Day 5 – Walking and Skiing in
Sportgastein, and walking back from Bad Gastein
11.75 miles
With a promising start and favourable forecast, we
caught the bus up to Sportgastein at the head of the valley, wedged in on the
9.15am with all the downhillers. Characterised in the main by rudeness,
interesting personal hygiene and lack of spatial awareness, it would be easy to
get piste-off with the off-piste crowd.
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| Walking the 5k loop at Sportgastein |
Not to worry. We grabbed a seat for the 40-minute
journey, and enjoyed the views beyond Bad Gastein for the first time. As we
passed Bockstein, we entered a steep-sided gorge that had the road ducking
through tunnels and avalanche sheds before finally exiting the gorge to reveal
a lovely snowy cirque perched at 1600m above sea level.
With more work required to get there, it was a little
less busy than other ski areas, and with separate areas for downhill and
walking/langlauf, good snow conditions and some of the best weather of the week,
it proved to be a beautiful setting.
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| Getting ready for the off |
We started by following the 5k prepared walking track,
a gently undulating path that toured the bottom of the cirque whilst
criss-crossing the langlauf tracks. It was such a beautiful morning that we
were thinking of going round again, when Missy G declared she was up for a spot
of cross-country skiing!
A short while later, replete with rented skis, poles
and boots, we were gliding effortlessly across the snow in glorious sunshine
and crystal-clear air like practiced professionals. Well, not really, but we
were following the track with reasonable accuracy, if a bit slowly, and with only
minor falling over.
However, we did improve, and the last couple of
hundred metres was negotiated without incident and in some style in front of
the watching hordes.
We then caught the bus back to Bad Gastein and picked
up the Kaiser Wilhelm Promenade towards Grune Baum (stopping for a quick lunch
break by a memorial to the Kaiser). After crossing the entrance of the Kotschachtal,
we joined the Martin Ledinger Gasteiner Hohenweg, heading for Bad Hofgastein.
With signs advising the route to be “Closed in Winter”
but plenty of footprints to evidence recent passage, there was some doubt as to
how far we would be able to get. In the other direction, we had seen it was
closed beyond the Rauchberg Muhle. But for how far?
In the end, the going was easy and there was little
snow to negotiate. So, we made it a good way along before opting to drop into
the valley at Gadaunern, from where we followed the back road into Bad Hofgastein
via Felding.
We’d had another good day. It was quite tiring, though
– you wouldn’t believe how many calories you burn Cross-country Skiing! - but we
finished off the day as we did all days with relaxation, dinner and a stroll.
Day 6 – Grune Baum to Prossau and
back, and return to Bad Hofgastein
13.50 miles
Another decent morning beckoned, with the promise of bright
sunshine for much of the day. We ran the gauntlet of downhillers again,
catching the bus to Bad Gastein and on again to Grune Baum.
We had enjoyed our trip to the Alpenhaus Prossau so
much a few days ago, we decided to go again. Not that huge platefuls of strudel
had anything to do with our decision! This time we planned to return to Bad Hofgastein
by the high route found yesterday, making for a doable but quite long day out
(and one which would require a bit of lunchtime fuelling).
The valley was looking beautiful with a little extra
snow on the ground. We made our way up the track, reaching the hut at about
11.30. Radler and Strudel were promptly ordered. Mine took about half an hour
to come, with suitable apologies, but was fresh out of the oven and almost too
delicious for words. Almost, but not quite: layer upon layer of thinly sliced
apples piled high, bound with a delicate pastry and served with vanilla sauce, whipped
cream, and ice cream gently melting into it on the side.
As before, we made the walk back down in just over an
hour. After a quick coffee at Grune Baum, we dispensed with our Yaktrax and set
off to join the Gasteiner Hohenweg.
It was beautiful in the afternoon sun, and quite warm
too – only a fleece and T-shirt required, which is not bad for an early March
day in the Alps.
Making our way back via Gadaunern again, we were quite
tired by the time we got back to the hotel. That didn’t stop us having our
regular wander out after dinner, though!
Day 7 – Bas Gastein to Bad Hofgastein
via the Gasteiner Hohenweg
6.50 miles
Once we had discovered our departure time, we realised
we had a good few hours available in which to go a walk. The weather was good,
so to make the most of the time and conditions, we followed the Gasteiner
Hohenweg back from Bad Gastein again – for the third day in a row!
That may seem a bit under-ambitious, but to be honest
some of the best views were to be had from the path, and we knew the way so
needed a minimum of maps, bus timetables, etc, which were already safely packed
away.
All that remained when we got back to Bad Hofgastein
was to grab a spot of lunch and get ourselves tidied up for the transfer to
Salzburg airport.
