1st stage KAT Walk Kompakt

Description

This stage is a panoramic hike from the very first step....

This is followed by the ascent to the Hohe Salve, one of the best panoramic mountains in Tyrol. Austria's highest pilgrimage church is located right at the summit. The descent via Salvensee and Filzalmsee is via picturesque paths. In Hochbrixen, you can take the cable car again for the rest of the descent - or you can continue on a path down to Brixen im Thale with its imposing double-towered church.


The starting point of this hike is the information office in Hopfgarten, past the Familotel and the Högerhof you walk along the toboggan run to the Sunnseit hut and then on to the middle station. Alternatively, you can also take the Salvenbahn to the middle station. 

Here you follow the signs to Rigi, Hohe Salve and walk right under the cable car cables through directly to the apartment Tenn. Above Tenn the route runs on the narrow road to the third bend at the junction Tennerwald 1.231m. Here again right a short distance on the road towards Salvenalm, Rigi, Hohe Salve. After about a hundred meters, a steeper cart path branches off to the left.

Continue uphill on this path through forest and meadows towards Hohe Salve until you reach a wider forest path. Now in three hairpin bends through the open alpine pasture area to the Kälberalm and the Alpengasthof Rigi (1,537m; 1h from the middle station).

Continue on a steeper forest path with several hairpin bends through the ski area, past the Kleine Salve reservoir viewpoint with sun loungers on the lake shore, to the summit of the Hohe Salve with the pilgrimage church and the summit restaurant (1,829m; 1h from Gasthof Rigi).

The descent towards Filzalmsee/Brixen begins on the south-eastern side of the summit via a hiking trail that descends in several hairpin bends to the clearly visible Salvensee lake. Shortly after the reservoir, turn left off the path onto a meadow path that leads over a ski slope to the Filzalmsee. Now continue downhill on this path, always orientating yourself towards Filzalmsee and Brixen.

The beautiful path soon leads into a wooded area and you walk right past the small Jordan Chapel, from which a spring emerges. Now you hike back down through the open area to a forest road that initially leads to the Filzalm farm and the lake of the same name. From here, it is only a few metres to the mountain station of the Hochbrixen gondola lift (1 ¼ h from Hohe Salve). Alternatively, you can take the mountain railway from here to the stage destination of Brixen im Thale.

On foot, orientate yourself shortly before the station at Hof, Brixen im Thale and hike further downhill on the right-hand side on trail no. 95. Shortly after the path leads into the forest, the steeper but well-maintained hiking trail to Brixen branches off to the left.

The trail descends through the forest on both sides of a ditch. At the Oberkaslach junction at 1,013 metres above sea level, there are several routes to Brixen.

The route now runs to the left through the trench (follow the Brixen signpost with the cable car symbol on it!) On the opposite side of the trench, walk downhill alongside the pasture to the tarmac access road. Continue downhill on this road until you reach the village road. Now continue left into the centre of Brixen im Thale (1 hour from the Hochbrixen mountain station).