"Sud Tirol" "Sud Tirol"
| Introduction During the last week of september, and the first of october we stayed in Hotel Weißes Kreuz in Sankt Martin in Passeier. Pepijn made his first mountain hikes, and there was not a day when he complained about sore feet or blisters.... Below you can find a short description of the tours we maden with Pepijn. They can be done by everybody, old and young, with and without a child on your back! tour 1: Timmelsjochstraße - Seewersee (2056 m) You can park your car in the last of a series of five hair pin bends in the Timmelsjochstraße, near the Obere Glaneggalm. From there one can walk in roughly an hour, with little height differences, to the Seewersee, with a beautiful view on the Granaten Kogel (3200 m) and Hoher First (3403 m).
View over the Seewersee on the Granatenkogel You can hike back via a path going down hill, to the Seewerbach. Via the Seeweralm hut one reaches a parking lot near the first hair pin bend. A steep trail brings you back to the the Obere Glaneggalm. Total length of the route: 3 to 3.5 hour. An alternative tour is described in the Kompass guide.
Pepijn on the Seewerseealm hütte Tour 2: Jaufenpaß - Flecknerspitze (2359 m) The Flecknerspitze is one of the most easily accessible summits in the area. One has to drive up the narrow Jaufenpas. Parking near the Enzianhut. The route is described in the Kompass guide, and has a nice piece of ridge walking. Total lenght: ca. 3 hours.
Ant climbing the Flecknerspitze
Pepijn on his first real summit....
... which has to be celebrated with a bottle of milk! Tour 3: Hirzer Seilbahn (1980 m) The Hirzer Seilbahn carries us
all the way up. Costs roughly 20 Euro for two adults. Pepijn was carried for free. Een nice walk with lots of variation, which is however is very crowded on beautiful days. The Mahdalm and Hintereggalm hut will enjoy a sort of "apres ski" athmosphere! Tour 4: Ortler and Madritschhut (2817 m) Unfortunately you have to drive quite a distance (85 km) to reacht the starting point of this tour. Via Merano and the Alto Adige valley, to Sulden. One should account for 1.5 hr. In Sulden one can take the Seilbahn to the Schaubachhut (2573 m). Note that it ceases operation in the first week of october! From the top station one can take a simple walk (ca. 1 hour) to the Madritschhut (2817 m). Those who like to push on apparently can reach the Hintere Schöntaufspitze (3324 m) quite easily (ca. 1 hour from the hut). The fact that you walk through a barren ski resort is more than compensated for by the spectacular views on the Ortler (3905 m) and the Königsspitze (Gran Zebru, 3859 m).
View on the Konigsspitze (3859 m)
The Ortler (3905 m)
Pepijn and Ant near the Madritschhütte (2817 m) Following yesterdays long journey by
car, a tour from the doorstep of the hotel. An excellent walk on days when it is (too)
cold higher up in the mountains. It is not a very easy tour though!
Farms in the Kalmtal The track bends to the right, after which you can descend via a path to a little bridge over the Kalmbach. Continue following the path out of the valley again, until you pass a number of houses (Bach). Just before reaching the road after these house, a path heads to the left, direction waterfall. After a while the path starts descending, and you will reach the end of a road, ending in a hair pin near a farm (Glamitz). Left of the hairpin, a path heads down through the meadow in between two stone walls. Obviously this path is very old. It is fastened with small cobbles, which are extremely slippery in wet weather. Finally one reaches a parking lot (for people visiting the waterfall) in the hamlet Oberpseier. After crossing the bridge, turn left. Via a yellow-white marked route (C) one returns at Schildhof Gereuth (ca. 3-3.5 hours). Heading from direction Merano, turn right in Skt. Martin passing the Passerbridge to Prantach. The road makes a number of turns, in the 6th at 1026 m you can park your car. Follow a wide unsurfaced road to the north (AVS markings nr. 2). After a bend to the right, the road starts to climb into the Fartleis valley. Upon reaching the first farm in Fartleis, leave the road and continue along the red-white marks to the right of the farm, along a brook. Leaving the meadows you will arrive at the unsurfaced road again, which goes as far as Fartleisalm (1449 m). Here a cosy mountain hut awaits your party (open till early october). Including return walk this tour will roughly take 3 hours.
Ant and Pepijn's grandparents near the Prantach or Fartleishut..
Copyright © Peter Reuderink/Ant Bijlsma (2000) |
 Contents tour 1: Timmelsjochstraße - Seewersee Getting there
Tour 7: Timmelsalm (2000 m) Park near the Timmelsbrücke in the Timmelsjochstraße. A broad track runs along the Timmelsbach (AVS markings nr. 30) to the Timmelsalm.
