Thanks to its many ski areas with modern lifts at a considerable altitude, the Ötztal attracts winter sports enthusiasts in particular. However, to get to know the valley and its mountain landscape, it is worth taking the old-fashioned step "on foot" into nature away from the groomed pistes. The romantic and tranquil character of the Ötztal comes to the fore on hikes in the snow. For example in the Horlachtal valley near Niederthai. Steep mountain faces tower up to the left and right. The rugged peaks have a graceful air about them, while wide, snow-covered fields glisten in the sun on the valley floor. In between, old "hay barns" appear again and again in the landscape. There is not much to hear, apart from the steady babbling of the Horlachbach stream beneath its partly icy surface.