able to share this photo.
My thanks also go to Cinema Retro (solopublishing@gmail.com) for producing a most wonderful magazine of the making of Where Eagles Dare. Anyone interested in the film would do well to procure a copy. There is a wealth of information within it and apparently sixteen cable cars were made for the film, some naturally for use within the MGM studios at Borehamwood. Whether my mother, father (later in the holiday) and I travelled on one of the cable cars used in Where Eagles Dare having heard of the number built and used, I cannot be sure but I hope so. It was magical in 1982 but, sadly, when I returned in 1985, the cars had been replaced with more modern versions. My research over the next thirty or so years led me easily to find one of the original cars on the top of the Feuerkogel and, with a little bit of luck, to find the other in a residential garden close to the valley station in Ebensee.
Since 1982, I have made trips to Austria and Switzerland and visited the castle and other places in the general Werfen area which appear in the film; the huts used at the beginning of the film can be found (with patience, in my case: it took me three visits...); Hallein, where the staff car crashes after a gormless guard allows Schaffer to tie his shoe laces; Stainach-Irdning close to where Oberhausen Airfield lies and Lofer where much of the action took place including the Zum Wilden Hirsch Gasthof (and also a lovely place to stay).

In Switzerland, I travelled to Maloja and the Forno Glacier where I read that the parachute scenes at the start of the film were shot. I was extremely lucky to blag my way on to the aircraft, HB-HOT, at Dubendorf near Zurich when she was in the hangar and kind technicians allowed me free rein and insisted that I spend time watching them at work. What a terrible tragedy last year to hear of HB-HOT's crash with the loss of all those on board. I felt for all those on board who lost their lives, their families and those who had tended to "Tante Ju" at Dubendorf.
Just outside Geneva in a small village called Celigny, I have twice visited Richard Burton's grave. A few feet further down on the other side of the same cemetery lies the grave of the man who, above all, made Where Eagles Dare possible. Author Alistair MacLean.
I am delighted to see that I am not alone in travelling to Where Eagles Dare filming locations. Indeed, without some, I would not have remotely seen as many of the places and I would especially like to thank Rene (www.hebels.nl) for his help and assistance and telling me where to go to find where the opening scene was shot. Rene has his own pilot's licence and therefore has a far better sense of direction than I do. His website is fascinating and I am very grateful to him.

A couple of hotels have shown me their guest books from 1968. The year should tell readers therefore that the hotels were used as bases or similar for some of the actors. I think it only fair to firstly request their permission before I show photos which they kindly allowed me to take. I found a certain satisfaction at unearthing one of these little treasures.
In the same way, Schloss Hohenwerfen (now referred to as Festung Hohenwerfen) is an easy place to visit for Where Eagles Dare fans. Through Rene and another excellent website (mitteleuropa.ihostfull.com/filmlocations_where_eagles_dare.html), I have been able to visit, in my mother's words, bends in the road ( the Hallein road mentioned earlier), traipsed through the woods close to the Schloss Adler (and likely out-of-bounds), hiked up the Forno Glacier and been chased off by dogs and a horse in finding the huts also mentioned earlier. I am happy to admit that it has been made me chuckle at times but I am still as excited when Where Eagles Dare comes on (usually around Christmas).
I hope that the photos will prove of interest to those who, like me, enjoy the filming locations of this classic film. I am not sure that there are any further places for me to visit but I have no doubt that I will be back again to re-visit these wonderful parts of Austria and Switzerland.

Pandemic permitting, I am hoping to return to Austria this year and plan some further investigation and enjoyment. If the trip can go ahead, I hope to update with some newer photos.
As at March 2022, Corona is still about although we are told that our lives can return to some sort of normality. During this Corona period, I have been away twice and both times have been to Austria on my insane missions to try and track down Where Eagles Dare filming locations. I have enjoyed seeing many signs saying Kurvenreich or, as a guide to its interpretation in English, bends in the road.
I hope to visit Maloja to test out my hunch about the Junkers flight path at the beginning of the film, and will update this section if I can stagger to the top of the mountain to test out my theory. That could then be that for Where Eagles Dare filming locations, forty years after it started. I doubt it, though. As someone in our church said to me recently: why on earth would you want to do that and just stop? She has a point. And is probably correct.