We have done lots of hiking in our lives, and a fair amount of backpacking too. But this seemed like the perfect European adaptation: spend the day hiking through beautiful scenery and at your journey’s end enjoy a hot meal, a cold beer and a comfortable bed in an alpine hut. A lighter pack to carry, no cooking involved, no dishes, no night after night of set-up and take-down of camping equipment. This was something we wanted to try!
It proved harder to plan than I thought it would be. This seems to be a mode of travel that hasn’t really found its place on the internet. Google “hut to hut hiking Austria” and you will find plenty of sites that extol the benefits of this pastime, and other sites that advertise lots of different huts to choose from, but hardly anything on routes. We wanted to spend several days going from hut to hut to hut and I was hoping that I could just copy someone else’s tried and true trip. I found a route called the Eagle Walk in Tirol that perhaps looked promising, but on digging into it farther it was too challenging for our family; maybe someday in the future. I found a website that listed “nearby huts” for each hut listed, but that really wasn’t enough information to build a plan around. Finally Hedi suggested that we look in a certain area, Schladming, that has lots of beautiful hiking. When I narrowed my search to that one area, I found exactly one suggested route, “4-day hike in Obertal Valley”, which was “suitable for families and children.” https://www.schladming-dachstein.at/en/holiday-activities/summer/hiking-climbing/4-days%20Family%20Hike%20in%20Obertal%20valley_tour14955517#dmdtab=oax-tab3
The next step in planning was to secure our overnight huts in successive nights. If there wasn’t enough space in the specific huts on this route then I didn’t have a Plan B route! Booking huts is old school – no online reservations - so I emailed each hut and waited for responses. Lucky us, all three huts were available on our dates.
The day before the hike began we were ready to think about logistics. Where would we park our car for four days? How would we get to and from the car to the trail? I knew there was a hikers’ bus that we could take to the trailhead, but we weren’t sure where we were allowed to park our car overnight. We devised two options. Option 1: Park in a €7/day lot in Schladming and take the bus to and from the trail. The bus only runs every 2 hours so we would need to be precise on the first day and patient on the last. Option 2: Drive close to the trailhead and park at an Alm (alpine restaurant) that is closed for the summer. Walk to the trailhead or ride the bus one stop. Not knowing for sure if we could legally park at the alm, and figuring we wouldn’t mind hanging out to wait for the bus at the end of our hike since the last day’s hike finishes at another alm where we could have coffee or beer or desserts, we chose option 1. But after paying €28 for parking in Schladming we were hit with another sticker shock - €20 bus ride each way!! Wow, we had assumed a bus ride would cost a couple of bucks. Note to self: don’t assume that a bus is a cheap option. As it turns out, we could have and should have driven our car right up to the alm at the end of the hiking route, where there was a large and free parking lot. This was actually marked on the map, but we just weren’t sure until we saw it that it was large enough for us to leave our car there. We hadn’t wanted to drive all the way up only to find the spaces all taken, and then we would have to drive back down and wait two more hours because we would have missed the bus. This felt like a painful and expensive mistake, €70 just to get to and from the trailhead, but these are the travel mistakes you make that you just have to sigh and say “oh well, next time.” Sometimes you choose the safe option and it turns out not to be the best choice, but you made the best decision you could with the information you had.
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| At the trailhead |
So on to the hike! Day one had some serious uphill! I was dripping sweat as we trudged constantly and steeply uphill. There were almost 2000 feet of elevation gain in the first two miles of the hike! My feet seem to have grown a half size since I last wore my hiking boots, and they rubbed my heels with every uphill step. We had to stop about halfway and apply moleskin, and I suffered from blisters for the remainder of the trip. Guess I need some new bigger boots! Eventually the steepness leveled out and we were in a wide valley with a beautiful stream running through it. The kids were troopers and they didn’t complain much during this challenging start to our hiking trip. Taking a cue from our bike ride reward system in Finland, we stopped every 2 km to celebrate with a sugar gummy apple ring and this seemed to do a good job of motivating them.
