Rätikon in Vorarlberg (1994)
Starting place: Brand in Brandnertal.
In 1994 we (Walter, Jan) went to the Rätikon, which is in Vorarlberg along the
border of Austria and Switzerland (Graubünden). The western part even lies in
Liechtenstein. It is a relative easy area with lots of huts,
and which provides nice walks
and also areas that expand you experience a little bit more.
This tour was Walters first big walk in the Alps.
Our Route
We started in Brand and first followed the north side
of the ridge to the east. At the Tilisuna Ht we crossed the border and
turned west in order to reach Liechtenstein. Here we turned again
and via the Amatschon Joch we closed our circle in Brand.
The precise route:
- Douglass Ht (1979m), at the Lüner See, which we reached after
three hours walk from Brand,
followed by the lift. In the afternoon we visited the
Heinrich Hueter Ht
(1766m; to: via the Lünerkrinne, 2155m, from: via the
Saula Joch, 2065m).
The descend from the Saula Joch to the Douglass Ht provided
nice views.
- Totalp Ht (2318m),
with an attempt to the Schesaplana. Due to
our physical conditions we only reached the level of 2700m
where the path along the south side splits of. We had nice views over the
Lüner See and the Tote Alp.
Because the weather conditions changed, we returned to the Douglass Ht.
- Lindauer Ht (1744m), via Verajoch (2311m),
Schweizer Tor and Ofa Paß (2291m).
- Tilisuna Ht (2208m), via the Bilkengrat.
- Sulzfluh (2818m), our top.
We had a nice view to all sides in the
sun. The last part to the top was by snow. We returned to the
Tilisuna Ht.
- Garschina Ht (2223m), via the
Tilisuna Furka (2230m),
on the Swiss side of the border, which is Graubünden.
Here a donkey is used to bring all the beer to the hut.
- Scesaplana Ht (1908m),
via a long way (7h!), but very nice (and hot). We were glad that a small alm hut on
Colrosa (2128m) provided milk.
- Pfälzer Ht (2111m), via the
Liechtensteiner Höhenweg over
the Große Furka (2359m). This hut lies in Liechtenstein. In the
morning there was some thunder, but later the weather was fine
again.
- Hotel Gamperdona (1367m) in Nenzinger Himmel. A very wet descend,
because of the rain. We were glad that the hotel had still a
room available.
- Palüd Ht (1720m), via the Amatschon Joch (2028m). A nice walk, announced
to be `nur fur Geubte'.
- Oberzalim Ht (1889m), just to reach
the hut at noon while it
started raining. We looked at the Leiberweg, above which we
could just see the Mannheimer Ht. In the afternoon we descended
to Brand, which we reached rather soaked.
Rätikon (1975, 1976)
In 1975 and 1976 my wife Corrie and I (Jan) had visited the Rätikon before.
In 1975 a first walk was from Feldkirch to the Feldkircher Ht (1298m).
The next day our group of six persons gathered
at Vandans and went to the Heinrich Hueter Ht. From here we started the walk along the huts at the
north side of the Rätikon. There was more snow than in 1994:
see our route at the Verajoch. That year we also walked
to Golm from the Lindauer Ht, did some shopping in Schruns. This implied that we skipped the
Bilkengrat-walk to the Tilisuna Ht. We went by Gauen, Grabs, the Tobelseeweg
and the Walser Alpjoch (2166m). In the Tilisuna Ht I was invited
to join another Dutch group to walk to the Sulzfluh (2230m): my first top.
We left the Ratikon by a descend to Tschagguns. From there we went to the
Ferwall and the Silvretta and
finally to the Frassen Ht (1725m), just above Bludenz.
In the next year, 1976, we started at the Pfältscher Ht, where we had to stay
because of mist and snow. After a descend to Nenzinger Himmel, some hitch-hiking,
followed by train and bus, we started a second time at the Douglass Ht.
This time we were able to climb the Schesaplana (2965m), crossed the Brandner
Gletscher and reached the Mannheimer Ht (2679m). There the warden advised us
to continue our tour immediately that afternoon when we wanted to go the
Oberzalim Ht via the Leiberweg, because he expected that on the next morning many parts would be frozen
for several hours. The rucksacks went by lift and we continued our way, which was
quite an adventure.
After reaching the Douglass Ht again we walked the south route via the
Garschina Ht to the Tilisuna Ht, from where we desended via the Plasseggen Pass
(2354m) and Sarotla Joch (2389m) to Gargellen as
in the last year. Here we stayed at the Madrisa Ht (1698m), for which
we had to get the key in Gargellen. From here we went to the Silvretta.
Some related links
- Vorarlberger Illwerke AG: Info concerning mountain lifts
- Vlbg. Tourismus, Vorarlberg, Österreich
- Vorarlberg-Online, Homepage, VOL, Vorarlberg, Österreich
- Austria Tourist Info via Uni Vienna
- Rätikon on Austrian and Swiss side (Dutch)
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Jan ter Maten's Home Page.
