Activities for Non-Skiers in Alpbach: Winter Walking and Tobogganing

We slept in on Sunday morning, exhausted from the huge walk we had done the previous day. Over breakfast the hotel owner gave us another suggestion for a great walk that would take us up and around Alpbach, giving us some great views of the valley and the town.

We were lucky we had gone up the cable car and done the walk down the Schatzberg Mountain the previous day when we had clear skies, because once venturing outside we discovered the day was super cold and foggy, with snow forecast for much of the afternoon and evening.

We decided to spend the morning Tobogganing, using the free toboggans available from our hotel.

There are several toboggan tracks in the area around Alpbach, but they are mostly all a long walk or bus ride away, so we decided to grab a toboggan and take it to the hill just down from our hotel and try our luck there.

Neither of us could remember the last time we went Tobogganing, if in fact we've ever been at all, so it was with slight trepidation that Bradley hopped on and sped down the mountain, which was suddenly a lot steeper than we first realised.

It took us a while to get the hang of it, trying to get it to go in the direction we wanted, rather than on a weird angle, but we were soon having a great time, impatiently waiting for each person to have their turn, and then wait as they pulled it up the slope again.

We spent a couple of hours going up and down the hill, each return walk up getting slower and slower, but made bearable by remembering the exhilaration of going downhill on our next turn.

The only time we had any issues was when we thought it would be a good idea to both get on the Toboggan and go downhill at the same time. It would save so much time! Why didn't we think of this before!

The above photo is why you go one at a time when you're both grown adults. It doesn't look too bad, I managed to shake most of the snow off my coat but it was still all the way down my top and in my boots. Halfway down the hill I started falling sideways, and was fully horizontal by the time we got to the bottom, covered in snow from trying to slow ourselves down before we crashed into the wire fence a metre away.

After that we went back to single riders.

Making the long walk back up to the top

After a while the fun started to wear off, and the fatigue set in. It didn't help that we had lost our water bottle before we even started. Having gently placed it on the snowy ground, I watched as it took off, rolling down the mountain and out of sight. Never to be seen again.

We went back to the hotel, had a hot drink and changed into dry clothes. Once we were feeling warm and cosy again, we headed off to explore some more walking paths.

The good thing about not being a skier in a skiing village, is that during the day everywhere outside of the ski fields is deserted, and it felt like we had the whole town to ourselves.

This tiny church is still in operation, and can seat up to 16 people inside!

The path was a lot icier than the path we had walked yesterday, and we found ourselves slipping all over the place as we wandered along.

One part we had to walk alongside a stream below us, cross some small stones, and go back up the other side. The path was so slippery I was sure we were going to go off the side and plunge into the freezing waters. Luckily we were able to go super slowly since there was no-one around, and made our way down and back up by holding on to various trees along the path.

This side of the village had a lot less snow than the other side, towards Inneralpbach, due to the sun shining on it all the previous day.

Later in the afternoon as we approached Alpbach, the first snowflakes started to fall. We stopped at a hotel for some Goulash and Bratwurst before making our way back to the hotel before the snow got too heavy.