2 Hikes in Schnalstal

Day 9 Italy road trip
Lagaunspitze Glacier
It was a beautiful morning at the campsite, after several cups of Bialetti coffee brewed on the MSR stove, and a yummy egg roll, we set off to have a look down Schnalstal. Mr S had been there over 30 years ago, and he wanted to go again. He was then impressed with the road surrounded by cliffs, driving into The Valley, but now the road was replaced with quite a few big wide tunnels, so not as exciting as it once was. The clouds were sat on the high peaks, and the car park at the top was really full of vans full of ski teams from all around the world starting training for this years races up on the Glacier.
We did a very nice 2 hour hike around the Hasenkofel, beautiful autumn colours and some sun. Not many people here, most were high up skiing.
We headed further back down the valley and had a coffee and an Apfelstrudel, then went for a look at Santa Katerina, an amazing church sat high above Schnalstal. Then we drove up higher, and did another hike, high up and steep through the larch forest with herds of sheep with tinkling bells around their necks.
Back at the campsite we cooked a very simple spaghetti and tomato sauce, and of course a bottle of red wine. We arranged to have coffee with our campsite next door neighbours, who were from Zurich. We were having a great laugh, then got chatting about skiing, and it worked out that Emil is one of Mr S’s ex-wife’s best friends! What a small world.