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ОглавлениеINTRODUCTION
A view of Hintertux glacier from the Tux Alps (Stage 10)
Ever since Hannibal crossed the Alps the challenge of traversing Europe’s biggest mountain range has attracted walkers from across the planet. Despite this, the Munich to Venice backpacking route – one of the most popular trans-alpine routes – is little known outside the German-speaking world. In Germany walkers regard it as the hiking experience of a lifetime. Each year hundreds of walkers of all shapes and sizes leave Munich’s Mariënplatz, to arrive one month later in the Piazza San Marco in Venice. The walk is known as Der Traumpfad – the Dream Way – and its attractions are immediately apparent. It links two of Europe’s most iconic destinations with a journey across some of the best scenery in the Alps. From the heart of Bavaria, from beirgartens, wurst, and lederhosen, to the Adriatic and prosecco, fritto misto and tiramisù – it’s a journey across cultures as well as mountains.
Most long-distance treks involve compromise when it comes to scenery: breathtaking scenery doesn’t usually organise itself along straight lines, particularly when the lines are 570km long. Accordingly, some of the days on the Traumpfad are less than perfect, particularly the last four on the approach to Venice, but most compare with the best in the Alps. The scenic fireworks start to go off on Stages 3 and 4 with the climb up into Benediktenwand ‘pre-alps’ with its amazing ridge walk, and again on Stages 5, 6 and 7 on the journey through the Karwendel and the climb up its highest mountain, the Birkkarspitz.
Without time to draw breath Stages 8 to 12 cross the Alpine spine itself with an amazing journey through the Tux and Zillertal Alps. In Italy now, and yet more rockets explode. The route traverses the Dolomites, arguably the most beautiful mountains in the world. Stages 14 to 23 are spent crossing the Puez and the Sella groups, walking alongside the famous north face of the Marmolada, and finish with the Civetta (including its enormous west wall) and the Schiara group.
Approaching the Schlüterhütte – the first hut in the Dolomites (Stage 15)
The Traumpfad is like a modern-day pilgrimage – a long walk to an iconic destination but without the religious overtones. Like Chaucer’s pilgrims, walkers travel on a fairly standard schedule and so bump into each other night after night and exchange gossip and stories of their adventures. The company of other walkers, inspired by a common objective, is almost unavoidable and, for most participants, an attractive feature of the Munich to Venice route.
To top it all, the infrastructure is second to none. The Alps are where high-altitude trekking as a mass-participation sport was invented and walkers in their thousands have enjoyed ‘Europe’s playground’ for well over a hundred years. Whether it’s the paths, the waymarking, the steps and fixed steel ropes, or the alpine huts, there is nothing quite like it anywhere else – enabling ordinary walkers to go to extraordinary places.
History of the region
The walk from Munich to Venice passes through three countries – Germany, Austria and Italy – all of which went through intense changes from the mid-19th century which have a direct bearing on the character of the walk.
Munich, capital of Bavaria, is surprisingly ‘imperial’. Bavaria was a distinct country until 1871 when a secret bribe from Bismark persuaded the high living and indebted Ludwig II (called the ‘fairy tale king’ because he built so many castles) to nominate Kaiser Wilhelm I as Emperor of a united Germany. Bavaria retains a special status in Germany to this day and its inhabitants will describe themselves as Bavarian first and German second.
The style of food and accommodation don’t really change when you cross the border from Bavarian Germany into Austria and the two countries share much in terms of culture. Their recent history is also intertwined. The Austro-Hungarian Empire dominated the loose confederation of states that existed before the unification of Germany and, although the triumph of Bismark and Prussia, reversed the power hierarchy, the fate of the new Germany and the old Empire remained connected until after the First World War.
World War I dramatically reset the national boundaries crossed by the Traumpfad. Much more of the walk is now spent in Italy than it might have been! The total collapse of the vast Austro-Hungarian empire resulted in the border moving north with Italy absorbing German-speaking South Tyrol. This results today in an intensely confusing nomenclature from Stage 12 with mountain huts, mountains, towns, cities and food known by two (Italian and German) and sometimes three (Ladin, another local language) names.
