Nösslachhütte, not Nösslachjoch

Today we’d planned to walk to the Bergeralm ski area, take 2 lifts up to the top of the mountain and then walk along the ridge to a couple of peaks, Nösslachjoch and Eggerberg (both around 2230 metres high). Unfortunately, the second gondola wasn’t running today and walkers aren’t allowed on the top chairlift so, once again, we had to change our plans!

We took the first gondola to the mid station and chose to walk through the forest to the Nösslachhütte. This would have been part of our planned descent from the ridge. Once we left the noise of the ski slopes, it was very peaceful and we saw very few people.

It was a pleasant walk, with plenty of sunshine on the way out. We were glad to be wearing our spikes because there was thick ice in places where water had frozen. The spikes also meant we could keep a good pace because we weren’t slipping. We had our snowshoes and hiking poles in our packs but, because we didn’t do our planned walk, we didn’t need them.

The views across the valley were beautiful, with snow capped mountains in the distance and pretty towns and villages far below us. As we were fairly high up (around 1700 metres), there was plenty of snow, although it had melted in patches where the sun shone on it all day.

We didn’t expect the hut to be open because it’s away from the ski slopes and not a weekend. Therefore, it was a lovely surprise to arrive and see people sitting outside enjoying drinks in the sunshine. John had coffee and cake, and I had a delicious creamy hot chocolate, then we retraced our steps to the lift station. The sun had dropped behind the trees by now and it was cooler, but much of the trail was uphill at this point, which meant we were warm and toasty.

Once we were back at the mid station, rather than getting the lift, we hiked back down to the bottom station mostly following the toboggan track. This was a gentle meandering descent and luckily there weren’t many tobogganists flying past.

From the lift station, it was just a 15 minute walk back to the apartment. After 15 kilometres and 25,000 steps, we were glad to get our boots off and have a brew. Tomorrow, we leave the Airbnb in Steinach and move to Almi’s Berghotel in Obernberg am Brenner. We’re looking forward to the next chapter of our trip.