Fantastic ski tour in the Kleinwalsertal valley

What makes the tour attractive?

• Suitable for beginners: With just under 1000 meters of altitude, the tour is also easy to master for all those who do not want to miss out on the pleasure.
• Great landscapes and magnificent views: The tour is extremely varied in terms of landscape and initially leads through a beautiful mountain forest, before the efforts are rewarded further up with fantastic views.
• Attractive winter sports region: Kleinwalsertal is a great winter sports region and with a valley location of already over 1000m offers a good snow guarantee - here you can perfectly combine cross-country skiing, ski touring and days on the slopes in the ski area!

• Difficulty: With about 5km and just under 1000 meters of altitude, the tour is rather easy, even if there is in the meantime in the forest sometimes the one or other very steep place.
• Dangers: The avalanche danger is described as low to medium. In the forest it is partly very steep and sometimes icy, but there is hardly any danger in terms of avalanches. Further up in the open terrain, however, avalanches can definitely occur. Be sure to check the avalanche report beforehand and take avalanche equipment such as an avalanche transceiver, probe and shovel.
• Overnight accommodation: In Riezlern, as in the entire Kleinwalsertal valley, there are numerous guesthouses and hotels. If you stay at the DAV self-catering hut Mahdtalhaus, you can start your ski tour directly from the hut.

Let's go

We have spent the night in the DAV self-catering hut Mahdtalhaus and already the icy cold but sunny morning with a view of the snowy mountains makes us want to finally start. After breakfast, we strap the skis under our feet and hear the snow crunching as we begin the ascent.

After a short stretch across a meadow slope, the dense mountain forest swallows us up, only allowing a glimpse down here and there. The trail is already well tracked and thus easy to find, moreover, you always follow the route marked with green DAV signs. In the forest, it goes steadily and relatively steeply uphill, only now and then flatter passages provide welcome breathers.

Over the timberline

The wintry silence in the forest is magical and is only interrupted by our steady breathing and a few birds that spend the winter here in the deeper forest layers. We pass the Grafenkürenalm and after about an hour of ascent the forest becomes increasingly thinner and finally gives a view of steep rocky slopes around which the ascent route navigates.

Now, with every meter of altitude, the view also gets better and better. Deep below us lies the Kleinwalsertal valley and in the distance the majestic peaks of the Central Alps shine in wintry white. Every now and then the odd mountain pine still peeps out of the snow here, but most are buried under a thick blanket of snow.

Upper God's Acre Walls and Gate Corner

The ascent, on which several other tourers were already on the move before us and which is perfectly groomed on this March day, now leads almost straight uphill. The slopes are usually not so steep that you would have to climb in switchbacks and so we take the shortest way and quickly gain altitude.

Every now and then we pass the one or other hollow, where it then goes downhill for a few meters in altitude before it climbs again towards the rugged summit of the Toreck over the upper Gottesacker walls.

Finally, we reach the summit at 2017m and have a fantastic 360-degree panoramic view.

View and departure

Towards the north, you can look down into the foothills of the Alps and here the mountain breaks off almost vertically downward in steep and spectacular rock faces. On the other side, deep below us, the individual villages of the Kleinwalsertal valley are clearly visible. To the south, the peaks of the Central Alps rise majestically above them, and to the southwest, the imposing rock formations around the ski area at Hohen Ifen appear.

After a snack and a breather at the summit, we then look forward to the descent, which will take us back down the same way through the powdery snow. The terrain is always easy to ski and only in a few places in the forest it gets really steep, otherwise you can relax and make your turns in the snow.