Having spent a week and a long weekend in Zell am Ziller, it was inevitable that we would end up doing a number of the klettersteigs above Mayrhofen. The topo is like nothing I have ever seen, with 5 klettersteigs on a single topo, four of which start from the valley and finish near an alm, and the other climb the cliff above the alm.
On the first day we ended up wanting a relaxing day off paragliding, so didn’t head into the mountains. This did have the unfortunate effect that it was very, very hot! We started on one of the easier routes, the Huterlaner Klettersteig, which had the added advantage that it topped out at the alm. The route itself was nothing to shout about, but given that it was straight out of the valley, and a 5min walk from the train station it was pretty good.
On the route we had wonderful views down the valley, the smallest wire bridge that I have ever seen and plenty of sun. When we got to the top we were not sure if we wanted to continue up the higher klettersteig due to the heat so we stopped at the alm for a cool drink. As we thought that we may do another route we had a non alcoholic drink, little did we know that these came with a free shot of schnapps!
We enjoyed our drinks sat on the balcony looking at paragliders soaring in the thermals, and looking forward to being experienced enough to do that ourselves. After having cooled down we decided to go and climb the higher klettersteig, the Astegg-Klettersteig. This was mostly very easy, with a short section which was much harder, it was worthwhile doing, just, but certainly not something to go back for. We descended back to the alm for some chips and beer before heading back to the campsite.
A few weeks later we were back in the Zillertal with my parents, and on a bad weather day we had a window which enabled us to get out. The obvious choice was the harder route above Mayrhofen, the Pfeilspitzwand-Klettersteig. This was a great route, which was much longer than the previous route we did, and much more sustained. It had some wonderful positions, a random bell and some good climbing. The top of the route was the start of the Astegg Klettersteig, needless to say Becky and I didn’t rush back to it, but sent my parents up it while we headed to the alm for some beer & schnapps!
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