Schnalstaler Glacier: above 3200 m!
When there is too much snow for regular hiking and you are not a skitouring person, there is a proper alternative: Snowshoeing! 🙂
On a beautiful Easter spring day with clear blue sky, we stepped into the cablecar to ride atop of the “Schnalstaler Gletscher”, a glacial hiking and skiing paradise in South Tyrol. There is Europe`s highest hotel bar on 3.212 m, the site where Ötzi the Iceman was found and endless miles of slopes!
The Ötztaler Alps on one and the Vernagt reservoir on the other side, we had awesome panoramic view of snowy mountains – and a flashback to our first adventure, the Alpcrossing on the E5 from Oberstdorf to Meran, where we ended at the Vernagt Stausee as well! 🙂
Snowshoeing and “Bella Vista” 🙂
From the summit station of the Schnalstaler Glacier Lifts we set off to go SNOWSHOEING – something we never did before. After a few steps on the snowshoes we felt comfortable and started making our way down the slopes.
We were in great company with Katharina from Out of Office (OOOYEAH!, a “How-to-get-out-of-the-city-and-office”-Blog from Berlin) and after a nice hike through snow and under bluebird sky, we finally reached our destination for lunch break, the beautifully located hut “Schöne Aussicht”/”Bella Vista”! 🙂
We had a hearty lunch with local products like cheese, “Schüttelbrot” (specially made bread) and ham followed by the original dumplings from South Tyrol. 🙂
Skidoo-ride to an Ice Cave
After lunch we set off to another fun adventure: a SKIDOO-ride to a secluded, freshly opened ice cave!
To see the insights of a glacier was a great experience – and the Skidoo ride was fun too. We almost crashed as we were too light to cross the hill on a steep angle.. 😉
After a day full of snow, sun and fun, we ended up at the Vernagt Stausee to snap some E5-Flashback-Pics before we ended the day at the lovely Goldene Rose Hotel with a “Knödeldegustationsmenü”!
We had an amazing day exploring the Schnalstal Valley and only got a glance of all the things you can do here!
If you want further information about activities going on in that area and the surroundings, your best bet is to check out the site of the Official Tourism Board of Meraner Land, they know everything. Hope we will be back soon! 🙂
