KELLEBAUERWEG TRAIL
VIA ALPINA DAY 22 – MONDAY 13 JULY 2026
SAND IN TAUFERS – CHEMNITZER HÜTTE (RIFUGIO G. PORRO)
DISTANCE HIKED: 23.5 km
ELEVATION GAIN: 2,240 m (1,000m via cable car)
TOTAL DISTANCE HIKED: 549.6 km
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 30,060m
After a huge breakfast at our hotel we left around 9 am to walk out of town to rejoin the trail. In the best interest of supporting local businesses, the first ascent on trail to Speikboden is replaced by a lift ride. From here we climbed another 400 m to continue on trail via the Kellerbauerweg trail, staying above 2,200 m altitude.
It was a beautiful sunny day with temperature in the low 30’s with possible thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon.
I made two navigational errors which almost derailed the day. First error leaving the hotel I took us in the wrong direction for about 200m. No big deal, we turned back and were soon on the riverside bike path on the way to the skifields to rejoin the trail.
We had agreed to get the cable car (gondola) 3/4 of the way up as recommended.
The gondola ride was fantastic. It made quick work of the 1,000m ascent and offered incredible views in all directions.
Exiting the cable car I took us in what I thought was the right way. Hammer insisted, without looking at the map, that it was wrong. I disagreed, terse words were issued. As we ploughed on I started to realise by that we were indeed descending for way too long. I realised I was taking us back down. I was upset with myself and apologised for this silly mistake. We’d only gone about 500m in the wrong direction, but the mood was tense. Hammer was not happy As we rejoined the correct route, the tension boiled over into tears (mine). How can the mood go south so quickly on such a beautiful day. We ploughed on climbing the last 400m of ascent in silence and the tension soon dissipated. We reached the top of the climb.
With the climb done, all was forgiven and we started on probably the best trail so far – the Kellerbauerweg trail, and under ideal weather conditions The trail followed just beloved the ridgeline with snowy mountain peaks to the west and green sloping ridges to the east with villages in the valleys below. It was a well made trail, which looked perfectly runnable. A mountain bike rider took us by surprise speeding down one of the meadows behind us. Paragliders were soaring overhead at what looked like impossible heights.
We stopped for lunch at one of the many holy shrines. I’ve taken to saying a silent prayer at each one we’ve passed to date. Hammer is still a bit rusty in that regard.
The trail continued along the side of the ridge switching sides as we went along. It was a really well marked trail until we thought we’d misses a turn and walked a couple hundred metres along what on our map looked like the wrong trail. We were surprised as the trail markings have been consistently good. It was only after opening another mapping app that we realised that the route on our Hiiker app did not match the correct route at all. The Hiiker app has been mostly good so far with only minor route errors. This time it was a long way off directing us down into the valley when we knew we needed to stay high as we were heading to Chemnitzer Huette (Rifugio G. Porro) at 2, 420m of elevation.
We remapped the route on another app and continued on winding our way around the mountain tops until we came upon a big boulder field. The hut was only a kilometre and half away but the boulder field was much slower going despite being reasonably well made. We made it to the hut just before 5pm. Watching the clouds rolling in from the direction we were headed we decided to stay at the hut. Super friendly family running the hut and only a few people staying, including a family with a baby.
Just as we were about to start our meal, a group of three runners arrived, soon followed by another group with a dog, but travelling super light, then another four arrived. They walked/ran up from a lake and will return there after dinner.
Fabulous meal, super nice hosts. They offered us a complimentary schnaps as a nightcap before we went to bed. The dining room got very noisy very quickly with the late arrivals. We are so confused, we know we are in Italy but everyone speaks German.