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| The trails are well sign-posted showing the direction to the various points of interest, the difficulty of the trail (blue, red or black) and the approximate amount of time it might take to hike there (of course our slow party took way more time than the signpost suggested... |
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| The beautiful valley we found at the top of the steep part of our hike |
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| A toast of beer and hot chocolate on the deck at the Ignaz-Mattis hut |
We made it to our first destination, the Ignaz-Mattis hut by around 3:30 and since we hadn’t brought a lunch on the trail, we scarfed down a big meal outside on the deck. Then we decided to clean up; the hut offered €4 hot showers which Carter opted for, but Haley and I decided to try a dip in the beautiful Giglachsee lake instead. Oh my gosh, talk about frigid!!! We hyperventilated our way a few steps in and then the lake dropped off to about my chest level. We both dunked quickly, screaming, and then raced out of the water before our hearts could freeze. I had brought a bathing suit in case we were able to swim in the mountain lakes; no need to carry that weight next time! We rinsed out some laundry to wear again another day and hung it on the provided laundry line to dry in a stiff wind. It was about 5:30.
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| The hut's menu "Ignaz-Mattis-Hütte, 1986m", with a Schladminger beer, the region's local brewery |
Hmmm – now what??? This is the part of the trip that we did not anticipate at all. When you’re backpacking you arrive at your campsite, set up camp, cook your dinner, clean up the dishes, clean yourself, and then it’s pretty much time to relax a little with a book and go to sleep. But with hut hiking there are hardly any chores to do. How do you fill your whole evening? I had thought we might swim or maybe tackle an extra hike to visit one of the mountain lakes or summit a surrounding peak. But the lakes were freezing and we were exhausted from a tough climb, definitely not up for any more hiking. It was chilly and very windy outside, not exactly good for hanging out, and inside there was very little space. Our room was tiny, only fit for sleeping – a bunk bed, a single bed, and an extra mattress on the floor in the middle. We couldn’t even pass the time eating, because we had eaten so much when we arrived that we were too full to eat dinner! And the final blow: Haley and Carter both finished their books the first night and had nothing else to read! So, another lesson learned: when hut hiking, bring lots of books and some small games to pass the evening hours! Thankfully Haley found a deck of Uno cards stuck down in her backpack. We played a few hands of Uno and then tried to fall asleep with the sounds of raucous merrymaking from the other guests having dinner and drinks in the meal room downstairs. Later the windy night blew into a storm and thunder and lightning crashed outside.
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| The view of the upper and lower Giglachsee lakes, as seen from the Ignaz-Mattis hut. We came up to the hut from the valley to the left of the lakes; on our second day we walked down to the right and around the far side of the lakes, then up and over those mountains in the back. |
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| View of the lakes from the window in our Zimmer |
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| Dan stands in our tiny Zimmer. Bunk beds on the left, a single bed on the right. My bed was a mattress pulled out from under the bunks that sat on the floor between the beds. |
By the morning the rain was mostly gone. The other guests were mostly gone too! People were up and gone so early that it really made me wonder – where are they going? How far do they have to hike? Why get up and leave so early? They must have all been going a lot farther than we were. Which brings me to a comment about the other guests at these huts: I was very impressed with their fitness and stamina. I consider us to be an active family, reasonably fit and capable of moderately demanding physical activity on a vacation. But this “family friendly” hiking route which “caters especially to families with younger kids” kicked our butts! And we didn’t even do the suggested sidetracks in the trail description. I know we have lost some of our hiking stamina from being away from Montana for a few years, but I was surprised at how challenging this route was. Not terribly far distance-wise, but lots of elevation gain in a short distance (read: steep) and challenging footing. Dan and Carter managed a little better because they have been doing some hiking with Carter’s scout group, but still the first two days of hiking were the most challenging I would ever consider planning for our kids at this age. And yet there were other families staying in the huts with us who were doing the same or similar route, and they were faster than us: got up earlier, moved more quickly, seemed unphased by the steepness of the route. There was one little girl from Holland who was only 6! (Turning 7 next week but still…) Maybe we are wimpier than I thought…
After skipping dinner the night before, we were looking forward to a big breakfast spread to fuel us for the day’s hike. We had to pay our bill before going to sleep and had been shocked to discover that the price for breakfast was €10 for adults and €7 for the kids. So we were expecting a feast for that price. I suppose I have set you up now to be able to guess that we were sorely disappointed. For that price we got 1 cup of coffee or tea each and brown bread with either butter and jam or cheese and cold cuts. What a ripoff!
