15 miles ascent 3291′ descent 4064′
What a glorious day to begin the last stage of our amazing Adlerweg trek! This pristine morning gave us a lovely view of the Kaisers village as we left our night’s hut, Edelweisshaus.
We followed a gravel track through a heavily forested area, where waterfalls were abundant after the recent rain.
We then climbed steadily as we navigated up the Almajurtal Valley.
The grade of the trail continued steeply through bushes and low, growing conifers.
Finally, as we emerged from the bushes at the top of a ridge we had our first view of the hut (and our planned lunch stop), Leutkircherhütte, high on the mountainside.
As we gained elevation the head of the Almajurtal Valley opened up for a fabulous view highlighted by the mountain peaks, Weissschrofenspitze and Fallersteinspitze.
Leutkircherhütte was a welcome sight with its beautiful panoramas and the aroma of freshly baked apple strudel. They were to close for the season the next day, so we were fortunate to have arrived on the day we did.
The panorama from Leutkircherhütte’s outdoor porch included a spectacular, birds’ eye view of St. Anton. It appeared to be “just down the hill,” but by the end of the afternoon’s final descent into the village our knees would cry for a reprieve.
This last segment of the Adlerweg adventure began with a sign post which directed us toward our destination, St. Anton.
A final look at the last hut we would encounter on this trek as we left this mountaintop haven:
Initially, the slippery gravel on the steep trail demanded that we navigate the slope carefully. Fortunately, the occasional forest paths were much easier as we approached the valley and the town.
Arriving in St. Anton, we noted that it clearly was, during winters, a ski destination for tourists. Unfortunately, we had just missed a parade of splendidly adorned cows driven through the village as they returned from the summer’s high pastures to spend the winter pastured on lower fields. We did, however, observe the village festival around that event and enjoyed the festive Tyrolean music.
Village music…
What a wonderful undertaking this trek has been! The Austrians who live in the Tyrol region are fortunate to have this lovely area, virtually in their backyard. This extraordinary part of the world is a grand background for the challenging, well-marked and breath-taking Adlerweg trek, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
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