This was something of a warm-up walk getting
used to t altititude. We went with the Thomson walking guide, Brian, and
another couple who had arrived on the previous day like us, Ray and Mary. The
walk set off from Obergurgl up the valley of the Gurgler Ache, the local river.
We skirted around the bottom of the Zirben woods and then began to climb
fiercely - real lung-tearing stuff and we weren't going that quickly. We were
climbing alongside another stream, the Rotmoosache and arrived at exciting
waterfall number one for the holiday; I can't say how many we saw in total but
there were a lot of them. More climbing alongside the gorge above the waterfall
and we reached upland eating place number 1 (if you know Austria, you'll know
that there are lots of these too)
This one was the Schonwieshutte (note to
German speakers; if you think that I'm finding an umlaut every time there should
be one - and I know that there are two in Schonwieserhutte - dream on!). Stopped
there for a little something. The hut looks straight up the Rotmoos valley; this
has glaciers at the end and the entrance is flanked by the Hohe Mut and Hangerer.
The later just touches 3000m; I fancied having a go at that later in the week
but Beryl thought that the top was a touch too scrambly for her.
We also detoured from the main path to go to
the top of the Schonwieskogel. This means beautiful view, with an outlook across
the Gurgler valley to the ridge of hills between there and the Vent valley. The
most famous point on here is the Ramolshaus; this is also just over 3000m and it
is a popular target for walkers. Brian had been up there on a organised walk
walk, the Floh March. The difference was that they carried onover the glacier to
the col, Ramolsjoch (3189m) before descending to Vent; it took him 4.5 hours,
complete head-bangr stuff.
Our path looped around the northern flank of
Hangerer into the next valley and after a level-ish bit climbed sharply again to
the old customs post and then the Karlsruhehutte. We'd climbed over 500m to get
there. This was lunch and our turning point. As we ate we had views of the
Schwarzenkam range (does "kam" mean "range"?).
We returned the way we had come but below the
waterfall we crossed over the river and climbed to pick up a lovely contouring
path. In fact this isn't much walked because it is quite short and leads to a
dead end (Beilstein) but it had good views back across at our day's walk and
curled nicely around a big cliff above the river.
Note for those who think I'm a sad soul: I
resisted the temptation to collect the stamps at various high points such as the
two huts in today's walk. This earn you mountain points and you can trade them
in for medals. I've go enough lists already (and not just of mountains) Besides
you have tobuy the medals.