When I heard there is a cable car up to Speikboden I got all excited and asked the hotel reception if it's worth going (sounds like a doh! question I know) and of course she said "yes, especially on a sunny and clear day like this". We started our day to the base of the cable car station. The great thing about staying in Ahrntal Valley is that there is only one major road which passes by all the small villages. Almost everyday we put in Sand-in-Taufers because that direction leads us out of the valley, and it is a bigger village with shops and supermarkets.
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| On our way |
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| After 15min, we were 2,000m above sea level |
During winter, the entire South Tyrol region becomes a ski paradise and this cable car brings winter sports enthusiasts up the mountain, more than 2,000m above sea level. During summer, people go up to hike because there are also many hiking/ cycling routes. The ride up took 15 minutes and soon the people, cars, and cows on the ground look smaller and smaller as we ascended. There is another connection right up to the peak using ski lifts which we could buy tickets for at the top of this first stop.
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| It's summer but up on the mountain we saw a big piece of ice that was still slowly melting away |
The air was fresh when we got to the top. We saw the peaks of the mountains in front of us and literally marvelled at the view (cameras in tow of course). Seriously, we ARE moving here, and especially upon finding out that at such a high altitude our 3G connection was still very powerful. Post a pic on Instagram? Kein problem!
There was a lady mending the cable car room who was happy to help with hiking routes although she didn't speak much English and so when we showed her the map, all she did was point in a certain direction and said "go there!" which sounded more like an instruction to me. When we asked further, she continued in her loud booming voice "it's nice!" Woah woah, ok ok we'll go. "Danke!" And she smiled back.
She advised us to take the easy route which lead to an open hut (in case we want food) but K was more ambitious. He looked at the peak of the mountain we were on and wanted to scale that. That moderate to difficult route would take us 2h minimum. And of course going by our body fitness, it would probably take us 3h? We started on the easy route and but soon K's desire to scale this peak overcame him and so we turned back. I told him I was happy to (ahem) wait for him where we were. There were deck chairs near us and I told him I could just sit here and admire the view whilst waiting for him. I didn't see no need to go higher. Plus I can whatsapp my friends about Brexit (see all our chat groups were still reeling with loads of Brexit news)! And because mobile signals were still very good, we agreed for him to call me when he's done (or given up lol).
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| Map of all hiking routes on the mountain |
After 30min I saw K all sweaty, walking towards me. He said I made the right decision. "Ha! Told you!!" He's gonna hate me for blogging about this but he gave up at 15min into the steep climb! See the thing is you always have to multiply the time by two because it will take you roughly the same time to come back down (albeit easier on the return in this case).
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| Resting after his climb |
We sat on the deck chairs, side by side, looking out into the distance.
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| Enjoying the view. Front row seats |
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| Grabbing a bite before descending |
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Going back down via the cable car
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We descended after more than 2h on Speikboden and thought of where to go next. K loves lakes and so he looked on the map for the nearest lake which we could drive to. There was a Lake Neves about 40min drive away and so we went. After winding mountain roads (good conditions though, even better than UK's) we soon caught glimpses of an emerald coloured lake with snowy capped mountains in the background. Seriously?
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| Lake Neves |
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| Walking down to the lake |
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| Love these colourful alpine flowers |
I was so glad we acted like Asian tourists by taking quite a few photos at the start because the further we hiked along, dull grey clouds soon loomed above us and the lake suddenly didn't appear as emerald as before. We walked down to the lake and explored the area for a bit before feeling rain droplets falling. Cue time to run back to the car. There were proper hiking routes around Lake Neves that can take up to 8h - no thanks :)
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Hiking routes are very well labelled in this region
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| A cute hut by the lake |
It was another beautiful day in South Tyrol.
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