The Spronserseen from above the Milchseescharte
Sketch map and all photos by Rob Staples

A family hut tour in the Texelgruppe, Südtirol, Italy

by Rob Staples

This tour north of Val Venosta, NW of Meran, is centred on the Oberkaseralm hut (a high alpine summer farm with cattle stalls converted into dormitories), and Lodnerhütte (a dedicated alpine walkers’ hut). The basic 3-day route connecting the huts over the cols presents highly varied mountain and valley terrain with great views, and with just one short easy chain and boulder section either side of the Milchseescharte.

However, numerous walking or scrambling peaks could encourage one to spend a week. Although day-trippers do reach both huts, the areas above them were very quiet. There is swimming potential in the Spronserseen, whilst goats, sheep, cows, marmots and steinbok also provided us with interest. There are numerous possible start/finish points, but we chose the village of Vellau since it allowed us to walk back to the starting point without excessive effort, thus avoiding taxis or public transport connections. Walking with our 12 and 14 year old children, (with whom we do a short tour each summer), we took mostly 20 – 40% longer than signpost time.

We parked at the base of the Korblift in Vellau, and enjoyed this very old-fashioned, small ‘sardine-can’ lift, giving a real feel of floating through the trees, as it whisked us to 1470m. Minutes from the top, we found superb wild raspberries in an area with great views, but knowing bad weather was coming, we tore ourselves away from berry picking after 10 minutes and ascended through the forest. At 1900m we emerged above the treeline and enjoyed an early lunch, with views over Meran and towards the Dolomites. At Taufenscharte (2230m), the clouds came down to meet us and we donned waterproofs on the col as rain began. We had planned the side-peak of Mutspitze, but with increasing rain and the peak in cloud, we headed straight for the hut - a mostly traversing path taking us past large herds of goat and two beautiful lakes before arriving at the hut where we dried out (3½ hours from the top of the lift).

The Oberkaseralm (2131m) is in a beautiful setting with two lakes, a picturesque waterfall and mountain views. Apart from one hour’s break that afternoon (when we explored), seriously heavy rain poured down for the next 36 hours. We had intended to climb one of Schwarzkopf (2805m) or Spronser Rötelspitz (2625m) on day two, but walking was not a sensible option in the cloud and heavy rain. With several cool weeks preceding, and the air at 7C, the lakes were also too cold for swimming. Thus we divided a rest day ‘waiting on weather’ between our rather cool four person dorm, and the main hut dining room, playing games and reading.

On the third day, in much improved dry weather, we climbed up from the hut beside a spectacular gushing waterfall and on past the four other Spronserseen (lakes). At 2480m we did a kilometre side-trip – a flat traverse to the top of the mountain wall above the Val Venosta, where we snacked with magnificent views across many of the eastern Italian Alps. We returned to the Milchsee and climbed the enjoyably steep (but easy) chains to the Milchseescharte (2707m). Here, we ate an early lunch outside the Guido Lammer bivouac hut, taking in the northerly views towards the Ötztaler Alpen. We greatly enjoyed the traverse to the Halsljoch (2808m) – mostly stable boulder clambering – but it was hard, slow progress. We dumped packs at the Halsljoch and did the short side-trip up Lazinser Rötelspitz (3037m). This fore-shortened peak and the chain from the col looked intimidating, but once we had hauled ourselves up the first 4 metres the ground was much easier – walking with occasional use of the hands, and nothing really exposed. Clouds drifted on and off the surrounding peaks as we enjoyed the superb summit views. Returning to the col, we descended to the Lodnerhütte (2262m) which sits delightfully on a spur above the confluence of two large streams (8 hours including breaks and both side-trips). (Note: experienced scramblers with a good head for heights can also traverse the spectacular Tschigat on this ‘connecting day’.)

With a good forecast for our last two days, we decided to postpone Zielspitz to day five and instead, on day four, ascended Rotegg (3336m, the highest peak in the range), accepting that without a rope the summit scrambling might prove too serious for us. The walking was a steady upward haul, nicely changeable in character, though with dozens of false summits as one approached the real summit ridge. We scrambled up one small nose (c. 3150m), and then walked a few hundred metres up to the start of the scramble proper, where we dropped our packs. We enjoyed scrambling maybe 100m or 200m along the very steep ridge with mostly good holds, before a short traverse along a hugely exposed ledge without handholds stretched the nerves of my daughter and me too far, and we all decided to turn around. Back at the base of the main scramble (c. 3200m), we took a long, lazy, late lunch, with views across much of the Texel group and the border peaks/glaciers of the Ötztaler Alpen – cloud catching some of the summits - and then we returned to the hut (7 hours round trip including stops).

Day five sadly didn’t match the originally clear forecast. Over breakfast, cloud rapidly descended to about 2400m and so, with bad weather incoming, we decided to forego our planned summit of either Zielspitz (3009m) or Blasiuszeiger (2837m). Instead, we ascended 100m to the cross on the small hill opposite the hut to enjoy a view across the high valley before starting a long descent to Val Venosta with the cloud following down behind us to about 2000m. However, this remained a rewarding day, passing first down mountain terrain with lovely waterfalls, then into the beautiful forest close to the Nasereit Hütte (1523m). Despite road access at 1400m, we all felt fresh, so all chose to walk a long descending traverse through the forest and meadows of Prünster and Niederhaus with gorgeous meadow flowers and valley views all along the way. We entered the orchards and vineyards, and the family relaxed buying juices, fruit and vegetables from the Saxner guesthouse (740m), at the end of a great tour, whilst I quickly ascended 160m to collect the car from Vellau (a 7 hour day, but could be shortened by getting a taxi to meet you).

Editor’s note: we hope this article will encourage other families to explore the mountains, and attention is also drawn to the Families' Bergfest planned for July 2022, details in Overseas Meets and on the website.

The family by a gushing waterfall above the Oberkaseralmbr>

Fun chains to the Milchseescharte

Squinting into the light, during the steep, but easy ascent of the SE ridge of Lazinser Rötelspitz. The Halsljoch is the brown col centre right, and Tschigat rises beyon

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