A ridge walk at 2,600m

Above Prutz is the Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis ski area, named after the three villages up there. We get a free bus pass as part of the tourist tax deal and having spent a day up there two weeks ago, we plan a ‘big day’.

Getting the 09:02 bus might not seem too much of a stretch but it’s really cold in the morning and we have to make a big effort to hit the button on the warm air heater.

We pack clothes for walking at nearly 3,000m (didn’t need them) and food and plenty of water. It looks as though we are going for a week.

This ski area is buzzing with visitors. It’s very modern with good quality cable cars and they are all running. The whole place is family friendly and that means toddlers as well as crazy bigger kids and parents with mountain bikes.

There’s a huge number of tracks for the bikes to use to descend and the cable cars are designed for bikes to be taken in them. As a result it’s a busy weekend, helped by perfect weather.

We have planned a ridge walk and we take the Schönjochbahn cable car up from Fiss, two legs, all the way to Fisserjoch at 2,446m.

The cable car station at the top is full of nice things to eat and drink. These Austrians are so good at doing food, drink, buildings, roads. We are in love. Even in the toilet, the urinals have little screens so you can watch stuff whilst you stand there. The kids’ urinals (lower) have kids things to watch.

Also there are lockers where you can charge your mobile phone (handy) or powerbank.

That sounds as though we’ve cheated, getting so high but now we are going to walk several km along the ridge. This proves to be quite a challenge with lots of height lost and regained, plus the ‘walking’ is mainly across boulders, so every foot has to be placed.

The Zugspitze in Germany

Hands are needed for many steeper bits, and the odd chain. Also it’s hard work in rarified air. That’s our excuse anyway.

The good bit is that we overtake young people. It’s really satisfying.

Each summit along the ridge is marked with a height pole, the signpost number and a number to ring for SOS. There was also this sign…

Now where’s that travel insurance reference number?

We follow a route that can be seen on a reasonably good hiker’s map, supplemented by gps map apps and the famous painted white stripe on red, which is all over Europe. Here it was a very useful pointer for us across boulder fields, particularly with a lot of air on each side. It’s very easy to wander slightly and you find yourself looking down over not at lot.

This would be an altogether different challenge in bad weather or poor visibility. At least we can see where we are, even though we can’t get down!

The views are tremendous. We can see the Zugspitz (highest mountain in Germany) and in the opposite direction, the Wildspitze, the highest in the Ötztal alps, which is the range spanning the Austrian Tyrol and the South Tyrol of Italy.

Full sun, warm, no wind and no rain, all helped make it a very good day.

There were very few people up there which made it all the more special. 

Eventually we start a very long and steep descent and make our way to the top of a cable car into Serfaus. The bus back is at 5:20pm. It was a challenging day and we are asleep at 9:30pm.