The War settled the boundaries of modern Italy and also completed the process of Italian unification that had taken place over the previous 60 years. Italian historians also see it as the great nationalist war and the last part of the Traumpfad visits some key battle sites. Particularly important are the Marmolada – which was the scene of prolonged fighting on top of and underneath the glacier – and the River Piave, witness to the last great battle of the war, the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. The last three days of the route follow the Piave on the approach to Venice and the references to the triumph of Italian arms are impossible to miss.
The arrival of alpinism
Parallel to, and intertwined with the national histories of Germany, Austria and Italy is the history of alpinism, walking and the Alpine Clubs.
The attraction of the Alps to mountaineers can be traced back to the late 18th century and is described in a wonderful book The Playground of Europe by Sir Leslie Stephen. As well as being father to Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, Stephen was one of the godfathers of British alpinism and his book, along with Edward Whymper’s Scrambles Amongst the Alps is one of the classics of the genre. As well as describing great adventures it puts the ‘discovery’ of the Alps in the context of a wider search for a simpler but more heroic lifestyle that was going on throughout Europe, known as ‘Romanticism’.
Stephen, Whymper and the British led the ‘golden age’ of climbing in the Alps, the time when, in the 1850s and 1860s, hundreds of peaks where ‘conquered’ for the first time. In Britain climbing and hiking was an elite activity but not so in Germany where the Romantic ideal of the mountains captured the imagination of the new middle class. The British Alpine Club was modelled on an English gentleman’s club with a small select membership but the German equivalent grew rapidly into the world’s largest mass membership sporting organisation. The new membership wanted access to the mountains and the huge infrastructure of mountain huts used today was largely built in the 30 years before the First World War (the names often reflect the local clubs that paid for them – such as the Berliner Hütte).
The German Alpine Club recruited members from the wider German-speaking world (including Austria), and hiking and climbing in the Alps was seen as a ‘German’ activity and closely associated with German nationalism. By the late 19th century this nationalism shamefully became associated with anti-semitism and a number of city and regional associations adopted an ‘Aryan Paragraph’ excluding non-Christian members.
The German Alpine Club, liked most civilian bodies, rallied round the flag at the outbreak of the World War I but the importance of the alpine front against Italy from 1915 gave alpinists a particular significance. Although a small proportion of the huge membership engaged in the fighting the involvement of Alpine Club members became the stuff of legend, reported and repeated through the club journals.
The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the defeat of Germany was a particular blow to the heroes of the alpine front and one that many refused to accept. By the early 1920s the Alpine Club had become a battleground as the emerging Nazi party fought more moderate and left-leaning alpinists for its control. By 1924 Jews were effectively excluded from the Club and its huts.
By the 1930s, the German Alpine Club, like most sporting associations, had been absorbed into the Nazi totalitarian state. Alpinism, however, had a particular cultural status and mountaineers, willing to risk all for their sport and country, were seen as models for the new state. As a result, after the war Deutscher Alpenverein (the name dates back to 1938) was deemed a Nazi organisation by the Allies in 1945 and dissolved.
In the early 1950s, separate German (Deutscher Alpenverein) and Austrian (Oesterreichischer Alpenverien) Alpine Clubs were allowed to re-establish and together they continue to maintain and develop the incredible walking infrastructure of Austrian Alps. This includes not only the huts but also the footpaths, fixed ropes and waymarks. We wouldn’t be able to walk from Munich to Venice without them.
The invention of a mountain pilgrimage
The Traumpfad was the idea of a German man, Ludwig Grassler, who, after several false starts, walked it for first time 1974. His guide was first published 1977. An Alpinist himself, he was careful to construct a route that was both direct and spectacular. He succeeded and, like Wainwright’s famous ‘coast-to-coast’ (across northern England), one man’s vision has captured many thousands of imaginations.
Most of Ludwig’s journey follows existing routes, some of which (like the Alta Via 1 and 2 across the Dolomites) are famous in their own right. Although there is no designated ‘Munich to Venice’ footpath – no specific set of waymarks signposting the route – it is easy to follow and, because it’s more popular than many designated walks, it is well supported by locals. The route continues to evolve with slight differences in the different guidebooks and changes to reflect new circumstances. When accommodation closes, or a landslip destroys a section of the route, or a new footpath is opened, then the route responds.
The route
There is more to the Traumpfad than a north–south traverse of the Alps but the mountains cannot help but dominate the experience.
