Hiking above Bozen

Published on 2023-02-03 by Michael Stanton

Weather was terrible for the weekend in Germany. And I just couldn't get excited about the snow conditions in the mountains. I guess they were probably okay! But I really just wanted to see the sun and walk in my normal shoes.

So, it was off to Bolzano! Sunny weather prevailed there. I parked on a northern street in town and started up the steep road to Sankt Magdalena. I continued on to a place called Spornberger, then into forest where I could hear the lift to Oberbozen running directly overhead. Once I got to town, I had a coffee and read my book a while on a sunny terrace, with great views over to the Schlern and the Rosengarten Group. It was wonderful to revisit old memories of climbing that great East Wall of the Rosengartenspitze, for example!

I went down a different way, through really lovely forest with tantalizing views off to the snowy west, and thence to the Grumer Eck, where a large cross shines down on the town below. On the way down I stopped at the Ebnicher Hütte and had a friendly chat with the owner. Also enjoyed some cake!

Once I got to my apartment in town, I really enjoyed seeing the cross on the Grumer Eck light up. I sat on the balcony with a cigar and a book, and enjoyed the evening.

The next day I decided to go up the Gantkofel. I ended up stopping at a summit about 100 meters below, but quite far to the south called the Bergner Kreuz. I started from a place called Berg, and hiked steeply up to the highest point a road reaches at a closed restaurant. Here I followed a steep trail that headed south and up to the ridge crest. Once I got up there, it was quite snowy, and for the next hours, I trudged through snow up and down on the crest to the Kematscharte (1703 m), and then to the Bergner Kreuz (1770 m). There was a bench here in the sun, and great views. It was enough! I still had to traverse the plateau back to get down. I thought about descending the klettersteig (via ferrata) from the Kematscharte, but it was very snowy and there were icefalls here and there. Tennis shoes are just not good enough!

The way down was quite slippery and tricky with snow and ice, but it worked. I repaired to my apartment, cooked dinner, hung out on the balcony again, and slept.

For the last day, I chose to go as high as possible on the complex Tschögglberg. I didn't want as much snow as the day before, and the south-facing aspect of the mountain should help with that.

First I went by a castle built in the 12th century (Burg Greifenstein). Apparently in the 14th century during a siege, the inhabitants threw a dead pig down onto the siege camp! Above this, a pleasant village (Gasthof Noafer), then steep times in the forest. I made an error and had to cut cross country. This meant clinging to steep slopes of dead leaves for a few minutes. I passed a lake (Noaner Weiher), then followed a lovely ridge crest up to an apex, then down then up a bit to a hut (Locher). Here I was quite tired! I decided to enjoy the crest country for a bit and travel less steeply. I set out on the road curving northwest over to the "earth pyramids" and the Gasthof Wieser.

At Wieser I ate delicious Spinatknödel.

Then I went down to a place called Nobls, where teenagers were decorating something like a parade float. At a small settlement below that, other teenagers rode dirtbikes across a bridge over the Margarethenbach. They waved. I climbed up a bit and then down to a curious little private settlement and vineyard. I went down a very, very steep trail and ran into two Italians coming up with mountain bikes on their backs. We had a great discussion about climbing mountains. They had also climbed the Ortler Nordwand. What fun!

Below this steep trail, a beautiful walk back to the car. This was definitely the most rewarding day, and full of little surprises in the forests.