Hiking holidays in Flachau

Capture the light and hold it tight …

This is exactly our motivation for taking part in the guided sunrise tour to the Grießenkareck summit. We, that is my colleagues Eva, Martin and I, all three of us, “are in love with the mountains” and often hiking in the mountains of the Salzburger Sportwelt equipped with our cameras or smart phones.

At 4.30 a.m. we meet in front of the Sport & Aktivzentrum. A long-serving Flachau mountain guide, also called Martin will lead us together with a group of 30 other early-risers up to the Grießenkareck summit (1,991m). Other guides from the Sport & Aktivzentrum Flachau and Jaggi, the chef are also part of the group.

After we’ve been taken up to just below the Kogelalm by shuttle taxi the hike begins. The first part isn’t really that steep and the light conditions are really quite light. We pass the war memorial and keep on hiking towards the summit. The last part is then a little bit more challenging, there’s a short stretch along the rocky path up to the cross on the summit, where we have an amazing view over the Ennstal valley, the Radstädter Tauern and the Dachstein massif.

Jaggi now opens his rucksack and begins, over a small camp fire, to prepare a ”Muas“, this is what we call a pretty substantial meal, which is made from flour, water and lard and a pinch of salt (like a type of dough).

Nice and slowly behind the mountains the sun begins to rise. Minute by minute it begins to rise and its warm rays provide a really beautiful light. Whilst Martin, our hiking guide, who is happy to explain the mountain region around us to one or several participants who are interested, Eva, Martin and myself have found the best positions to capture the great atmosphere. Content we stop for a moment to relish the spectacle of nature, whilst at the same time enjoying the smell of the prepared “Muas“ and the coffee we brought with us.

Jaggi hands us a portion of the Muas with the words ”it’s heavy but great“. That is just the “icing on the cake” for this tour.

We enjoy our time on the mountain, exchange other great hiking stories and enjoy the moment and the wonderful beauty of nature. The way back takes the same path to the Kogelalm again where we are picked up by the shuttle taxis once more and brought back down to the valley.