It takes only two and a half days’ walk alongside the River Isar to get from Munich to the mountains. You are then in the mountains for at least 20 consecutive days (depending on the choices you make about how to stage your journey). When you emerge, you follow the River Piave, over five days of flat walking, to get to Venice.
The Alps are a young and dynamic mountain range sitting right in the middle of Europe. They are the product of Africa’s land mass thrusting northwards. A huge, multi-layered ripple in Europe’s tectonic plate has been driven skywards where, high and exposed, the elements wreak havoc and erosion is rapid, violent and fierce. The youngest, softest layers suffer the most and vast quantities of debris are transported out of the Alps by rivers and glaciers only to be returned as Africa continues to move north. The remnants of these younger layers, carved into mountains, are found on the northern and southern sides of the Alps with the toughest oldest rock revealed in the exposed core in the middle.
Geisler Púez and the Forcella Roa (Stage 16)
Despite looking quite different to one another the mighty Karwendel on the northern side of the core and the Dolomites to the south are closely related. Both are of similar age, formed in similar circumstances, and both are composed of types of limestone. The lagoons where the Dolomites were formed, however, produced a higher proportion of magnesium and that gave these mountains their distinct shape and colour.
The limestone on top of the core of the Alps, running east–west, has long been stripped away and older layers exposed. This is what you see when you cross the Tux and Zillertal Alps, where instead of limestone the mountains consist of much older metamorphic gneiss, slate and granite.
Although the age of the rocks on view is measured in tens of millions of years the process that turned them into mountains is more recent. This is a landscape where for most of the year the predominant colour is white, and which only a few thousand years ago was almost totally covered by an ice cap. Glaciers still cut their way into mountainsides today. Even with global warming the process that formed today’s mountains (only the highest of which would have protruded through the ice cap) is still going on.
Pelmo – the most beautiful mountain in the Dolomites? (Stage 22)
Identifying the various mountains is one of the challenges and joys of the Traumpfad. Some of mountains ‘visited’ have an iconic status that renders them instantly recognisable (such as Marmolada, the highest mountain in the Dolomites, or Pelmo, the most beautiful), but others are important in the wider pantheon of Alpine peaks (for example Bikkarspitz, the highest mountain in the Karwendel, the Hochfeiler, the biggest in the Zillertal, and Civetta the famous west wall of which is the highest of the last mountain stage of the route). Tentatively naming a mountain approached from the north, confirming its designation as it gets closer and saying goodbye to it from the south is a process that can extend over many days.
The Alpine seasons
The position of the Alps in the middle of Europe has a profound effect on both the seasons and the weather, not just in the mountains themselves but also in the surrounding regions.
Winter lasts a long time but the transition to a short summer (and walking season) is fast and furious. The gap between the treeline (1800m) and the snowline (2800m), where happily the route spends much of its time, becomes a riot of colour as alpine flowers and shrubs react to the warmth and sunshine and burst into bloom. Although no longer as important to the local economy as winter skiing, these summer alpine meadows still sustain the transhumance as beautiful brown cattle (the Swiss breed Simmental) are bought up from the valleys in July for ten weeks of summer grazing before returning in September just before the first snow.
Classic view of the River Isar from the Rißsattel (Stage 4)
The snow and the consequent surge of meltwater have an enormous impact on Traumpfad. Starting in Munich the route follows the River Isar whose fast-flowing grey water, destined for the Danube and the Black Sea, betrays its origins in the Karwendel limestone. The route then crosses the Inn, the most important tributary of the Danube, snakes above the huge reservoir, the Schlegeisspeicher, fed by the glacier on the north side of the Hochfeiler, before crossing the watershed on the border with Italy. From here the water heads south and then east to the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. The walk finishes, as it started, with a riverside walk, but this time along an Italian river, the Piave.
The Alps occupy a battleground between weather systems: the Atlantic, Continental and Mediterranean. In the summer you can expect (but not rely on) good weather. As a general rule it’s wetter in the north near Germany and drier in Italy, but extremes of weather, including snow, need to be anticipated. As the temperature increases in July and August, thunderstorms are not uncommon and September is the most settled month.
Alpine flowers, animals and birds
The epic film The Sound of Music may be associated with Salzburg but iconic scenes in flower-filled Alpine meadows can also be enjoyed on the Traumpfad.