On our way on the Timmelsalm A nice walk should eventually bring you to the Großer Schwarzsee, but because the weather was really to cold for Pepijn we returned after having visited the Timmelsalmhut (open till early october, depending on the weather). Total 1.5 hours, up and down to the Schwarzsee should take 4.5 hours in total.
Pepijn points out the direction......... Drive via Moos to Ulfas. The road ends in a parking lot. A short walk via a comfortable road brings you to Ulfasalm with a splendid view on the Kolbenspitze (2865 m). The Matatzspitze can be easily reached from the Untere Ulfasalm (1601 m). Only the final meters are slippery with loose rock. Because of the poor weather conditions, Peter decided to go on his own, and reached the summit in 50 minutes, to return in another 40! Yesssssssss!!!!!
Matatzspitze (2179 m) with the Kolbenspitze (2865 m) in the back.
Pepijn decides the weather is too bad, and prefers to sleep... Tour 9: Small Ifingerspitze (2552 m) When in Merano the signs Merano 2000 are followed, one reaches the parkinglot of the Seilbahn taking you to Chalet Piffing (1900 m). A wide road, with no significant height differences takes you through a ski resort area in the direction of the Missensteiner Joch (AVS markings nr. 3). Having past a ski lift, turn left (route marked 19, direction Ifinger and Kuhleitenhut). You will pass a little chapel (St. Oswald) when heading up over a boring exhausting track. On the Oswald Scharte things become interesting, and one reaches the Kuhleitenhut, which more a sort of restaurant, but anyway (2362 m, not on the Kompass map).
On the Oswald Scharte, with the Ifinger in the back. From the Kuhleiten restaurant a path runs over the ridge to Little Ifinger (2552 m). Its big brother Großer Ifinger (2581 m) is only meters away, but can be reached via fixed ropes safely only when using proper gear to tackle a Klettersteig (Via Ferrata).
View from the Ifinger on the Kuhleitenhut and the Oswald Scharte End of september, early october one can expect everything: sunny weather, allowing you to walk in t-shirt up to 2000 meters, or snow as low as 1200 meters. Prepare when packing your clothes. Most lifts will give you a discount when showing your guest card, proving that you are staying in one of the local hotels. Ask the reception desk in your hotel. Quite pitoresque are the small huts (Jausenstation) on the more remote "Alms". Often it is just a few table near, or a room in a sort of farm. Food is just prepared in the home kitchen. Depending on the weather these huts will close early october, when the cattle is already brought down to the valley, and the kids go to school again. Near the "Seilbahnen" the huts are more like any winter resort, and stay open longer. From Germany: via the Brenner, and the Jaufenpas (Passo di Giovo, 2099 m). The
Jaufenpas can be closed due to heavy snow at any point in time, but particularly in
october (when we left the snow limit was at 1300 m!). In that case one has to drive via
Bolzano. Recently a motorway was opened between Bolzano and Merano. We stayed in Hotel Weißes Kreuz in Sankt Martin. An
overview of hotels and camping in Sud Tirol can be found on the home page of the Sud Tirol
Touristoffice: Sud Tirol
Tourismuswerbung. Via these pages you can also make your inquiries and bookings.
Easily available in the Netherlands are the socalled Kompass Wander Karten: - Passeiertal/Val Passiria,
nr. 044, 1:35000 Of much better quality however (and cheaper) are the maps of Tabacco, which can be obtained everywhere locally. - Val Passiria/Passeiertal, nr.
039, 1:25000 Just as an example: tour nr. 5 can't be found on the Kompass map, that does speculate on the presence of various doubtful tracks in the area. The Tabacco map is without mistakes and gives excellent details on the route. At the tourist office a small map
"Wandern in Süden, Ortsplan St. Martin - Saltaus - Quellenhof" is available
with useful information on local tours and way marks. For a small fee one can also buy a
leaflet "Wanderparadies Passeiertal" with all the important routes drawn on
aerial photographs. Gives a nice picture of the area you are walking in for those who are
less experienced in reading maps. By Kompass, and very useful: Locally (in the supermarket!) one can buy a number of nice booklets, for only a small price. A few examples: "Die Schönsten Almen und Hütten zum Einkehren, Band 6: Hafling, Ifinger, Hirzer,
Vöran", 2000, Tappeiner Verlag, Lana, Italie, ISBN 88-7073-265-7. Specially
dedicated to those who love to reach a tavern rather than a summit! "Das Passeiertal", 1999, Athesia, Bozen, Italy, ISBN 88-8266-005-2. A nice booklet with beautiful pictures and short description on life and culture in the Passeier valley. have to sort this out yet..... |
