Over breakfast on Saturday morning, the owner of our Hotel recommended we spend the day walking some of the awesome walking trails around Alpbach and the surrounding area.
Having arrived the previous day in the late afternoon we were struck by the amazing views out over Alpbach as we left the hotel. Before leaving we rugged up in several layers plus coats, boots and scarves and quickly discovered that whilst there was a thick layer of snow on the ground, the outside temperature was not as cold as expected and I took off my coat fairly quickly after setting off leaving poor Bradley to carry it around for much of the day!
Having arrived the previous day in the late afternoon we were struck by the amazing views out over Alpbach as we left the hotel. Before leaving we rugged up in several layers plus coats, boots and scarves and quickly discovered that whilst there was a thick layer of snow on the ground, the outside temperature was not as cold as expected and I took off my coat fairly quickly after setting off leaving poor Bradley to carry it around for much of the day!
The plan was to walk from our hotel to Inneralpbach, about an hours walk away, and then get the Gondola to the top of the Schatzberg Mountain and enjoy a leisurely walk back down to Alpbach.
We set off just after 10.00 a.m. with a map of the area, which I'm sure is more helpful when all the paths are not covered in several inches of snow.
The path along the road was easy to follow, and we had stunning views over Alpbach and Inneralpbach. We also got a good view of the mountain we'd be going up. It was so high we could only see the gondola about half way before it disappeared.
We walked past the place we were supposed to be going off-road, which would take us into the woods. After walking backwards and forwards around the path trying to make sure it was the right way, and we weren't just wandering off into the wilderness, we made our way slowly down a steep hill in ankle deep snow.
The path took us through the woods and under the gondola we'd be taking later. We stopped under the gondola and waved to the people going up the mountain. With no-one else in sight I'm sure they all thought we were lost!
We continued walking through the tall trees along an often icy path with sheer drops down the side, before coming across a small watermill next to a stream.
The temperature down here was a good 5 or 6 degrees colder than up the top, so the coat went back on and we continued back up the mountain, holding onto the handrail the entire way, as going up was a lot more slippery than going down.
We arrived in Inneralpbach, which is a tiny town with several gondolas and chairlifts going up various surrounding mountains. After finding the correct gondola, we hopped in and headed up to the top of the Schatzberg.
We were lucky to get a gondola to ourselves the entire way, as most were full of skiers, with their ski's propped up on the outside of the gondola.
We went right over the new ski field that goes from the top of the Schatzberg to the mid station Pechalm. Not being skiers we haven't seen to many people skiing before, and I was amazed to see kids around 5 or 6 making their way down the mountain.
We had spectacular views from the gondola around the entire region. We were lucky it was such a clear day, we could see for miles.
There weren't too many people up the top of the mountain like us without skis, so we tried to keep out of everyone's way and just take in the beautiful surroundings.
After taking hundreds of photos from the top, we hopped back into the gondola and got out at the Pechalm mid station where we would start our walk down the mountain.
Less than five minutes after hopping off the gondola, we were surrounded by huge trees and there was no-one else in sight.
The snow on the path was less than ankle deep for most of the walk, but as soon as we stepped off the path to explore further, we discovered the snow was so deep was up to our knees!
The walk was beautiful, slowly making our way downhill through the fresh snow, we used muscles in our legs we didn't know existed. We didn't realise how bad it was until the next day when we could barely walk from the bed to the bathroom!
Armed with only a rough map, we weren't entirely sure how long the walk would take, or when we'd start to see the bottom of the mountain.
We walked for a couple of hours at least, and kept turning corners seemingly in the complete opposite direction to where we wanted to go. Eventually after sticking with the path we came round a corner and finally found a break in the trees to get a sense of direction.
We figured we were about three quarters of the way down the mountain, it's easy to lose your sense of time and direction when you're surrounded by mountains and tall trees on all sides.
Even though our legs were aching, we thought we'd continue on down to Alpbach for a late lunch. So we bypassed our hotel and followed a tiny path that should have taken us to Alpbach in about 20 minutes.
We must have missed the turn-off, because we found ourselves wandering down a very steep slope and surrounded by fences, effectively blocking our way forward.
Not wanting to climb back up the extremely steep hill we had just climbed down, especially because at times we slid down after losing our balance, we found a gap in someone's fence and continued on until we found another trail.
So a walk that should have taken about 20 minutes, took almost an hour and a half. Almost dead on our feet, we stopped at a Cafe in Alpbach and ordered a huge lunch, which was devoured super quickly.
After lunch we headed back uphill to our hotel, walking very slowly now and slightly regretting our decision to stay out of town.
Back at the hotel we promptly dropped into bed for a couple of hours before dragging ourselves back out for dinner.
We went back to the same restaurant as the previous night, luckily less than a five minute walk away and had another delicious meal.
We finished off with a huge ice-cream sundae each, feeling we deserved a treat after spending over six hours walking!
We had such a great day, it really felt like we were in a winter wonderland, we've never seen such deep and fluffy snow before. In London we usually get a few snow flurries and then just slush!
Awesome blog as usual. I knew you would be sore the next day. Love the coat and the boots.xxx
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