A selection of Alpine flowers: Bavarian gentian; Apiaceae; white campion; alpine scabious; gentian; fragrant orchid; yellow alpine poppy; edelweiss; ground cistus; woolly thistle; silver thistle (Photos: Max and Frances Harre)
The edelweiss (symbol of the German Alpine Club), with its creamy felty petals in a star formation, may be the most famous flower but it’s only one of over 1500 varieties that all share an uncanny ability to survive extremely low temperatures. Easier to spot than edelweiss are blue trumpet gentians or harebells. Perhaps a little gaudy and much larger is the alpine orange lily. You may also see, growing heroically on inhospitable scree, the golden yellow Rhaetian poppy, larger flowered yellow ox-eye or the globeflower. Attractive even to those with the most casual interest in flowers are orchids, the most spectacular of which is probably the lady’s slipper orchid with its maroon and yellow petals. At the treeline, conifers dominate: silver fir, arolla pine and larch are the main species with dwarf pine higher up on the scree.
Like the flowers, animals have to be capable of surviving extreme conditions living on slim pickings. Perhaps the most prolific, and certainly the easiest to spot, are marmots. They look like a tubby meerkat (with a similar upright posture) but in fact are a type of squirrel. They live in colonies and whistle to each other as a warning. The colony leader, standing upright, spots or smells danger, issues a whistle that often echoes around a rock face, and the colony of marmots promptly disappears underground. You will certainly see and hear them along the route.
Sunbathing marmots
Less common and generally seen only in the distance are the chamois and ibex. Both in the past have been hunted to near extinction and both are happily in recovery. They are part of the goat-antelope family and share with their domestic brethren a distinct goat-like smell. As well as being incredibly nimble over rocks and up the side of mountains (occasionally unhelpfully dislodging stones) they graze in places where even in summer there is little in the way of grass. The male ibex has much bigger horns than chamois and the chamois has a distinctive black strip on its face.
Also specially adapted for alpine conditions and quite common is the black alpine salamander and its more spectacular cousin the fire salamander (black with gold patches). The alpine salamander is the only European amphibian to give birth to live young (usually two of them) emerging after developing inside the mother for three years – a longer gestation period even than the elephant (just over two years).
The Alps are not a particularly rich habitat for birds. Most common is the alpine chough, a small hyperactive crow specifically adapted for high altitude,. Also important is the nutcracker, a bird that looks similar to a starling, which plays a key role in the life of the arolla pine distributing, in a good year, up to 100,000 seeds in holes up to a metre under the snow at the perfect depth for germination. The nutcracker has a brilliant memory. It returns for most of the seeds but leaves enough to secure future generations of the tree. If you see a raptor it is likely to be a common buzzard although there are also honey buzzards around. There are about 350 pairs of golden eagle in the Austrian Alps so if you’re lucky you might see one of them as well.
What’s the walking like?
As well as passing through superlative scenery the Munich to Venice trail neatly combines challenge with accessibility. Although it stays within the magic zone between treeline (1800m) and snowline (2800m) for much of the way, valleys do have to be crossed and descents made, with varying levels of ease. It’s a safe and accessible route, providing sensible caution is taken with the weather, and largely avoids the skiing areas which scar the landscape in many places (the chief exceptions being the Sella massif and the Hintertux Glacier). Although the route is rarely crowded, this is not a walk for those seeking solitude, despite spending so many days above 2000m.
How hard is it?
Climbing out the Val de Tita (Stage 17) with the help of fixed cables
Ludwig designed his Munich to Venice backpacking route for ‘any able-bodied walker’. By this he meant walkers who were happy to walk for around thirty days, carrying seven kilogrammes for around seven hours a day and climbing an average of a thousand metres a day. Ludwig was a German and an Alpinist so he assumed walkers would have a head for heights, which is an essential requirement on several short exposed stretches. On the most exposed sections there are fixed steel ropes and pegs driven into a rock face to help you progress. This is a common feature of Alpine walking and something the average German or Austrian takes for granted but which you might find challenging the first time you come across it. Most of these stretches are near the most spectacular sections of the route, however, and it would be a shame to miss them.
While a reasonable level of fitness, a head for heights and a desire for adventure are all essential requirements for anyone tackling the Traumpfad, it does make a good choice for walkers planning their first independent trek in the Alps. Experience of mountain walking is an advantage but it is not necessary and this guide makes no assumptions about previous experience.
