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A beautiful hike to the border between Austria and Italy in the Gschnitztal in Tirol.
The Gschnitz valley is one of my favourite places to hike in Tirol. Not only does it have some absolutely stunning scenery, but I've never experienced crowded trails whenever I've been there.
This hike is an extension of another hike I've shared on here, to the Tribulaunhütte. Whilst we did take a short detour and stop at the Austrian Tribulaun hut for a quick lunch on this hike, our goal was to reach the saddle where the border between Austria Italy runs over the mountains, on the route to the Italian Tribulaunhütte (yes, there is an Austrian and an Italian hut with the same name).
The hike starts down at the end of the Gschnitztal valley at the large paid parking area near the water mill village.
From the parking area, follow the signs to the Tribulaun Hütte. There are two different trails that you can take. One is a wide gravel road (which is also a mountain bike route). The other is a narrower hiking trail.
After about 2.5 hours of hiking, and around 790m altitude gain, you reach the Austrian Tribulaunhütte. We chose to stop here for a small lunch and bathroom break, but you can just keep hiking though.
Not long after the hut, there's a small hiking trail that breaks off above the wider gravel road. Take this trail, which traverses along the bottom of the peaks. Even in early summer, you may still find some patches of snow that you'll need to cross, so trekking poles may come in handy.
The final part of the ascent to the saddle turns into switchbacks, as you zig-zag up to the the ridge line at the base of the Pflerscher Scharte peak that towers above you.
On the ground you'll see a white marble stone marking the border between Austria and Italy, and on the other side of the ridge just below the Italian Tribulan Hut.
On the descent, we tried to follow an alternative route back down to avoid walking all the way back to the Austrian Tribulaun hut, but in many places the trail wasn't so clear, so I'd recommend just re-tracing your steps and going back the way you came to get back down.