Snowshoeing in Bach im Lechtal

Sunday January 29

  
After a delay whilst trying to find out if the missing person really had cancelled, we left Munich airport at around 11.00 - a happy band of 12 people, with Simon as leader. There was so much low cloud that it was not obvious that we were driving through mountains at all as we approached Austria. The visibility was worse as we got to Bach and the Grün Baum hotel - no sign of the valley sides even!

Monday January 30

  
It was cold, and Robert Heel, hotel proprietor, and our snowshoe guide for the week, suggested late starts for the week to allow the sun to warm up the air a little - not that we could see any sun. At 10.00 we had a short introductory talk & then snow shoes were distributed. This was followed by a morning walk for us to try out the snowshoes, and for Robert to assess the group. He was so impressed (!) that after lunch in the hotel he took us on a harder afternoon walk on the far side of the valley....

 

Monday walks

  
Distance 7.5 km
Ascent

250 m
Descent 250 m

 

Monday afternoon's walk - a GPS track overlaid on a very summery Google Earth view of Bach.

Tuesday January 31

  

Tuesday's walk up to the Wasealm
 After our first day's walk, no serious aches and pains, so off up into the woods and up to our first remote hostelry - the Wasealm. This involved some steep slopes up through the spruce trees (and an alternative less steep route on the track up to the hut). Lunch obviously involved an initial schnapps, and the first of many Goulasch soups.

On the way back, down the track/sledge run, Robert did a sharp turn to the left and steeply down through the wood - our first difficult descent!

Wasealm Walk

  
Distance 7 km
Ascent 290 m
Descent 290 m

Setting off for the Wasealm

Wednesday February 1
Wednesday = day off for the hotel, which was locked up all day. It also meant that Robert was unavailable to guide, so Simon did the mystery tour to the Körbersee, having taken the bus up the valley beyond the 'free zone' and into the open mountain areas above the forest. A real contrast to the wooded slopes below - open vistas and crowded in places with downhill skiers.

 

In the evening, despite the breeze, we managed to walk round the outskirts of the village holding flaming brands - dripping wax onto boots - and ending up with glühwein back at the hotel - great!

Walk to the Körbersee - invisible under the snow when we were there!

Off-piste above the Körbersee

Körbersee Walk

  
Distance 9 km
Ascent 295m
Descent 360m

Thursday February 2

Walk up to Bernhardtseckhütte

Our transport of delight

Climbing up towards the Muttekopf
The big day! An early start to get the 9.29 bus from Bach church and a short ride to the Alpenrose Hotel, Elbigenalp. We walked up the forest track for half an hour, and there stood our transport for the next part of our journey - a bright red piste-basher. As it could only take up to 7 at a time the first group were given a lift up 400m and then had to walk the (steep) rest of the track to the Bernhardtseckhütte. Meanwhile the second group started walking until the red, roaring, machine appeared and collected them for a ride up to the hut. 

Once there we had a break for coffee, and then most of us shuffled back out onto the cold and snowy hillside and walked up the ridge as far as was sensible - there were cornices on the ridge higher up. The views were very hazy - the Lechtal was hardly visible, but the mountains lining the German border appeared now and then.

Then it was back to the hut for a cheese fondue, followed by the long descent back into the valley. Back down by the main road, frozen, we were glad to find that Robert had arranged for the hotel mini-bus to shuttle us back to the hotel.

Bernhardseckhütte Walk

  
Distance c. 10km (excluding
piste machine!)
Ascent 610m
Descent 1010m

Descending to Elbigenalp 

Friday February 3
A day for a more relaxing walk! We took the bus to Grießau and walked across the flat valley bottom to a small chapel - the 'Pestkapelle', where victims of the plague in the 17th century were buried. After that we climbed through the forest along the valley side back towards Bach. Lovely soft snow and occasional glimpses of the valley below.

Eventually we descended to the Laterndl bar and ice rink at Grünau for lunch. After this it was a gentle, flat, walk back to the hotel.

That evening we showed each other how badly we could bowl - a modern 9-pin bowling alley was hidden behind the Alpenblick hotel. Great fun, and the glühwein was good too.

Grünauer Wald walk
Grünauer Wald walk  
Distance 6.8 km
Ascent 250m
Descent 210m

Returning to Bach

Saturday February 4

Panoramaweg Bach – Elbigenalp walk
To give us an easy start we were shuttled in the hotel mini-bus up to the Klapf Gästehaus to start the high level walk through the woods along to the Gibler Alm, which we had passed on Thursday. From here we zig-zagged up in deep snow through the woods on the steep wooded valley side. Eventually we came out on the track we had descended on Thursday - the plan being to have lunch at the Gibler Alm. However, being the weekend, it was full of families (all sledging judging by the collection of sledges outside), so we continued down, and back to the hotel for a (very) late lunch.

Deep snow on the Panoramaweg
Panoramaweg walk  
Distance 9.0 km
Ascent 275m
Descent 425m

Returning to Bach
The final afternoon - free for strolling, snoozing or packing - and in the evening, the final round of Yahtzee for the hardened dice players!

Sunday 5 February

 The long journey home. At least the visibility on the journey to the airport was better than when we arrived - at least one could see the surrounding mountains. Arriving at the airport we became aware of the chaos at London Airport - snow had resulted in many flight cancellations. Luckily space on an earlier London flight meant that the London-bound folk got back early. The Manchester flight got back OK too, despite the snow.
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