How long will it take?
Descent from Schlauchkarsattel (Stage 16)
The Traumpfad is 569km long and involves 27,000 metres of ascent. The most popular German schedule takes 29 days but assumes that walkers take the chairlift on one section of the walk (Stage 7). The schedule in this guide is similar but assumes that some walkers at least will want to walk ‘every step of the way’ from Munich to Venice and an extra day has therefore been included.
Stages are designed to start and finish where accommodation is available. The daily walking times are between 5hrs 30mins and 9hrs. Matching these times will be harder at the beginning of the walk than at the end, and options for merging days start to increase as the walk progresses.
A key consideration will be your attitude to chairlifts and the closely linked question of ‘purity’ when it comes to walking every step of the way. There are at least four big climbs that could be replaced by a chairlift and the time saved could either be spent with a beer in a mountain hut enjoying the views or walking further along the path and saving a day – the question is whether you will still be able to claim that you walked from Munich to Venice!
Superstrong, superfast walkers will beat the times in the schedule but that doesn’t help if there isn’t accommodation further along the route. If you are desperate to complete the trip in one go but don’t have the 31 to 33 days needed (30 days with some contingency and allowance for travel at either end), the schedule can be reduced by about 4 to 5 days without needing to carry a tent. The tool for doing this is the Route Planner in Appendix A.
Alternatively, if you would prefer to tackle the route in chunks (described as Sections in this guide), there are five natural divisions, each defined by good entry and exit points for public transport. These are:
| Munich to Hall | 7 days |
| Hall to Vandoies (Niedervintl) | 6 days |
| Niedervintl to Alleghe | 6 days |
| Alleghe to Belluno | 5 days |
| Belluno to Venice | 6 days |
When to go
Summer snow on the Geierjoch
The likelihood of snow on the passes determines the short length of the Alpine walking season – from early July through to the third week in September. The huge network of Alpine huts only opens when the passes clear of snow and the walkers start to turn up.
Although it can vary significantly from year to year there is greater likelihood of lingering snow in July. Alpine thunderstorms are more frequent in July and August, and September is the most settled month. The peak season, coinciding with holidays, is August, so timing a trip to make the best use of September (the quietest month) makes sense. This would involve starting in Munich towards the end of August and finishing the alpine traverse by the third week in September. The only downside is that the alpine flowers will be past their best.
Accommodation
A convivial hut scene (Photo: Max and Frances Harre)
Most nights on the schedule described in this guide, and especially those spent at altitude, will involve staying in a mountain hut. If this is your first long-distance trip in the Alps, mountain huts may take some getting used to but the social aspect of sharing a ‘mountain pilgrimage’ with a varied group of, largely German, fellow travellers, in family groups, couples or walking alone, could be said to be a key part of the Munich to Venice experience.
By sharing rooms and evening meals everyone soon gets to know each other and a mutually supportive network is formed. Germans generally speak good English and will happily help explain the difference between Leberknödel and Speckknödel. Groups emerge and evolve as walkers on different schedules arrive and depart.
In addition to mountain huts, some nights will be spent in delightful small alpine hotels. These are comfortable and provide a welcome change from the huts. In the summer season they offer surprisingly good value. And if you prefer to avoid the communal living, alternative itineraries which minimise the use of huts are described in the introductions to some of the sections.
Charges
A reasonable rule of thumb is to budget 50 euros a day although this depends on what you choose to eat and drink rather than your choice of accommodation. There is little difference between the cost of a small hotel and a mountain hut, although sleeping in large and often noisier hut dormitories can be cheaper.
Many huts are owned by the German, Austrian or Italian Alpine clubs where Alpine Club members get a discount. Given the number of huts on the itinerary, this discount and other membership benefits (including insurance), it’s worth joining an Alpine Club (see Appendix B). If you’re British the simplest option is to join the British section of the Austrian Alpine Club – the modest fee includes insurance.
Booking ahead
Booking into the mountain huts ahead is generally straightforward and fairly casual, particularly once you get to Italy. Currently some of the German and Austrian huts ask for a deposit via bank transfer, which can be expensive outside the Eurozone, and if you point this out they usually let you off. The plan is for a single booking system to be established which will take credit cards. This could be in place as soon as 2016. For the latest information and advice on booking huts go to the Alpine Club website (www.alpine-club.org.uk). If for whatever reason a booking can’t be honoured then simply ring and explain. It’s never a surprise but you should let your hosts know.