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| If you look closely you can see a building on the hill to the left of the lake. That's our hut and in this photo we have hiked down to lake level and are walking around the lakes |
Our second day of hiking was beautiful but just as challenging as the first. It started with an easy loop around the lakes below our hut but quickly turned into an ascent of the Rotmandlspitze (Red [something] Peak). The wind was so strong as we were hiking up the mountain that we often had to stop and brace ourselves so we wouldn’t blow over. At the top we were rewarded with the most beautiful view in all directions! The day was clear after the overnight storm and we could see row after row of mountains. At the summit there was a metal box which contained a log book, and we all signed our names. We ate some snacks, took lots of pictures, and then began the steep, steep hike down the other side of the saddle. At one point I stepped on a piece of ground that gave way and I fell. I was okay but I had strained my calf muscle. Two girls in their late teens who we had met earlier on the trail came along quickly and one offered to let me use her anti-pain spray. It was basically like an aerosol version of Bengay that she said she had brought along because she had sprained her ankle two weeks before the trip. I sprayed some on my leg; not sure it had any healing properties but it felt good anyway and the injury was so minor it didn’t bother me. Dan shook his head laughing that out in the Austrian wilderness we had managed to find someone peddling essential oils!
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| Dan makes his way through a field of purple wildflowers |
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| Up, up, up |
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| Carter uses the provided rope to scale a particularly steep piece of rock |
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| Looking down on the Knappenseen lakes. We were supposed to take a trail detour and go to those lakes but we were too tired to get off the main trail and do the extra hiking! |
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| Dan stands atop the summit with row after row of mountains in view |
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| The metal box with the summit log book |
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| Haley signs the book |
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| On the way down through the scree |
Going down was tougher for Haley than going up, and we soon fell way behind Dan and Carter. We could see our next overnight hut, the Keinprechthütte, resting in the valley at the bottom, and I could also see a black storm blowing in, so I tried in vain to get Haley to hurry so we could reach the hut before the storm got to us. Thankfully the black clouds stayed always to the left of us and it didn’t storm until after we were safely in bed for the night.
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| Using the rope on a steep downhill |
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| In the direction of the dark clouds |
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| On the way down: tiny Dan and Carter on the trail on the right, our destination is the hut above the lake on the left |
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| One of the Lager rooms at the Keinprechthütte |
This is probably a good time to talk about the beds in alpine huts. When I was making room reservations, I didn’t yet know that there were two kinds of accommodations in Austrian huts. A “Zimmer” is a private room, meaning you get to sleep behind a door (the door is pretty much your only amenity). Everyone else sleeps in a Lager (Lagerplätze), which is basically a row of beds in an open room (Kappa sisters think sleeping porch). Not knowing this distinction ahead of time, I failed to reserve a Zimmer for us, or indeed to ask if the huts even had Zimmers (some only have Lagerplätze). Lucky for us, the first night our hostess led us directly to a room, albeit a tiny one in which there were only 3 beds and we had to put the fourth mattress on the floor. Thank goodness, because we hadn’t brought comfortable sleeping attire that would have been appropriate to wear to sleep out in the open! And, since 3 out of 4 of us snore, it was much better to confine our own snoring to our own room, and to avoid the snoring of the multitudes out in the Lager. Not to mention changing clothes, reading at night, falling asleep and waking up when we wanted to, etc. The second night, our hostess said “I have a surprise for you” and led us to a Zimmer. Whew! It seems that maybe I didn’t reserve a certain type of room but we were somehow awarded the Zimmer. Our luck ran out the third night and I had chosen a hut without any Zimmers, only Lagerplätze, but we ended up deciding not to stay there, more on that in a minute.
