Transalp on snowshoes

by Peter Hinds

The idea of a snowshoe tour followed a series of centre-based snowshoe weeks. We were interested in seeing if it's possible to organise a tour where we move on, like in the summer. As the winter hut coverage is more limited and hotels aren't really interested in overnight stops we were beginning to give up on the idea. Until we stumbled on the Oase Alpin Schule in Oberstdorf who offer a transalp tour. After Frances Hinds had done a bit of organising to gather together the minimum number, agree a start date and sort out an English-speaking guide, we were committed. Franz Kröll, our guide, turned out to be someone who trains the mountain rescue teams, so we knew we were in safe hands.

Six of us met at 08:00 on a sunny and fresh Sunday morning at the offices on Oberstdorf railway station. After a kit check and weigh in we took the post bus up to Baad in Kleinwalsertal, where the trek began at 09:00. After half an hour we were off the icy path and sorting out avalanche rescue with our transponders and probes. Then off for the first ascent, a steep climb of 700m up to Hochalpass (1938m) and then over and down 400m to Hochtannbergpass (1676m) before crossing to our hotel at Körbersee. As a first day this was ideal with "Kaiserwetter", pure white snowfields not only cloud free but also crowd free with no-one else in sight.

Ascending Hochalpass 1938m

Monday dawned cold and crisp. We started over hard crust down steep slopes, thankful for the bite of the snowshoe teeth. We headed down to Auenfeld (where the icy car park proved too much for me). We had a short bus transfer over the Flexenpassthen ascended 300m again to Müttjochle before descending through the trees to Kristberg in Silbertal and a small traditional hotel.

Tuesday started cold. We descended to the valley and took a bus to Partenan in Montafon, where we ascended steeply through forest trails and over yet more passes to Galtür.

Wednesday was a bit of an ordeal. Some of us were afflicted by stomach troubles and the weather decided to be less kind. After a bus ransfer to Ischgl we had a windy 900m ascent to Heidelberger Hütte. In fine weather there would have been brilliant views of the alpine crown around the valley. For us it was heads down to avoid the wind-blown snow and ice. But the next day was fine and sunny. The high spot was the crossing of Fuorcla Davo Lais (2810m) and then 1700m descent down to Zuort. Along the way we encountered what Franz called "funny snow": breaking trail Matt Nobles and Nigel Riley were disappearing up to their armpits in fine dry powder, even with snow shoes! At the back Graham Willoughby and I were struggling to stay upright. For some reason Ellie Haworth was able to float across.

Approaching Fuorcia Davo Lais 2810m
Photos by Frances Hinds

Eventually we arrived at the stables. We knew that a sleigh rid was scheduled but had not bargained for it being so long (an hour ascent from Scuol to S-charl) nor so cold. The sleigh was piled high with furs, and we were thankful that we didn't have to take the strain!

On our last day, it was a bitterly cold start as we ascended gently to Scharljoch (2251m), also known as Cruschetta. We descended to Taufers, where it became apparent how far we had travelled as it was a five hour trip back. Matt Nobles said it was the best snowshoe trip that he had been on.

We decided that it was so enjoyable, and such a good challenge, that all agreed to organise a second trip for 2016, from Kufstein to Pfitscherjoch in Zillertal. See details in the Calendar section, 12 places but 6 already taken.

Return to the top of this page, or to the complete Index, or to this section's Index.