Wenns im Pitztal (A - July 2009)
The summer vacation 2009 brought us back to Austria, more specifically to
Wenns, located at the entrance of the Pitztal, a side valley of the Inn
valley, starting close to Imst. We stayed for 1 week in Hotel Alpina (formerly
named Hubertushof).
The weather conditions that week were excellent so we used this
opportunity to make excursions to the highest places in the nearby area.
An interesting formula for a family with children is making use of the the
so-called Pitztal leisure pass: it allows you access to all lifts in Pitztal
and Kaunertal for 7 days; children below 14 yrs included in an adult pass.
For our first excursion we drove till the end of the Pitz valley (Pitztal);
it is a parallel valley to the Oetz valley but the Pitztal is a dead end
valley (while via the Oetztal you can cross the Alps to Italy over the Timmelsjoch
pass).
The highest cable lift of Austria brought us to the top of the Pitztal
Glacier, at about 3400 m, where we enjoyed the snow and the beautiful
panoramas (next 3 pictures).
On the way back to Wenns we used our leisure pass again for getting to the 2300 m
high Riffl sea (picture 4 below), where we hiked completely around it in
about 1 hour and took -as intermezzo- the opportunity thanksto the nice weather and the beautiful
surroundings, to have a relaxing pick-nick break.
On the next day, as there were more clouds in the sky, even with a little
rain, we decided to head for the
city of Innsbruck. It is a cosy city, with lots of small streets, exposing many
of those
typical sign shields at hotels and restaurants (see picture of the golden
eagle) and of course this city is world-wide known for its "Golden roof"
(picture 2 below). As lots of tourists are attracted to this roof,
some strange personalities try to make some extra money by
playing for statue close-by. As there was already one "golden lady" the others
had to choose for silver (and a mobile phone...) or even pale white....
The day after the city trip, the weather was splendid again and thus we
made our planned Kaunertal excursion. The Kaunertal is the next parallel valley
(further away from the Oetztal). We
experienced it as even more beautiful, more impressive and untouched
compared to the Pitztal. The whole valley is a toll road but -again- the
toll is already included in the Pitztal leisure pass.
The whole road has 30
numbered scenic view points, indicated by a typical sign with a
springbok (e.g. sign nr 9 on picture 2 below) and ends at the glacier foot
at about 2750 m above sea level after 29 exciting hairpin curves.
Driving through the valley the road seems to end at the huge and steep dam
you can see already from far when approaching the Gepatsch-sea, lying behind
this water supply dam (foto 1) and
which forms a nice long lake (fotos 2+3).
Having passed this lake the road gets more & more winding and most
hairpin curves are already above the tree line altitude (foto 1 below). Beside the curves
and the other tourists (in cars, busses or even on bikes - most of these
latter heading downwards), you have to take special care for unexpected cattle
movements.....Thank God they are thursty (too) and they have to pull over
for a refreshing drink at one of the many smaller ice water lakes aside of
the road.
The end of the road is located at the foot of the Weissee (White
Sea)
glacier at an altitude of 2750 m, the highest place I ever reached with my
own car and/or in Europe. (I once drove a rental car over the 3031 m high Tioga pass in
Yosemite National Park, USA).
There you can take the cable till the
3-country (A-I-CH) point at 3108 m height. Much less snow than we met at the
Pitztal glacier, but still magnificent views!
On the way back there are lots of opportunities for a
drink on a terrace, take your time and enjoy....
Next day: the longest Alpine rollercoaster in the world in Imst, was put on our
wish list so we could not afford ourselves to skip this smaller but very
exciting high speed adventure. The 2 pictures below do not give you
ANY idea how it feels when racing downhill on this coaster. Better "google"
the words "Alpine roller coaster Imst" and have a look at the many Youtube or
Google videos taken by people in their rolling car, that can at least give
you an impression how it really should feel like.
More info on the coaster can also be found on the official website:
http://www.tyrol.tl/en/highlights/theme-parks-educational-trails/alpine-coaster-imst.html
For our last day we decided to make a nice hiking tour at Ried-Fendels,
located in the Inn valley, very close to Prutz, at the very beginning of the
Kaunertal.
First part in a closed cable cabine, second part with an open 4-seater, brings you
to the "Sattelklause" at about 1870 m above sea level. A short walk to the
Fendler Alm rewards you with a glass of butter milk (or a cold beer...) on
the terrace of the Farm-Gasthof located at 1974 m.
From there magnificent
views appear around each corner of the hiking paths, ....one advice
is to just have regularly
a look on the path itself: there are a lot of cows strolling around and they
happen to leave some slippery substances behind them in the high grass
or in the middle of the hiking trail....
:-(
This last excursion was the end of our summer 2009 journey and with the
picture of an Austrian Butterly at respectable heights above sea
level, we drove back home
in a real relaxing mood to Belgium....
"We'll be back !!" (as they used to
say in California...)