Hut life
A typically stunning hut location – the Olpererhütte (Stage 11)
Mountain huts date back to the explosion of Alpine tourism in the late 19th century and were mainly developed by the German/Austrian Alpenverein (Alpine Club). The nearest non-alpine equivalent is a youth hostel. There are hundreds of them scattered across the Alps and, typically built before the emergence of town planners, they often command a dramatic location. They provide food, beer, accommodation and usually a shower (in limestone areas water is sometimes in short supply). Sleeping accommodation is in open dormitories or smaller rooms although you should expect to share even in the smaller rooms. Huts are a key part of the alpine tradition and come with a number of quirky rules. They are, however, very convivial, never run out of beer and after a good day in the mountains they provide an opportunity for some sleep (depending on your room-mates).
The first hut, the Tutzinger, provides a foretaste of what’s to come. Once you’ve arrived and armed yourself with a beverage it’s time to look at the menu and contemplate hut cuisine. It changes gradually after you cross into Italy but the Tyrolean influences persist for some time. It is not fine dining and is best described as ‘hearty’. Standard fare includes: soups (Suppe) with large dumplings – either Leberknödel (liver dumpling) or Speckknödel (ham dumpling); Gulasch, often served with dumplings (Semmelknödel); spaghetti Bolognese and, of course, large sausages (Bratwurst) served with bread, mustard and sauerkraut. It’s not ideal for vegetarians. In German and Austrian huts the Bergsteigeressen (literally ‘mountain climber’s food’) is usually the lowest cost option on the menu. Consisting of some sort of meat served with pasta, dumplings or potatoes, it is filling and good value. On the German side of the border, the best part of the meal – a major Austrian/German contribution to world welfare – is the desert where the nightly choice between wonderful Apfelstrudel (apple pastry) or Kaiserschmarrn, (a shredded pancake favoured by Emperor Franz Joseph) is a regular challenge.
Kaiserschmarrn
The main dormitory in the Tutzinger consists of two-storey platforms each populated, cheek by jowl, with lines of mattresses. Unlike most UK youth hostels, dormitories are not single sex. Bedding is provided but guests are expected to bring their own sheet sleeping bags (Hütten Sac) – some people also bring their own sleeping bags although the rooms can be very warm. Like most huts there is a drying room and a boot room. Hut etiquette includes not wearing outdoor shoes indoors and walking poles are left in the boot room.
Lights are turned out at 10pm. It’s not worth retiring earlier as the noise around bedtime can make sleep difficult. Getting to sleep may be a challenge – unfamiliar snoring will take a bit of getting used to – so it’s best to pack earplugs.
Breakfast, served at 7.30am, is interesting if not particularly exciting. It involves tea or coffee, bread and jam, some sort of cereal and processed ham similar to the subject of a famous Monty Python sketch. Austrian bread, like Austrian cakes, is an art form but for some reason the higher art forms don’t reach the higher altitudes and hut bread is of a particularly heavy and dark variety.
Planning your walk
Just some of the friends made along a first through-walk from Munich to Venice
Perhaps the first thing to decide, particularly if walking alone or as a couple, is whether to have a schedule at all. Instead of planning every day in advance and booking the trip ahead it is possible simply to turn up and assume that there will be space available, or you ring ahead one or two days in advance. In this way you can capitalise on good weather and walk further. Not booking ahead, however, naturally carries the risk that you will not be able to stay where you want to. This could be a problem at some huts in the Dolomites on August weekends, especially if you are walking as part of a group. Also, if you wish to sleep in family rooms rather than dormitories booking ahead is recommended.
If you’re planning to walk the route in one go, factors to consider when working out your schedule are:
whether you are prepared to use any of the chairlifts or take a bus at any point;
whether you prefer to avoid the mountain huts where alternatives can be found (particularly important in the Dolomites in August);
whether you plan to walk any of the variants;
how many hours a day you want to walk.
Another consideration is whether to schedule spare days, either as rest days or to accommodate potential bad weather. For example a schedule could include a provision for two or three nights at Alleghe, a pretty lakeside town located in the middle of the Dolomites with plenty of accommodation. If bad weather then means sitting out a day’s walking earlier in the trip one of the days at Alleghe can be dropped without throwing out the rest of your itinerary.
