Elevation: 750m
Descend: 1200m
Distance: 7.54KM
Duration: 7-8hrs
We had breakfast at around 7:30, packed our stuff and started walking at around 8:15. The first part of this day was up and up only to the highest point of our trail: Schönbichler Horn (3088m). For me this was quite a challenge, but it was also beautiful including some steep and dangerous parts (which are awesome). Getting to the top took us about three hours. Here we met some friendly hikers from the last day and hut. The sights were amazing! Definitely worth the climb. After brewing some espresso (yes the 13.5kg backpack included a pan, gas can and burner), and stuffing our faces with Snickers, peanuts and beef jerky we started the second part of the hike. At this point one of the guys whistled a well known tune for if you are a Jurassic Park aficionado.
This tune would be heard for the remainder of our hiking days.
Down and only down. The first few parts were almost vertical and you had to grab onto some steel cables which were tightly secured to the stone walls. While walking/climbing down we tried to enjoy as much as we could of the scenery and each other’s company, but fairly soon after we left the top we became more and more silent. Going down the mountain was a big challenge for us all. We really had to focus on the ‘path’ and had to take a lot of breaks. At a certain point I started feeling an old knee injury which became more and more painful throughout the day. ‘Muscle- and spirit -wise’ I had no issue except for my knee. (… spirit-wise had some I had some dips though). I had to take more breaks. Tom and Stef were struggling as well. We all came to the conclusion that we underestimated the way down. But! We carried on and shot a shitload of photos and videos along the way. The scenery will never get boring and going down you are gradually greeted by more grass, Marmots, flowers and trees. Eventually we saw the Berliner Hütte drawing closer and closer, but that was not the finish our day. We had to go down a little bit further to the Alpenrosehütte which became visible shortly after that. The way down ended in a commercial-like environment. Water running down a small stream, cowbells in the distance including an occasional ‘moo’ and a grassy path which was (finally) not deadly and simply ‘walkable’ without having you to look down for loose rocks and cliffs. I might be exaggerating a bit, but still, you get the picture. After traversing some wooden bridges we finally arrived at the Alpenrosehütte.
The hut looked like it was copy-pasted from the Hansel & Gretel fairy-tale. We were greeted by fellow hikers we met in the former hut and the peak. We spoke for a while and checked in. The room was as if you’d step into a sleeping quarters for Hobbits. Luckily three beds only, so we didn’t have a snoring 4th in the room. During the evening we had some drinks, played a board game and went to bed early.
According to Runkeeper we climbed about 750m, descended 1200m, covered 7.54KM in total and it took us about 7/8 hours including breaks. This day proved to be a great challenge and to recover we decided that we would skip one day of hiking. Hopefully my knee will improve with some good rest 🤞…
Click/tap photos to enlarge
Practical stuff
- Showering at the Alpenrosehütte is very cheap. €1 for 4 minutes (at Furtschaglhaus it was €4 for 3 minutes).
- Don’t go full pension! Not that it was bad, but it is nicer to choose what and how much you want to eat.
- Don’t underestimate the descent!
- Take breaks.
