Bayreutherhutte 11 June

Tuesday 11th June: Weather: 12°C to 25°C: overcast, cool then sunny and warm

Gwercherwirt to Bayreutherhutte: 18k crossing acres of snowfields

Accommodation: Bayreutherhutte, an Austrian Alpine Club Hut

Leaving at 8.30am on forest roads

Looking back Brandenberg Valley

Morning tea at the step over

Uphill forest roads under blue skies

Highlights today were so many. An overcast day turned into a beautiful sunny warm day hiking up to the Rosskogel Sattel, then getting lost in the snow and climbing to the Lansenjoch Mountain, before getting lost again on the way down to Bayreutherthutte, an Austrian Alpime Club Hut perched on an outcrop overlooking the Inn valley and the towns of Brandenberg, Rattenberg and Maurach. Million dollar views for just a few euro in a hut.

We’re awake at 5.30am this morning. Cows!! And milking machines going full blast outside our window where the Tirol Milk truck has just pulled up. But that’s OK because this is typical of the Tirol and the reason it’s so beautiful up here with it’s meadows and farm houses. It’s not possible to go back to sleep so we have a Jetboiled cup of tea, check maps and try to connect to the intermittent internet. Breakfast is at 7.30am. The coffee isn’t hot, but the bread is fresh, and there’s the usual spread of hams, cheeses and jams. We have a small breakfast and take two pieces of ham for lunch. Up to our room where I make a sandwich each with the ham and our Kufstein cheese and bread, ready for lunch.

Out the door at 8.30am, down the road then up to the village Aschau. It’s a cool start at 12°C but warms up quickly as we climb, mostly following a forestry road through meadows, pine trees and farm houses smelling of cows. After 2 hrs, we stop at a step over for a cup of tea with a magnificent view over the meadows and alps. Continuing on and up the gravel forest track, the clouds disappear, revealing blue skies. Following the signs to Rosskogel Sattel, after 1200 metres of climbing we reach a height of 1868m to the broad grassy plateau covered in snow patches. We find a rock to sit on for lunch overlooking the Zireiner See which is still partly covered in ice, and surrounded by snow clad mountains.

It should be an easy 250 metres descent to Bayreuther Hutte but there’s so much snow covering the way markers that we get lost and end up even higher on Latschberg at 1949 metres. Some red and white markers appear painted on rocks, and after scrambling through snow for an hour, we eventually find a forest track down to Bayreuther Hutte, but it takes us another hour to get there.

It’s 4.30pm when we roll into Bayreuther, with million dollar views down the Inn valley over Brandenberg and Rattenberg. There’s a few hikers sitting on the balcony soaking up the late afternoon sun and the views. We share a beer before doing anything, then check into our 5 person dorm. There’s no shower, but the wash room has hot water in the basins that only needs a hankie to stuff up the plug hole and a cup to throw water around. We both have an instant shower that’s as good as it gets.

Down to the dining room have another beer and sort photos then order dinner. Ian has Kaspressknodel mit sauerkraut and I have Rindergulasch mit semmelknodel. We think Ians was compressed cheese and bread and mine was braised reinder with dumplings, finished off with apple strudel swimming in hot vanilla custard. A few more hikers have arrived and one appears in our dorm. How dare they!! We had spread our stuff out everywhere and now someone else turns up to cramp our style. That’s huts for you. Lights out at 10pm, but we’re in bed curled up long before then. We still need to decide if tomorrow we are going back up high into the snow to the Krahn Sattel at 2002 metres then by cable car into Maurach or if we should walk the whole way down and avoid the snow. Decision tomorrow!!