One thing to check before finalising a schedule is whether or not ‘shooting days’ are taking place in the Tux Alps. A military exercise range still exists there and very occasionally the troops are using live ammunition and access is prohibited. All the routes cross the range and it’s worth checking at www.wattenberg.tirol.gv.at and following the link to ‘Truppenübungsplatz Lizum Walchen’.
What to take
Climbing the Geirjoch in August (Stage 10)
The golden rule is only take what is needed. Weight is a key consideration and the greater the load, the bigger the strain on the body particularly the knees. Weigh everything and restrict the total load (excluding water) to no more than 7kg.
When packing prepare for wet and cold weather. On a 30-day trip across the Alps you will almost certainly get some wet weather at some point and in July and early August it can be thundery. It can also be cold and snow, particularly above 2000m, is not unusual. In addition to good quality waterproofs pack a fleece or a lightweight down jacket, a warm hat and gloves.
It addition to the cold and wet prepare for the sun and include a brimmed hat, high-factor sunscreen, lipsalve and sunglasses. With any luck the cold and wet weather gear will stay at the bottom of your rucksack and shorts and T-shirts will be the order of the day.
For emergencies carry a head torch (also useful in the huts), a whistle and a compact first aid kit.
For the huts, as well as personal toiletries, pack a lightweight towel, a sheet sleeping bag and earplugs. Outdoor shoes aren’t allowed inside and although indoor shoes are provided some sort of lightweight shoe will be needed for the hotels and for walking around Venice.
At the beginning of each stage of route description there is a tip about where you can get refreshments during the day. There is usually somewhere to stop but you should always carry emergency rations and snacks. Everyone will have their own solution but a bar of chocolate hidden at the bottom of the rucksack (out of the sun and to avoid temptation) is mine.
A comfortable rucksack is an essential item but it’s more likely to be comfortable if the total load is only 6 to 7kg. It needs a waterproof cover. Stuff sacks within the rucksack might also help; they hardly weigh anything and impose a bit of order when things are getting packed in the morning.
Footwear should also be light. Remember a kilogram on your feet is equivalent to four on your back. Heavy boots in particular should be avoided given the long hot days on the approach to Venice. Many walkers (me included) have abandoned boots altogether for summer walking, opting for ‘approach shoes’ or fell-running shoes instead. Lightweight footwear means feet stay cooler, skin is less likely to blister and you can walk further without getting tired.
Finding your way
Approaching Dun (Stage 13)
For most of its journey the Traumpfad follows well-defined footpaths. The last section, from Belluno to Venice, involves some road walking but mostly on quiet roads with little traffic. There are occasional Munich–Venice (München–Venedig) signs but the route is not officially waymarked. It is, however, easy to follow and navigation should not be a problem.
Using GPS
Although most walkers now have a smartphone many still don’t use the GPS functionality but GPS is the cheapest and most effective way of taking the stress out of navigation. If you already have an Android or Apple smartphone you can download a GPS app and buy the required digital maps.
A key consideration, in choosing an app, is the range of maps provided particularly when the route travels through several countries. A good choice, and one used when doing the research for this guide, is a product called Viewranger (www.viewranger.com). The Viewranger website includes a map store and has a growing portfolio of maps from around the world including Germany, Austria and Italy. The route is covered by maps of a comparable quality to the paper maps (most are the same but a digital version) until just before Alleghe. From Alleghe to Venice ‘Open Maps’ can be used (follow the instructions on the Viewranger site for loading these maps). They don’t provide as much information as the paper maps but they are still useful.
In addition to a smartphone and a GPS app loaded with the right maps you need the route itself. This is available for free, stage by stage, on the Cicerone website at www.cicerone.co.uk/804/gpx.
If you haven’t used the GPS facility don’t leave it to the last minute before your trip to find out how it works. Smartphone GPS doesn’t use ‘data roaming’ so you don’t need to have that facility turned on. The battery on the smartphone should be adequate for a day’s walking particularly if you remember to turn off any features that you’re not using. (Phones permanently searching for a wi-fi connection are consuming a lot of energy.) If you are nervous about battery life then take a supplementary battery and recharge the smartphone as needed or, if walking with someone else with a smartphone, have a duplicate version of the GPS as backup.