What I did know about sleeping in the huts was that we all needed to bring Hüttenschlafsäcke – “hut sleeping bags”. The huts provide a mattress, blanket and pillow but no sheets, and for both your protection and theirs they require that you bring your own hut sleeping bag. You can buy fancier ones if you want to, but ours are just thin polyester rectangles that you climb inside to put fabric between you and the mattress and blanket. There’s a slit in the top to enclose a pillow and Velcro straps on the side to seal yourself in. Ours came in multiple colors with a matching stuff sack, so the kids and I had fun each picking out a different color. They were super light and easy to carry, and since the stuff sacks matched the color no one could steal anyone’s bag and claim “no, yours is lost; this is mine!”
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| Back deck of the Keinprechthütte |
Our second night was better than the first. We found the staff at the Ignaz-Mattis Hütte to not be terribly friendly, and we felt cramped with having to place a mattress on the floor in our room in what would have otherwise been the only floor space. The food was just okay, and we felt isolated from the other guests since we didn’t go down to the common room for dinner. Dan and I had tried to go down for an evening cup of tea but had found every table occupied and no one looking like they wanted us to join them. At the Keinprechthütte we felt immediately welcomed by the hosts, and we also recognized several other groups of people who had spent the previous night with us. We spent the first hour after completing our hike sipping beer (adults) and hot chocolate (kids) on the patio while swapping stories with the other hikers about the gusting wind and the beautiful summit. Dinner worked differently at this hut; there was a limited menu and when we arrived at the hut we pre-ordered what we wanted to eat. The kids had hoped to eat schnitzel the first night but it hadn’t been on the menu. This second night it was on the printed menu but not offered on the limited menu we were given. Dan expressed disappointment to our hostess and she paused for a minute, then promised she would rustle up two portions of schnitzel for our kids but not to tell anyone!
We were told that dinner would be served between 5 and 5:30, so we did a quick splash-wash in the wash room. Both huts had a wash room, one for men and one for women where you could splash yourself off next to a big sink, and could also rinse out your laundry. The wash room water was freezing at the first hut but warm at the second. Seating in the cozy dining room was communal and we shared our table with an older couple from Austria who were kind enough to speak slowly so we could understand their accents (so different from the Berlin accent!) After a dinner of schnitzel (kids) and gulasch (parents), we hung around outside in the nice evening air for a little while. I met a man from Berlin who was traveling with his family along some of our same route. It came out in conversation that he graduated from high school the same year as me, and he spent his last year of high school in Texas just like me (he was in San Antonio, I was in Houston). We talked about appreciating different cultures and the value of having the experience of living abroad. His English was great so he could help if I needed a word or two, but our conversation was primarily in German. I have gotten a LOT of practice with my German during this vacation, especially since I’m not dependent on Dan anymore for conversation and we can split up and talk to different people.
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| Guard bunny: this adorable rabbit stretched out in the evening behind the hut, surveying his territory |
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| Snuggly under the cabin blanket |
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| Haley poses with the sparse breakfast |
After night fell the weather worsened. Once again there was a storm overnight and we were glad to be safe inside and not sleeping in tents. We wondered if our breakfast at the first hut was an anomaly and maybe we would receive more for the price this time, now €10.50 for 3 of us and Haley free. But alas, Dan (always the first to wake) returned to the room to report to us that it was the same.
