Day 7 – Galtenscharte and Badener Hütte

One of the longer days on the Venediger Höhenweg, starting from the Bonn Matreier Hütte, climbing steeply over the Galtenscharte pass, and then a long trek over and up to the Badener Hütte.

We packed up and went down to frühstuck (breakfast), which was similar to the other huts but with a slightly better assortment of cold cuts plus they had coffee cakes. The hut staff brought us the lunches we ordered last night – a thin roll on which to add butter, schinken, und kase from the breakfast buffet, a snack bar, an apple, and a bag to hold everything. We started up the trail at 8am.

Our first challenge was the 2,791m Kalber Scharte, hiking up steepening slopes until pulling ourselves up on the fixed cables.

From the top of the Kälberscharte we could see the Galtenscharte obscured in clouds across a cirque.

We descended from the Kalberscharte on cables, then steps, then traversed across the cirque on talus before beginning the ascent to the Galtenscharte.

We stowed our poles and began scrambling up the steepening talus field, reaching the top of the Galtenscharte after what to me was an arduous climb.

Great views from here of the Froznitztal valley on the other side of the scharte.

We descended the scharte using the fixed cables due to the loose surface of the trail and the consequences of a fall.

The trail descended quite a way along the cliffs before dropping even more steeply and directly toward the valley.

Allan got a photo of animals he didn’t recognize; my guess is that these were lambs.

The guidebook described a risk of rockfall from hikers above, so we kept moving until the slope eased off.

We stopped at a large rock just off the trail to have a snack (despite the warning in the guidebook about potential for rockfall).

We continued down the trail to the Malfrosnitzbach stream, where we crossed over a bridge.

Overall, the descent was not as bad as the guidebook led us to believe. The walk became more pleasant here, crossing grassy slopes covered in wildflowers, occasionally encountering steep sections protected by fixed cables.

We stopped for lunch on a slope overlooking the beautiful Froznitztal.

A couple miles further, at a junction with a trail coming up from the valley at Steinsteg, we spotted the Badener hütte perched high above. This is the lowest point on today’s route, and we began the steady ascent toward the hütte from here (1,300ft, 1.5mi). We crossed over a footbridge above the raging torrents coming down from the Frosnitz Kees glacier. Amazing how much water comes down these streams/rivers.

It started to sprinkle, and Allan wanted to sprint up to the hut before it got worse, so he took off and I continued to plod up the trail. Soon after I caught up with another hiker from the Netherlands, who was surprised to encounter an American (this area is a little off the beaten path for international tourists). The rain started to pick up a little, so I put the rain cover on my pack.

The trail ascended above a glacially scoured valley, terrain of nothing but rock and ice, until reaching a junction with the spur trail over to the hütte where the climb was over! I walked up onto the terrace of the Badener Hütte where Allan was waiting. Dropped my shoes in the schuhraum, unpacked in our room, cleaned up, and went to sit outside on the terrace where I had an apfelsaft and wurst mit brot. We have a private zweibettzimmer (two bed room) with ample shelf space and hooks to organize everything.

We came inside to the dining room and waited for dinner to start.

Chatted with two deutsche mädchen (german girls) who were seated at our table. Dinner was another nudelsuppe, with some kind of “medallions” with rice for the main course, followed by a desert of applesauce with a bit of whipped cream. After dinner, the deutsche madchen taught us to play a game called Rummikub.

They each won one once and I won once: Deutschland 2, Vereinigte Staaten (United States) 1. I had a Schwartz tee before retiring to our room at 11:20pm to the sound of steady rain outside.