Piccard Bridge Circular Route from Obergurgl

Absolute recommendation - again As the route is a little longer, take enough food with you. There are streams for refueling only on the left.

Found here and immediately followed. Once you've got out of the ski circus (after the second hut), the tour is awesome. Relatively flat and well secured on the steep passages. You must have a head for heights on the bridge😉🌁 Have fun

The route takes approximately 8-9 hours with sufficient breaks. Highly recommended. You should be sure-footed, fit, and free from vertigo.

https://jans-bergwelten.de/spaziergang-im-bilderbuch-ramolrunde-von-obergurgl/

Finally cracked the 3000m. 🥳 Since I always narrowly failed in the last two years, that was the big goal this year. The start was again in beautiful weather on the west side of the Gurgltal (where my tour yesterday ended) and this time always uphill towards the Ramolhaus. ↗️ There were pleasant but also very strenuous passages. The special thing was the number of waterfall crossings. Sometimes with wooden bridges, sometimes just from stone to stone and sometimes just through the water. When I arrived at the Ramolhaus, I treated myself to an Alster 🍺 and had a nice chat with a woman from Mainz who was crossing the Alps. That was very entertaining. We continued on to the second highlight of the day... the Piccard Bridge. A 142m long suspension bridge that crosses the Gurgler Ache at 2465m, which has its source here at the Gurgler Ferner. The path to the bridge was great with climbing elements and completely different rock formations than in the rest of the valley. The bridge itself was amazing and a great experience.💯 Since only hikers come here, it wasn't crowded at all. So you really have time to enjoy and take pictures 😎. We continued uphill and especially downhill to the Langtaleckerhütte. Here I took a last break before heading back towards Obergurgl. First to the Schönwiesalm (which I also passed yesterday) and the wild horses, which were grazing right on the side of the path this time. 🐎 I also saw a marmot again and tried to photograph it. Then we went through the pine forest to Obergurgl. Another great tour today with wonderful weather and moments of enjoyment...

In terms of landscape, one of the most beautiful, but also most strenuous hikes I've ever done

In Obergürgl, 2 statues dominate the village centre. The Piccard monument, a memento of scientist and balloonist Auguste Piccard, who made the village world famous when he stranded his balloon on the Gürgler Ferner (glacier) in 1931. He was the first to dive into the stratosphere in a balloon. A cable bridge was built at the Gürgler Ferner in 2017, which spans the valley. It was given its name 'Piccardbrücke'. It is now an important connection between the mountain huts. The other monument is that of Martinus Scheiber, a pioneer mountain guide in the Ötztal. He was the first to build a hut high up in the mountains in 1881, the Ramolhaus. Crossroads and overnight accommodation for mountain hikers. Today, the beautiful Ötztal combined with the Piccard bridge and the Ramolhaus. A tough but beautiful hike that started at the Mittelstation of the Hohe Mut mountain railway. Immediately it became climbing to the Rotmoos at the Schönwieshutte. From here we follow the high valley road towards Gürgler Ferner. The mountain world around you becomes more and more beautiful here. On the other side of the valley you can see the many glacial streams running down over the Ötztaler Urweg, the way back to the village. We walk past the stone hut of the Gürgleralm and the stone Tollhouse. Large grazers (Haflinger horses and sheep) here on your way. At the top right on the mountain you can already see the Ramolhaus, almost 1000 m higher, that is the goal. Past the Langtalereckhütte it is a short descent to the Langtalerbach. Over it and immediately starting the steep climb of the Schwärtser Steig, zigzagging along the flank of the Schwärtzenspitze. Many foot anchors and cable railings help you up. The view of the valley and the huts is breathtaking. Here it is a short descent over a rust-red rock massif to the famous cable bridge. Unique place because of the deep gorge of the Ache, the Gürgler Ferner that lies before you here, the bridge itself and the story of Piccard who got stranded here. Enjoy it for a while because now there is a steep climb to the Ramolhaus. Initially via many step anchors and railings along and between the red rocks up and further on a steep mountain path. You look up and know where you have to go. After the climb, the Ramolhaus is a grateful resting place with lush panoramas in all directions. You can also see the small Obergürgle more than 1000 m lower, down in the valley. We now follow the long high valley road, the Ötztaler Urweg, to it. A wonderful mountain world is yours and on the other side you can now see the path that you followed earlier. Everywhere small and large Ramolferner streams splash down. At the smallest you step over the stones, at the larger ones beams were laid. The sheep are the grazers here. The village becomes clearer and clearer and here and there you hear the marmots whistling and you see them too. A final steep path then quickly takes you a lot lower. The roar of the Gürgler Ache becomes louder and louder and you walk over it too. You walk back into the village past the pointing statue of the mountain guide, yes I was there. Many hotel guests are already at the table. A refreshing shower and then we start too. Unique experience in a unique valley.

After a very short night we arrived in Obergurgl, had breakfast and immediately set off taking advantage of the nice weather. The snow and rain of the past few days ensure full rivulets and streams that have to be crossed again and again, which in their entirety ensure a nice concert on the way. At the latest on an old photo in the Langtalereckhütte you can see the downside of our scenic glacier path: where today water runs through deep gorges, 90 years ago the supposedly eternal ice of the Gurglferner stood.