The great escape
While there are many ways to spend a long weekend and each has its advantages, it seems a hiking trip through beautiful scenery and with minimal contact with civilisation might offer the most significant separation from thoughts about work and everyday life.
A crisp mountain river makes its way down into the valley where the group Con Crema travels, which emerged an hour ago. Just above, the mountains where the river originates are clearly visible even though a few clouds are trapped between their summits. We are currently on our way to the first destination of our three-day-long hiking tour in the Austrian Alps. We started our journey on a Saturday morning at the train station of Scharnitz and the tour will take us through the Karwendeltal to Stans by Schwaz.
When Con Crema arrived at the train station of Scharnit this morning, there still were some clouds in the sky while we unloaded the hiking bags from the car but as soon as we cleared the first elevation and get onto a wide hiking track that follows the mountain river from the introduction, the clouds part and the sun comes out. Even though we did not cover a lot of ground, the scenery urges you to take a break. Therefore, we settle down on the riverbank and have a look at the snack compartments of our hiking bags. Between a rain jacket in case the weather forecast was wrong, a bedroll, some T-Shirts, a warm pullover and a toothbrush, we find a lot of granola bars, bread, cheese and a few apples. As every gram less in our bags is very welcome, we enjoy a second breakfast with a fantastic view.
Strengthened by the break, we continue our way up. The trail is wide and easy to walk, so there is room for some talking and exchanging on how things are going. As smoothly as the conversations flow, the trail is winding its way upward. And sooner than expected, we can catch sight of our first accommodation in the distance. Reassured that we are well on track for our first leg of this trip, we slow down our pace and take some time to enjoy the surroundings. While walking, we encounter a few herds of cows. They all make a very relaxed impression, but one group of animals seems to have had a lucky hand selecting its place for the summer. They are standing on a green meadow right beside a river. Some of the animals are even cooling off their feet in the water. It looks like they are not unhappy with their situation.
After one last ascent next to a farmhouse that comes with its own chapel, we arrive at the mountain lodge where we will sleep tonight. The lodge is made from stone and wood and is located on a cliff. The ground floor occupies the restaurant and storage rooms for shoes (it is not allowed to have your shoes on the floors where the bedrooms can be found. As the trails are often muddy and the cows leave their marks as well, this is quite understandable, and you can simply take a pair of slippers that are provided. After a few hours in your hiking boots, you will very much enjoy this. The bedrooms are on the upper floors. In many cases, the lodges have rooms for groups of different sizes and a dorm room. While this is a cheap option, you have to be aware that the lodges are mostly booked out. Therefore, you will not be alone. But in most cases, some dividers make mattresses groups of three to four, which offers some amount of separation from the rest of the room.
As it is still early in the afternoon, we order a cold drink and settle on the terrace that overlooks a valley we walked by just a few hours ago. Squinting a little, one can almost make out the cows we saw earlier.
Checking in is easy if everyone has their DAV member card at hand. Being a member of the German Alps Club gives you some discounts regarding occupation and meal prices, besides the service to rescue you if you ever happen to have an accident.
When the evening arrives, it’s time for dinner. Whilst the portion size varies between the meals, all the options Con Crema was able to try tasted very good. After some rounds of board games, the first yawns emerged and as the nighttime peace starts at 22:00, everyone quickly heads over to their bed to get some well-deserved sleep.
As the next leg of our journey will be challenging, we will wake up early and get some breakfast. The beginning of today’s tour starts with a walk on a trail between beautiful green flower meadows that are framed by massive mountains that never fail to impress. This scenery certainly creates an appetite for the rest of our tour. The altitude we are walking on brings a new kind of wildlife: marmots. Even though they are hard to spot, if you see one, they are lovely to watch. As the Con Crema makes its way down into valleys and up again on the opposite side, the discussions and talks become quieter. Everyone has their thoughts, and the rhythmic sound of the hiking poles has a meditative effect. There is the temptation to think about topics from work or your personal to-do list, but it appears the vast landscape offers room to think about bigger things than your everyday life, which seems to be far away. In fact, this hiking tour seems to decouple one exceptionally well from thoughts about work and problems that may wait for you at home.
The lodge is located on a cliff and overlooks the valley we just emerged from.
There even are some chamois around.
As beautiful as the scenery was, the whole tour, when we finally saw our lodge for the night, you could sense a great amount of relief with every member of the group. After a long day of hiking, a shower is necessary as well as very appreciated by everyone. Showered and freshly dressed, everyone gathers in the dining area where we celebrate today’s achievements. When the waitress tells Con Crema that there might be some chamois around the lodge, the hunt is on. Even though they are well disguised, a group of them is spotted quickly, and we can observe them playing tag. As we encountered a similar kind of terrain today, it is very impressive to see them running and jumping around the steep hills that are covered by rocks.
Similar to the previous night, everyone is keen to get to sleep and get some rest after this exhaustive day.
Luckily, the last leg will be much shorter, and the only task is to get down to the valley where a train will bring us back to the cars. Arriving in town, one needs to acclimatise oneself to the existence of roads and cars once again. After seeing none for the past days, it feels odd to be passed by one.
There are some impressive summits guarding our lodge.
While the train ride from Stans to Scharnitz offers stunning views of the surroundings, it is a good opportunity to catch up with some messages and news that came in during the hike. As there is almost no cellular connection in the mountains, there is some digital detox included. The train ride takes exactly long enough to answer a few messages, delete unnecessary emails and have a look through the tour proposed on maps available in the lodges, to collect inspiration and start planning for the next adventure.