Kitzbuhler Horn and the Karst Trail

Up early again to make the most of the day. We had decided on a walk as we wanted to take advantage of the good weather, not knowing when it would change and we wanted the views from the mountains. We decided on the Karst Trail which is a geological route on the path up to Kitzbuhler Horn. Our host, Klaus, suggested the full walk up to the top of the Horn and we decided at breakfast that we would just do that as it wasn’t much extra walking and it meant we would have ticked off the highest mountain in the area early on in our holiday.

We set off on our walk about 9am and after a slight detour, found our path and zig-zagged all the way to the top passing the middle cable car station on the way up. Here we bought some expensive water from the restaurant as we had forgotten to bring water with us! Up and up we went until we reached Alpen Haus where we bought more water and then the last climbing effort to the top of the horn. There is a road all the way up and we were passed by cyclists who were probably practising for the race that takes place up the hill - at one point an old boy in an e-bike overtook a guy in full cycling gear and it was a Laurel and Hardy moment!

The mast at the top of the hill was our goal.

It was very busy up top (although you wouldn't think that looking at the photo below) - the cable cars making the mountains accessible for everyone - and the views back down the valley and over to the dragon-toothed Wilder Kaiser and the snowy Alps were amazing.

On the way down we eventually found the Karst Trail but were doing it in reverse. This was to add another 2.5km to our walk but we enjoyed views of Ponors (natural fissures in the Karst rock where water drains into underground cavities). There were many wildflowers and hundreds of Little Blue butterflies (and some others as well). Blair spotted a Marmot on the hillside and while we were watching it I saw a Marmot pup.

We finally get to the Karst Trail

 

 

 

 

Ubiquitous flower head with no stem

Knackered but happy

Finally we joined the path again and we walked at a good pace all the way back down the same way we came - punishing on the hips and the feet - and we made it back around 4pm. We hadn’t really thought about lunch so we were running on empty a bit - thankfully the hotel was having its night off and had extended the afternoon buffet so we had a cheese sandwich, tea and cake before cleaning up, having a doze and then heading out for dinner.

On the recommendation of our Tour rep we went to Chizzo’s where I had a regional dish (and the only veggie option) which was a macaroni cheese with fried onions.  Blair had a very expensive rib eye steak with salad which he said was the best steak he ever had. We also enjoyed a couple of dark beers. Today was pretty full on and we were knackered:  42,000 steps recorded on the activity watch which equated to 18 miles. Height climbed 1996m (Ben Nevis is 1345m so gives a bit of comparison).