Eagle Walk Stage O6: Matrei in Osttirol - Sudetendeutsche Hütte

trail description: Remote and breathtakingly beautiful, getting there is quite a jaunt. Thus, this walk is best started at the car park in the hamlet of Glanz, saving you two hours of walking. Glanz is within a 20 minute drive by car from Matrei; a taxi service is operating on request. Tireless trekkers who want to walk this first section nevertheless, take the little driven back road that links Matrei to Hinterburg and the car park at Glanz. From the car park at Glanz, it’s a 1.5 to 2-hour walk to Äußere Steiner Alm, with another 2 to 2.5 hours taking you up to Sudetendeutsche Hut. The trail mainly runs across majestic old-growth stand of larches, passing privately owned Köfler Alpine Pasture Hut and crossing the access road twice in the area of Ranzeralm. Slightly above Lackner Alpine Pasture Hut a dirt road traverses Edelweiss Meadow from east to west. You can as well decide to hike the forest road from the Glanz Car Park, that also leads to Edelweiss Meadow. Beyond a ledge, the trail begins to descend through groves of larches. Crossing Steinerbach Brook will bring you to the Alpine pasture huts of Outer Steiner Alm (elev. 1,914m). From that point, it’s a  relatively flat walk through a trough heading north-eastward to the end of the valley, punctuated with tall larches.

Marvel at the array of geological diversity at your feet. Shale, slate, and schist-it rocks. At the end of the valley, a telpher line leads to Sudetendeutsche Hut. You may notice flagging and other disturbances below. They're remnants of ore mining as this region is littered with old mines, and thus this area is dubbed “Foundry”. From here, the trail runs parallel to Steinerbach Creek in the beginning, before switchbacking up steep tussock slopes that are flanked by Nussingkogel Peak to the left and Bretterwandspitze Spire to the right. As you near Sudetendeutsche Hut, the grade lessens with glacier scoured knolls surrounding this ample lodge, situated at the heart of lofty Granatspitz Range at an elevation of 2,650 metres.