Already at the beginning of the year, before Corona was a worldwide topic, I decided to arrange two weekend hikes for my friends with an overnight stay in a mountain hut. For the first one, seven friends joined in and I was happy that firstly, so many people came along and secondly, that the weather forecast for the weekend was fairly good. As I never had been to the hut before, I was surprised to learn that reaching the starting point by public transport was a real pain in the ass. If there ever was a middle of nowhere, then it was definitely St. Martin im Calfeisental. :) The closest bus station was three kilometers away and that one was served only four times a day. Certainly not what I had expected. Fortunately, my friends were able to come with their own vehicles and so we had no difficulties to meet up in St. Martin on Saturday morning about 9 am.
While we prepared ourselves for the hike, my friends had to endure a little introduction of mine about the area we were going to and you my dear readers have to suffer the same fate now as well. :) The Sardona region is famous for its geological heritage, as scientists from all over the world come to this area since more than 200 years to find out how the mountains of our time were formed. Apparently, this is visible in such a unique way that Unesco put it on their World Heritage List. Thanks to that, the valley we were walking in today was also a nature protection area and home to numerous wild animals, among them the ibex, chamois, golden eagle and the very rare bearded vulture. Excited to see what the day had in store for us, we started our hike at about 9.30 and first walked along the bottom of the valley. For 15 minutes we had time to warm up our legs, then we took a turnoff and began a longish ascent up to a high route that would take us all along the side of the valley. Even though we had to cover about 1000 meters difference in altitude, the ascending slope was fairly pleasant in the beginning. Walking along a gravel road, serpentines led the way upwards and we gained quite some height without using too much of our strength.
Reaching an alp about half way into our ascent, we decided to walk a bit further, before we took a first break. Claudio and Brigitte fed Valentina and walked her around for some time, while everyone else ate a little snack or used the stop for a visit on the toilet. Resuming our ascent once everyone had rested enough, we finally left the gravel road behind us and as of now, made our way upwards on a proper hiking trail. Clouds had filled the sky so far and while they currently hid the best views, it was way more pleasant to ascend under them than under a blazing sun.
Eventually reaching the turnoff to the high route, we were glad to have the biggest part of the ascent behind us and a longer break to eat our lunch was well deserved. Right then, we could have used some sun though, as it was kinda cold in our sweaty shirts when the wind was blowing... Overall however, it was still nice enough and moving on once everyone was fed, we started to walk along the mountainside. As the highest point wasn't reached yet, we still had some ascending to do, but the slopes that we had to conquer were at least not that long anymore. One of those slopes was buried under some old snow and we had to scramble around it. It was one of the places where I was worried how Claudio would manage with Valentina on his back, but despite the loose ground, they overcame the obstacle without any problems. As most of us had a different pace, we were pretty spread out before long and once we had reached a lovely mountain lake called Plattenseeli, Stefan, Moritz and Jasmina were that far ahead already that we couldn't see them anymore. :) No worries though and after a short stop at the lake to take some pictures, we resumed our walk towards the Heubützlipass, which was to be the highest point of our hike.
In the meantime, the sun had started to shine and as the clouds slowly lifted, the panorama of the surrounding mountains got better and better with every passing minute. It was an entertaining hike anyway, as we walked over old snowfields, crossed quite a few creeks, continuously ascended and descended those short slopes and of course there was a lot to talk about, as we hadn't seen each other for a while before that weekend. :)
Stefan, Moritz and Jasmina waited for us at the Heubützlipass and as they had a faster pace than the rest of us, we agreed that they would walk on to the hut on their own. As they left, we sat down for a snack and a change of diapers, when we suddenly were surprised by three chamois running away from something or someone. They ran past us and up the mountainside in such an easy way that we envied them quite a bit. :) It was an impressive sight however and next to the mandatory marmots the first wild animals we encountered.
Moving on after a 20 minutes break, another two hours of walking were ahead of us, but from now on it mostly went steadily downhill. Before long, we had reached the back of the valley and as there now were a few glaciers above us, there also were countless creeks to cross. All of them were pretty easy to traverse, except for one that still had a huge amount of old snow exactly over the place where the trail went through. The snow didn't look very stable anymore and right when we approached the creek, a big junk suddenly broke away. Well then, let's better go around it. :) Once again, it wasn't that easy for Claudio with Valentina, but going slow and careful, we all made it to the other side without any incident.
As it had been a long day already, we all began to feel tired and so we were glad once we saw the hut appearing ahead of us. To reach it, one last steep ascending slope had to be conquered and that one turned into the probably biggest challenge of today for some of us. :) We all made it to the hut however and were happy that there still was some sunshine to be had on the terrace. Sitting down, we all got our well deserved "after work" drink and enjoyed it together with the spectacular view into the valley below.
As we were a bit late, dinner was upon us before long and just as we had finished eating, there suddenly was a commotion outside of the hut. Curiously we stepped out as well and immediately could see why. A herd of ibexes could be seen on the mountain just above us and all guests enjoyed a good look at them from afar. It was the final highlight of a beautiful but exhausting day and after a last nightcap, we went to bed tired but happy. Sleeping in a dormitory, there was quite some hubbub during the night, but that had to be expected. At least we didn't have to get up too early, as our way back to St. Martin would only take about three hours. So we took a "late" breakfast and made us on our way at about half past eight.
Right after the hut, a steep descent awaited us and 200 meters difference in altitude later, we were already back at the bottom of the valley. From now on the descent was way gentler and after we had crossed a huge meadow full of cows, we came upon the turnoff at the Alp Sardona. Deciding to stay on the right side of the river, we had quite some entertainment on our way back: cows, meadows, creeks, forests, changing more diapers, we had the whole works and the time simply flew by. :)
Arriving in St. Martin again, we actually wanted to eat lunch in one of the restaurants, but as they were full to burst, we only settled for a goodbye drink in the scorching heat. It was the perfect ending for our hike and we were all happy to be back home in the afternoon to do some other stuff than hiking on that weekend. :) I was glad to hear that all had a good time, even though the first day was fairly challenging and I also was glad that it went very well with Valentina, so I can welcome back her, Brigitte and Claudio for the second weekend hike at the end of August. :)
Highlights of the weekend: the panoramic views, the running chamois and the scrambling ibexes
This hike is for you if:
- you always wanted to stay overnight in a Unesco World Heritage area :)
- you're looking for a doable challenge
- you want a good chance of seeing wild animals
- you don't mind to cross many creeks
This hike is not for you if:
- you want to scale a summit
- you're looking for secluded trails - you're dependent on public transport :)
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