The central Karwendel Ridge
Using printed maps
Some walkers will want the additional security of paper maps (despite the extra weight) and printed maps will provide more context for the journey. Acquiring a comprehensive set of maps for a route travelling through three countries is not, however, a straightforward task and there is no single publisher supplying maps for the whole route.
Section 1
Kompass Maps (www.shop.kompass.de):
180 Lake Starnberg – Ammersee and 182 Isarwinkel, Bad Tölz, Lenggries (1:50,000)
Freytag & Berndt (www.freytagberndt.com):
WK 322 Wetterstein – Karwendel – Seefeld – Leutasch – Garmisch Partenkirchen (1:50,000)
Section 2
Freytag & Berndt (www.freytagberndt.com):
WK 322 Wetterstein – Karwendel – Seefeld – Leutasch – Garmisch Partenkirchen (1:50,000)
WK 241 Innsbruck – Stubai – Sellrain – Brenner (1:50.000)
WK 152 Mayrhofen – Zillertaler Alpen – Gerlogs – Krimml – Zell im Zillertal (1:50,000)
Tabacco TK 037 Pfunderer Berge/Monti di Fundres, Hochfeiler/Gran Pilastro (1:25,000).
Section 3
Freytag & Berndt (www.freytagberndt.com):
Tabacco TK 030 Brixen/Bressanone, Villnössertal/Val di Funes (1:25.000)
WK S5 Grödner Tal (1:50,000)
Section 4
Freytag & Berndt (www.freytagberndt.com):
TK 015 Marmolada – Pelmo – Civetta – Moiazza (1:25,000)
TK 025 Dolomiti di Zoldo, Cadorine e Agordine (1:25,000)
TK 024 Prealpi e Dolomiti Bellunesi (1:25,000)
Section 5
Map Fox (www.mapfox.de)
Cartine Zanetti – 5 Vittorio Veneto (1:30,000)
Cartine Zanetti – 3 Conegliano (1:30,000).
If you need to ask the way, German is the language spoken locally in Bavaria, Austria and South Tyrol, with Italian becoming the dominant language on the approach to Alleghe. Signposts also include a third language, Ladin, in a small area to the south of the Italian border with Austria. Germans, Austrians and Italians all speak good English and indeed many Italians and Germans communicate with each other in English.
Using this guide
Alpine lakes below the Alpeiner Scharte (Stage 12B)
The 569km of the journey from Munich to Venice has been described here in five sections each broken down into a stage which correlates to a day’s walking. Sections begin with a brief introduction, overview map and summary information including your options for varying the itinerary. Each stage begins with an information box – giving basic data including distance, walking time and total ascent/descent – and a brief introduction to give you a feel for the day’s walking. Each stage also has a difficulty grading:
easy – essentially flat
moderate – could involve physical exertion but with no exposed walking
challenging – a head for heights required and could involve exposed sections.
There then follows a step-by-step description of the route including information about the facilities available along the route.
The route descriptions should be read in conjunction with the route maps which are reproduced at 1:100,000 scale, with a handful of maps at 1:50,000 for greater clarity. These show all the features highlighted in bold in the route descriptions, as well as using occasional numbered points for reference where a navigation decision is required at a place without an obvious feature. The maps and route descriptions, used in conjunction with printed maps or GPS information, should help you make sense of what you see on the ground.
Also included are profiles of each stage of the route that show the climbs involved and the time taken to get from one key point to the next. Once in the mountains it should be easy to see how your performance compares with the timings given and adapt the guide timings to your own pace.
The route summary table at the start of the book gives a quick overview of the distance, walking time and ascent/descent for each stage and section. Various appendices are also provided to help you get the most out of your Munich to Venice experience. Appendix A– the trek planner – provides a schedule of stages along with points with accommodation along the route, giving distances and estimated walking times between them. This is designed to help you plan alternative itineraries. On some parts of the route the limited amount of accommodation means that the German schedule described in the 30 stages in this guide has to be followed but on other parts you have a real choice. Appendix B brings together the contact details of the facilities referred to in the route descriptions and the trek planner and Appendix C is a list of other useful contacts to help you plan your perfect Munich to Venice mountain pilgrimage.
Panorama Hohenweg (Stage 12A)
