Hiking on Schlern in the Dolomites
Hiking in South Tyrol
I live in South Tyrol and I am used to go hiking in the Dolomites, but this time I was in the company of a friend who was not used to hike. He was quite excited being a new experience for him. We start at 10 o’clock in the morning. The weather was nice, but the mountains were still covered in the morning fog. We drove from Bolzano to the picturesque village of Völs am Schlern, from there we took it to the right and we arrived in the parking nearby of Völser Weiher, a beautiful small lake. We leave the car there and we start our trek entering in the Schlern-Rosengarten Nature Park a UNESCO Nature Herritage.
It was my first hike this year and for him it was the first hike ever, so we decided to not exaggerate and to go slow to the top. At the beginning of our trip, on a road map it was written that to reach the peak we need 4 and a half hours, a bit too long, but we were optimistic and we decided to try our strength.
From Lake Völser Weier we reach Huber Weiher in 5 minutes, and after that, the path brings you to Tuffalm, one of the most beautiful chalets in the South Tyrolean Alps. We leave Tuff Alm to the left and continue to go.
It is a very beautiful tracking route. We were in the woods and the light was filtered by the tree leaves. On the right side, we had a nice view over the small village of Völs am Schlern, the city of Bolzano far away and a part of the Brenner motor way who is connecting Italy to Austria.
It was still the threes area, and we did not felt the heat because we were in the shade of the fir si pine. We crossed the small Völser creek and we continue our way to the Schäufelle canyon.
You can see how the people are loving so much the nature and how they try to damage as less they could this beautiful small canyon. They built wooden bridges over the stream so the hikers could continue the way to the peak. It is a majestic route, the mountain rocks are like a wall around us and under was the water.
We need 30 minutes to cross the gorge and after short time we arrived to Sesselschweige, a small chalet where we decided to take a pause. We drank a juice and a coffe. From this part we cross the trees border and we enterd in the 3rd segment of our trip, the alpin high plateau.
The day was beautiful, some clouds were still covering the massive of Rosengarten, who was on our right side. Up on the am we could see cows enjoying the liberty of the mountain, probably the best grass and the best view what a cow could ever see. We continue hiking and after 3 hours and 30 minutes we arrived to Schlern House — Rifugio Bolzano, located at 2457 meters above sea level.
Hungry after such an effort we decided to take lunch.
After the lunch we hike to the Schlern peak, Monte Petz. We needed 25 minutes to reach the peak. The moment when we arrived up to 2567m was really nice. The endorphin made us to feel happy. You get a very nice feeling being on top of a peak and being able to see all the panorama till far away.
After a half an hour of enjoying the mountain we decided to go down. The way back was long and we wer already tired. We need 3 hours to arrive to Völser Weiher.
To the lake was warm and a lot of people were still swimming. There we had a strudel. The evening was coming slowly, on the shore of the lake a few people were preparing to stage a play. We waited till the theatre play begin and after we went to the car.
It was a beautiful day.
