4.5 miles ascent 327′ descent 330′
To begin this day, we walked downhill from last night’s hut to reach a paved track that crossed an old lake bed, Lermooser Moos. The village of Lermoos was easily visible in the distance.
The early morning light on the Lermooser Moos and the striking mountains were a breath-taking sight. The Claudia Augusta Roman road crossed our path at this point which had us contemplating the history that must have taken place in this area.
Lermoos is an attractive village seated on the side of the mountain with the Grubigstein mountain rising behind it. Ski lifts crisscrossed the hillside and had us wondering which one might be included in our trail. As it turned out, we took none. The summer season was coming to an end and places were beginning to close up, a problem we were to encounter later in this hike. The lift identified as part of this trail would have put us mid-mountain, but that lift was closed. We were offered another lift that would have required an extra 3000′ of descent. After much discussion, we decided to skip the problem, enjoy a restful morning exploring the village and take a taxi to our afternoon’s destination: the Schloss Fernstein. The first stop on the day’s exploration took us to the village’s most prominent building, the Parish Church built in 1753.
The agrarian economy is evident as these sleek cows and the village shops exist side by side.
A local skier from Lermoos, Josl Rieder, won a gold medal at the 1958 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in the slalom and two silver medals in other slalom events. He also carried the torch for Austria at the opening ceremonies at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. This prominently displayed mural expresses the pride the town feels for their local hero.
Flowers were in abundance everywhere.
The most stunning sight in Lermoos was the unobstructed, marvelous view of the Zugspitze. We were so pleased to have such a nice day to clearly see it. If you look closely you can see the Zugspitze cable car going up the left side of the mountain.
Our knees were thanking us as the taxi dropped us off at the Schloss Fernstein. What a fascinating place. Perched on the side of the mountain on the Fern Pass, it was the ideal location to exact tolls from those using the heavily traveled road between Germany and Italy.
First mentioned in 1288, the Roman road, Claudia Augustus, went along just below the castle which was convenient as a customs post.
The castle overlooks the inviting Fernsteinsee. It was a lovely location to take a swim and relax.
Our stay at the castle was quite enjoyable. The rooms were grand, the staff friendly, and the meals tasty. Quite fun to stay in a castle with so much history!