The weather forecast had been pretty awful for our entire almost 3 week trip, and we had expected a very wet hiking experience, so we were so glad and thankful that our first two tough days of hiking weren't done in the rain, and that the rain came only at night. But on the third day the rain continued into the morning, and the forecast looked pretty bad that day and much worse the next day. Our plan had been to do a very short hike to our third hut, the Fahrlechütte, and then spend the night and hike out and take the bus to our car the following day. But with the ugly forecast and such a short hike we decided we might rather get on out of the mountains and spend the night somewhere in town in a hotel. We forged a new plan to hike to the hut, have lunch, and then make a final decision.
This last day of hiking took us down off the mountain into a valley, only to climb back up again on the other side. The terrain was very different in this area, pine forest with vegetation that likes the wet: ferns, moss, mushrooms. It rained off and on. It was just a little over 5k to the hut, so we reached it before noon.
At the Fahrlechütte we sat down to lunch and to decide what to do next. It was a pretty spot, and I was in favor of spending the day at the lake, reading and watching the storm come in with a nice bottomless cup of coffee or tea. There were just a couple of problems with that plan. First of all, only Dan and I had reading material. Second, the coffee at the huts was priced such that one small cup was the maximum I was willing to shell out for, no such thing as refills. And finally we discovered that there had been a miscommunication with my overnight reservation at the hut. I thought I had accepted their lodging offer, but they thought my response was ambiguous, so they hadn't reserved us a place. They may or may not have had room for us anyway, but we learned that this hut didn't have any Zimmers, only Lagerplätze, and Dan and the kids weren't feeling adventurous enough to embrace the group sleep experience. We decided to hike the final 2-3 kilometers and find a hotel to stay in for the night.
Soon we had reached our final destination, the Eschachalm. We sat down for a slice of cake while we waited for the bus. It came without incident, we paid our €20, and made it back to our car in Schladming. We used booking.com, our favorite source of lodging, to find a place to spend the night. Thank goodness we weren't up on the ridge that day and night! The rain was pouring down and thunder was crashing. There was even hail. Definitely dangerous weather to be outside in, much less for being exposed on a mountain. We got so so lucky to be able to hike almost our whole route in relatively nice weather.
I'm so glad we tried hut to hut hiking, but I have mixed opinions on whether or not I think I would do it again. Here are some considerations on hut hiking vs. backpacking.
The weather forecast had been pretty awful for our entire almost 3 week trip, and we had expected a very wet hiking experience, so we were so glad and thankful that our first two tough days of hiking weren't done in the rain, and that the rain came only at night. But on the third day the rain continued into the morning, and the forecast looked pretty bad that day and much worse the next day. Our plan had been to do a very short hike to our third hut, the Fahrlechütte, and then spend the night and hike out and take the bus to our car the following day. But with the ugly forecast and such a short hike we decided we might rather get on out of the mountains and spend the night somewhere in town in a hotel. We forged a new plan to hike to the hut, have lunch, and then make a final decision.
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| A perfect mushroom along the trail, just like a smurf house |
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| Day 3, rainy |
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| The Fahrlechütte has a deck built right over the lake. We almost sat out there but thought better of it with the occasional bursts of rain. |
At the Fahrlechütte we sat down to lunch and to decide what to do next. It was a pretty spot, and I was in favor of spending the day at the lake, reading and watching the storm come in with a nice bottomless cup of coffee or tea. There were just a couple of problems with that plan. First of all, only Dan and I had reading material. Second, the coffee at the huts was priced such that one small cup was the maximum I was willing to shell out for, no such thing as refills. And finally we discovered that there had been a miscommunication with my overnight reservation at the hut. I thought I had accepted their lodging offer, but they thought my response was ambiguous, so they hadn't reserved us a place. They may or may not have had room for us anyway, but we learned that this hut didn't have any Zimmers, only Lagerplätze, and Dan and the kids weren't feeling adventurous enough to embrace the group sleep experience. We decided to hike the final 2-3 kilometers and find a hotel to stay in for the night.
