MAJESTICAL ZILLERTAL ALPS

VIA ALPINA DAY 25 – THURSDAY 16 JULY 2026
FRIKENBERG – HOCHFÜGEN

DISTANCE HIKED: 28.25  km
ELEVATION GAIN:  1,680 m

TOTAL DISTANCE HIKED: 637.85 km
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 34,445 m

We woke to a beautiful sunny morning. As we had to wait for the hotel breakfast at 7.30, I used the opportunity to try and catch up on news and the trail updates. I’m very sad to learn that Sam Neill has died. I’ve loved him ever since seeing him in my My Brilliant Career. And of course our all time favourite Hunt for the Wilderpeople –  majestical movie! 

As we needed to go to the next town, Mayrhofen to get some groceries, we mapped a route to our first destination Rastkogelhuette, that would go through town.  This route still had 1,680m of ascent to the hut over the next 20km. 

Leaving Finkenberg we passed some lovely looking BnB places and a few new swanky looking apartment biildings.  Once we arrived in Mayrhofen we were disappointed that we didn’t stay here last night. A much bigger town, with so many options for food, accommodation and even an outdoor store.  A road sign we passed pointed to Innsbruck in 70km. A brief stop at the first grocery store we passed and we were on our way.  

We followed the river out through the valley, passing vertical rock cliffs to our left. These  appear to be very popular with climbers. The valley widened as we moved downstream with the river.   It was so pretty,  picture  perfect with floral displays decorating these lovely and neat wood houses.  It was very humid,  our clean clothes were clinging to our skin as we started to work harder. 

The ascent to Rastkogelhuette  followed small paved roads through villages that thined out as we rose up the valley, eventually reaching a trail.  A beautiful couple of hours winding our way up the valley with gorgeous views below.

The ski lift at Mosl felt like it should have been the top of the climb. Yet it was only half way.  Mosl was  a  good spot to stop for lunch. The added benefit was a park bench and a  but further along was a cold spring. Unfortunately a big pile of cow dung was also near the spring.  From Mosl we still had 730 m of elevation gain before reaching  Rastkogelhuette.

As we continued to climb, the views of the Zillertal Alps were  stunning which made the relentless climbing so worthwhile. I think I took 50 pictures of the distant snow capped peaks as we ascended.  Each time we paused to take in the view of the snow and glacier capped peaks we were a bit sad to be leaving. So far a truly magnificent day despite the sweat and the uphill grind.

We finally made it to the hut about 4.30 pm. A cold Radler for me and a Zillertal beer for  Hammer and we were happy campers. We had a well earned break before we continued on.  

From the hut we followed a really nice bike trail, then a dirt road for a 7km descent towards a ski village of Hochfügen. It was a really nice easy descent. The only thing that marred the walk after we crossed the river, was about a half kilometre section of whole hillsides upstream and downstream of the trail had been sprayed in liquid cow manure. The smell was truly vile.

It was nearly 7pm by the time we reached what felt like a deserted ski village of Hochfügen. A couple of 4 and 5 start Hotels dominated the village closest to the ski lift. We got a nights accomodation at Alm Hof Hotel. The room rate included dinner and breakfast.  It felt luxurious to get cleaned up and go straight to dinner.  Feeling fully stuffed with a very generous four course dinner, we retired to our nice room with a Schnaps nightcap. It’s been one of the better days on trail. Very happy campers indeed.