E5 Stage 10.1: Cabin by the Glacier

Mittelburg to Braunsweiger Hutte

Saturday, July 27

We awoke at the Anger Alm Hotel in Middleburg, Austria and had the best breakfast of our trip. Downstairs in the dining area, they had a self-serve plethora of great foods. For example, they had a meat, cheese, and yogurt cart.  They also had scrambled eggs, bacon, and hard-boiled eggs. Across the room, they had six different varieties of jams, including honeys, as well as a cupboard full of granola ingredients: grains, seeds, dried fruit, real fruit, nuts, etc. At the beverage table they had tea, coffee, fruit juice, and a bowl full of whole fruits for juicing in a Breville juicer.  And finally, they had the counter with fresh breads, including small plastic to go bags; which we found very useful for gathering our lunch ingredients.  So I made some fresh juice in the juicer and we ate a lot of food.

After leaving the Anger Alm, we started up on foot into the higher valley towards our next destination.  Stage 10 was supposed to be 18 km long, however, with feedback from my running app, we found the distances in the guidebooks to be somewhat under exaggerated. So we decided to split the stage into two sections. The first section would bring us to the Braunsweiger Hutte. 

So we passed through the town of Middleburg, along a dirt road, alongside a raging river, and past cattle grazing alongside. The dirt road turned into a rocky trail, weaving in and out of streams alongside of the river. But up ahead there was a huge rockface with many boulders, and out of it, a huge, powerful waterfall bursting from the rock fortress.

As our ascent grew steeper, we noticed some other routes that were more treacherous, which had cables you could clip into with carabiners. We were able to watch one climber, with helmet and climbing gear, traverse the sheer rock face using the cables for safety.  Our path was less severe, however, we were able to utilize hand cables and hardware that was cemented into the rocks for footing.  

We finally reached the top of this boulder barricade, and found a flat area of that almost looked like the top of the dam, however, there was no lake on the other side.  Instead, there was a service road leading up to our left alongside a gorge with waterfall and river, at an increasingly steep angle. While huffing up the hill, I received a text from my mom and we were able to talk with her while hiking.  The dirt road continued, while we took a path to the left, going up the side of the mountain in constant switchbacks.  Other hikers were joining us and passing us by, as we overlooked the valley below.  After one rocky bend in the trail, we found ourselves overlooking a massive glacier in the far distance between the mountains.  This frozen river of solid ice, covered in snow, was almost as big as the mountains surrounding it. It had been there for thousands of years, however, we would later find out glaciers around the world are continuing to recede.

Enjoying the view the glacier was fascinating, however we still had more hill to climb. The trail up to the Hutte brought us through paths of small boulders and dirt trails.  We arrived at the top and found the deck of the Hutte filled with many people.  We saw hikers, climbers, mountaineers, and families on a day hike.  They were all relaxing, eating, drinking, and conversating in the brilliant sunlight on the deck.  

The Braunsweiger Hutte was also a member of the DAV and so we were able to get 50% off of our stay. We got our room, got our journal stamped, and went to the deck to relax. Even though the elevation was so high, the heat from the sun and also the reflection of the snow around us was very intense.  People were armed with sunscreen, sunglasses, and headgear to block the strong rays from above and around.  Since this stage was cut in half, we had arrived early around 1:00pm and had plenty of time to rest and relax. So we got some beers, French fries and enjoyed our bread and sausage.

Our room was in a small bunk bed  passageway, designed for 12 people. We got the top bunk to ourselves and were able to catch a nap and read a little bit.  Since the bunkbed passageway was so small, there was a side room where we kept our backpacks. In the shared bathroom, we were able to wash some of our clothes and had no problem drying them outside in the blazing sun. Later on in the evening it started to rain, so we brought them in.

For dinner I had schnitzel, salad, and German potato salad. I finished it off with another apple strudel. Then we went to bed And tried to sleep while other hikers came and went through our passage bedroom.