Day 105-115: The last meters of elevation and a glamorous finale

Day 105-115.

The last days of our journey are passing by. Before heading to the final stop near Innsbruck for the wedding of Eva's friend, we still want to take on all the elevation we can.

In Merano, in the Passeiertal, we find a great campsite located in the mountains. We twist and turn our way up the serpentine roads at a snail's pace, but we have plenty of time to observe the mountain landscape. The mountain range is called the Texel Group. Huh? Isn't that an island? Never heard of it... No matter! We're lucky, as it seems that quite a few others haven't heard of it either, since the paths are once again empty and there's little traffic.

On the arrival day, we directly embark on a 3-hour hike and look forward to making a detour to a mountain hut the next day. Finally, more Kaiserschmarrn!

So, the next morning, we hike up to the Schneidalm, greet the sluggish mountain cows on the paths, and wipe the sweat from our foreheads. Once we reach the top, there's cabbage salad, fried eggs, dumplings, and the eagerly awaited Kaiserschmarrn. Fantastic!

After the gourmet break, we head back down, and we're overjoyed that Lore is handling the hiking so well. When she's not sleeping, she's babbling to herself or simply enjoying the view.

We take advantage of the region's offer and travel free of charge by bus to the Passer Gorge with the guest card. Eva fears that the gorge will be packed on a Saturday, but when we start the 12 km hike at 10 a.m., once again, there's almost no one around. Today, we're taking it easy, no elevation gain! We walk from Moos to St. Leonhard, always along the rushing Passer River. Just before St. Leonhard, we suddenly encounter masses of hikers coming towards us. Oops, we must be going the wrong way. Doesn't matter, at least we're walking downstream and politely waving to the panting folks struggling up the gorge. In St. Leonhard, we initially only want to treat ourselves to a cappuccino, but somehow we end up at a pizzeria and top it off with spaghetti ice cream. Even the less strenuous tours must be rewarded. We take the bus back to the campsite where we spend the afternoon with full bellies.

As already in Lake Como, the high season has also begun in South Tyrol, so we once again spend hours searching for a free campsite. At the same time, Eva is trying to figure out which mountain huts we can stay at with the baby for one night. After a long search and a few phone calls, she ultimately gives up. We'll have to postpone the overnight stay in the hut to a later time. You simply can't just hike up to 2600 meters with a baby and spend the night in a dormitory with 25 beds. Good thing we have so much more planned.

Eventually, we head close to the Dolomites, to the Gletscherhans in St. Magdalena. The Villnöß Valley is said to be particularly beautiful in the evening when the sun turns the mountain ranges red. Unfortunately, we often miss this, as Lore is not particularly keen on falling asleep.

The Gletscherhans is an older, grumpy South Tyrolean who energetically directs his trailer guests into the tight pitches. He whizzes back and forth on his e-bike, and we watch him with amusement, but also a bit nervously. Otherwise, the site is incredible, with a fantastic view of the village and the Peitlerkofel Group.

We decide to take a closer look at it and start our seemingly first real alpine hiking trek. Up we go, with our dumpling baby on our backs. Some female hikers even stop and are delighted by Lore hanging from Chris’s sweaty back.

After 800 meters of elevation, we reach our destination at the Gschnagenhardt Alm. We can already hear the accordion from afar and are overjoyed with our alpine happiness. At the hut, not only the Almöhi with his accordion is lively, but also 100 other hikers are jostling for tables in the shade. We wonder again where they all come from, since the hiking trails were relatively empty. So we quickly devour Kaiserschmarrn No. 2 and head back down into the valley.

By now, it's also 30 degrees in the valley, and at least Lore gets a little refreshment in the washing basin.

The next day can be more relaxed again. However, we dash up an endlessly steep forest path and reach a ridge with a 180-degree panoramic view. Our calves are on fire. We take a break at a small barn and consider whether we want to tackle a peak after all. We speak to the Almöhi, who is working in his barn, and ask if the path to the peak is feasible with a baby. Although we only understand half of his answer, the path seems doable. He also advises us to use sunscreen for the baby and then sends us on our way.

We've gotten a taste for it; the next 200 meters of elevation to the peak seem to run almost by themselves. Although Lore misses her first summit cross while sleeping, we enjoy the peace and the view of the Peitlerkofel Group. On the way down, we realize that Kaiserschmarrn No. 3 is still missing, but the next hut entails more uphill hiking. Whatever! Let's go! We fight our way up the last serpentine curves towards the hut in scorching heat. Although we only get