Dialog - E5 Oberstdorf - Meran

Last year we started talking about challenges we wanted to take some day with our group of friends. We came up with different hikes we'd been on, and finally came out at the E5, an European long distance path crossing from Germany over the alps into Italy. Well, by arriving here you can see we stopped talking and started doing!

Our first day started early in the Morning at the Karlsruhe train station. From here, we took the train via Stuttgart and Ulm to Oberstdorf, our adventure's starting point. The first hike route lead us up the Trettach valley towards the Kemptner Hütte; taking us uphill 1000 meters in altitude.

Starting out uphill, we crossed the German-Austrian border before starting the descent to Holzgau in the Lech valley. We passed an impressive waterfall and hiked under the Austria's longest suspension bridge (it was an either-or-decision...). While waiting for the bus transfer to the end of the valley, we had coffee and cake. Our hike in the afternoon took us up to the Memminger Hütte. During the last half hour, it rained a bit.

This morning, we got an early start in order to be in front of the awfully big guided tour. During the night, the rain had rained itself "empty", and a beautiful sunrise accompanied our steep climb up towards the Seescharte. Once we crossed the sharp ridge at an elevation 2600 m, we had a mindblowing view down the mountainside. This marked the start of a 5 hour, 2000 meters in altitute descent towards Zams, one of the most strenuous parts of the journey. In the evening, it was welcoming to take a gondola up to the lodge.

The gondola we'd taken half-way up the hill last evening took us all the way up the Venet mountain, from where our day's tour started. We walked along the mountainside with nice panoramic views of the valley we would eventually reach. In the town of Wenns, Austria, there's a bus transfer all the way down the Pitztal to Mittelberg, saving us walking flat in the sun for 30 km. The ascent to the Braunschweiger Hütte starts out at a waterfall and climbs more than 1000 m. The last hour is extremely exhausting, and we were all glad when we'd made it.

Starting at the lodge, our tour took us up over the Pitztaler Jöchl (at an elevation of 3001 m). On the way down on the other side we crossed a snowfield (which poses quite some challenge to walk on without slipping). After taking the bus through a tunnel, the path continued alongside the mountain with beautiful panoramic views for about three hours before descending down to the town of Vent. There, we took an extended break before hiking up the mountain valley towards the Martin-Busch Hütte, our day's destination.

Our last day began with the ascent to the highest point of our trip - the Similaunhütte at an elevation of 3019 m, located between glaciers and right on the Austrian-Italian border. After stopping there for a cup of coffee, we began the final descent down to the Vernagt reservoir in South Tyrol. A bust took us the last hour to Meran, where we'd booked a guest house for the night.