Most of our walking in Austria thus far had been either on level ground or downhill, with occasional exceptions, given the age and fitness of most of or crew, that was no bad thing. Today, our destination was Dienten, a small skiing village in the Hochkönig range about half an hour from Rauris, and ultimately the Steinbockalm at 1,634m. My wife's brother in law, who's had their apartment in Rauris for about 12 years, assured us that whilst this walk was "up", it wasn't that long (about two and a half miles) and wasn't that steep, and the path was good. A couple of the party who struggle a little with extortion decided to catch the cable car up, and meet us at the top.
We drove through the pretty village of Dienten, onto the parking place to begin our walk. Starting through the fir trees, we began to climb steadily from our starting point at 1,290m. The views across to the Hochkönig were fabulous and we stopped (frequently) to admire the sights and catch our breath.
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| An alpine church near Dienten |
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| Where we started |
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The view on the way up
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I can't lie, it was an exerting walk. Despite the relative shortness of the walk, and a good, if stony track of just under two and a half miles, we climbed 344 metres, or just over 1,100 feet. There were very few flat sections and some reasonably steep bits, and we were very glad to reach the top. However, as usual, the views were worth it!
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| Where we finished! |
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| Cable car pylon |
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| Wedding ready |
At the top, there's a small chapel next to the alm. and preparations were underway for a wedding - we saw some guests arriving via cable car, whilst others took the easier way and had come up the same track we'd walked, but in a taxi. Should have flagged one down.
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| A well deserved refreshment break |
As mountain top alms go, this one was a bit posher than most we'd visited, but was nonetheless pristine, with excellent options. Of course no walk with this crowd is completed without a refreshment break, and so we imbibed of various soups and alcoholic and no-alcoholic beverages before contemplating the walk back down.
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| At the Steinbockalm |
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| Austrian mountain tracks are generally very well signposted |
One thing that was very apparent during our various walks was the excellent signage. Most paths were superbly way marked, and signed would regularly indicate how far (in time) it was to the next hut or alm. No count this is even more useful in the winter when the tracks are less obvious and there's snow on the ground, but it good to see, with little chance of getting really lost.
The walk down was much easier than coming up - in fact even those that went up in the cable car walked down, and the sunny day and glorious views made for a pleasant descent.
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| It was MUCH easier coming down. |
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