The sixth day of our trip takes us further west from Merano...
...But we skip the downhill lap in Merano. Christian is still suffering from his elbow mishap. Pushing and carrying bikes seems to work better for him than riding downhill at the moment. So the decision is quickly made: we venture into the Schnalstal Valley by train and bus. Our destination is the Bildjöchl, an old military crossing into the Matschertal valley, which is hardly developed for tourism.
Around 1 pm, we pack our things and start the 1100 m ascent. At first, the trail climbs slightly uphill over lush alpine meadows for 400m to a high valley. We are still met by numerous hikers from the nearby chairlift. As soon as we turn off at the junction further into the valley, we are alone. Only a few tech-curious mountain cows insistently examine our seltasame companions before clearing the way into the high alpine terrain.
Because what follows requires some alpine experience, at least on a bike. The scree desert ahead of us rises ever more steeply. We can only see the way ahead a few meters in advance. We gradually leave the high valley with its lush meadows and meandering streams.
A tourism manager would probably write "Welcome to High Alpine" on a sign here if they were interested in this terrain.
It slowly dawns on us why no bikers are likely to have been here before us. After all, we have to carry our sports equipment 700 m up a potentially precipitous mountain path that gets steeper and steeper. Pushing no longer works here at this steepness. Every time we try, we slide back down without a nose despite our mountain boots.
After 3.5 hours, we finally reach the Bildstöckljoch. After a few meters downhill, we reach a small plateau and turn off to the Oberetteshütte.
Below us is a scree gully that is about 50 degrees steep and 30m wide. However, the path seems to be in great shape, so we dare to try the hairpin bend festival. It's going well so far, but we prefer to tackle the hairpin bends with a safety leg given the potential drop height.
As soon as we roll over the side exit of the gully, the little alpine interlude really gets going. The terrain becomes even steeper, the path is only the width of a washcloth and extremely steep, slippery and at risk of falling. One slip here and the adventure and everything else would be over very quickly.
So we carefully feel our way downhill. After about 100 m, the path winds its way through almost vertical rock. We gratefully accept the rope protection in places, but still have to concentrate hard. The remnants of snow that we have to cross don't make it any easier for us to continue.
After a few steep meters on a final gravel field, we reach the Oberetteshütte. The evening sun shines like a painting on the newly renovated Alpenverinshütte and its alpine pastures. We spontaneously decide to end the day here and enjoy the last few minutes of sunshine lying in the meadow with a tasty wheat beer. At our "feet" the valley slowly slips into the shade. The nearby Ortler massif and the Stilvser Joch glacier, on the other hand, are only now glowing in the radiant sunset.
Prost und Berg Heil.
Ps.: according to mtb-news.de/forum, google and the hut owner, this must have been a first ascent by bike. After what we experienced, we now know why ;)