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| Fahrlechütte on the edge of the Duisitzkarsee lake |
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| Waterfalls cascade down the mountain as clouds and rain move through the valley |
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| Hard to tell from this picture but the waiter in the blue vest is wearing leather shorts (lederhosen). The staff at all the huts all wore traditional clothing. |
Soon we had reached our final destination, the Eschachalm. We sat down for a slice of cake while we waited for the bus. It came without incident, we paid our €20, and made it back to our car in Schladming. We used booking.com, our favorite source of lodging, to find a place to spend the night. Thank goodness we weren't up on the ridge that day and night! The rain was pouring down and thunder was crashing. There was even hail. Definitely dangerous weather to be outside in, much less for being exposed on a mountain. We got so so lucky to be able to hike almost our whole route in relatively nice weather.
I'm so glad we tried hut to hut hiking, but I have mixed opinions on whether or not I think I would do it again. Here are some considerations on hut hiking vs. backpacking.
- Cost - Backpacking is cheap, and I tend to think of "natural" experiences as being cheap. But hut hiking is not cheap. If you do it a lot, it's worth your while to join a hiking club, alpinverein, which gives you discounts on your lodging. But otherwise it's about €75/night for the four of us to stay in a hut. Cheaper than a lot of hotels, sure, but you don't get much for that money. Advantage: Backpacking
- Comfort - The older I get, the less I like sleeping on a ground pad in a sleeping bag in a tent. The hut at least provides a mattress, and also a toilet (shared with 10 or 15 other people, but still). Advantage: Hut
- Effort - One of the toughest things about backpacking is, literally, carrying everything you need on your back. Not having to carry your own food, pots and pans, plates, cups and sleeping materials is glorious. We still had to carry a very full daypack with snacks, clothes, toiletries, raingear, emergency gear, water, etc., but it was tolerably light compared to a big pack. I also didn't miss having to put up and take down a tent and roll and unroll sleeping bags and ground pads every day one single bit. Advantage: Hut
- Privacy - When you are backpacking (in Montana at least) you can often be alone at your destination, or at least with just a few other small groups of people. And there is privacy in your tent so you can dress and sleep on your own. It's very hard to be alone in Europe, even in the mountains! At the huts there is next to no privacy. The washroom and toilet are shared with others of your gender, the common areas are, of course, communal, and unless you are lucky enough to have a Zimmer your sleeping area is also shared. This is too much togetherness for my liking. I prefer to sleep away from strangers, even if it is on the ground in a tent. Advantage: Backpacking
- Social - A direct counterpoint to privacy, staying in huts provides the opportunity for social interaction. Typically I like to interact with the people I came with, not strangers, but I will admit that I did meet some interesting people at the second hut. Still, advantage: Backpacking
- Food - Hearty Austrian food, beer and wine at the end of a tiring day of hiking was one of the primary draws to this experience. But I have to say that it wasn't as fantastic as it sounds. The food was good but not great, and we had to spend so much money on it that it definitely dampened the pleasure quite a bit. There's something extremely satisfying about pulling out your bunsen burner, heating up a plastic bag full of dehydrated chili or some such, and scarfing it down out of your collapsible bowl as you sit by a lake somewhere at night. And certainly we can make a much cheaper and tastier camp breakfast than we were offered at the huts. Advantage: Backpacking
So it seems from this list that I would lean towards backpacking rather than hut to hut hiking. Of course this is a moot point because there's not really any such thing as backpacking in Europe where there's not exactly real wilderness. And there are very few examples of overnight hut stays in the US. So I guess when in Rome I will do as the Romans do!
P.S. In Montana we are always on the lookout for bears when we hike. But in Austria you have to watch out for cows!
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| Dangerous cows ahead |
