Trekking in the Zillertal Alps. Allan Hartley

routes) that start near Gasthof Zillertal, not far from Mayrhofen railway station on the west side of the river.

      Innsbruck Capital city of the province of Tyrol, named after the river on which it stands, overlooked by the Karwendel group of mountains and made famous as a centre for winter Olympics sports. The city is well worth a visit in its own right – particularly for the Old City (Alte Stadt), but also for the OeAV Alpenvereins Museum (open Monday to Saturday during normal business hours). Located within the Hofburg Imperial Palace in the Old Town, it has many fine exhibits from alpinism’s golden era, perhaps the most notable being memorabilia of Hermann Buehl’s ascent of Nanga Parbat in the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan.

      Take the train to Jenbach followed by the regional train to Innsbruck. It is a 10min walk from the railway station (Hauptbahnhof) to the Old City.

      Out and about in Mayrhofen

      Mayrhofen Haupt Strasse (high street)

      See the street map (above) for the location of the railway and bus station, tourist information office and post office. Useful websites include www.mayrhofen.at and www.zillertal.at.

      Bus services

      The following times are for the local post bus service that leaves from Mayrhofen’s combined train and bus station.

      Mayrhofen to Ginzling/Breitlahner/Schlegeis

      06.40/07.55/09.25/11.25/13.25/15.25/16.55/17.55

      Schlegeis to Mayrhofen

      09.35/10.35/13.55/15.35/16.35/17.55

      Breitlahner to Mayrhofen

      09.55/10.55/14.15/15.55/16.35/18.15

      Ginzling to Mayrhofen

      10.10/11.10/14.30/16.10/17.10/18.30

      Tourist offices

      The main Tourist Information Office and conference centre, the Europahaus, is located near the railway station on Durster Strasse. There are also satellite tourist offices in the town (see Appendix B for full contact details).

      Post office and mail

      The post office in Mayrhofen is located just off the main street in the centre of town (see street map, above), and has fax, internet and money-exchange facilities. The post office is open Monday to Friday from 08.00 to 12.00, then 14.00 to 18.00.

      At huts postcards can be purchased and mailed from the hut’s post box. The mail is then taken down to the valley, usually once a week and deposited at the main post office. Not surprisingly, post to UK can take 10–20 days.

      Places to leave luggage

      There is a left-luggage facility at the combined bus and railway station, which is open Monday to Saturday 08.00 to 18.00. Alternatively, should you be staying at one of the hotels, most hoteliers are quite happy to store luggage until you return.

      Peter Habeler’s office (mountain guides)

      The services of a professional mountain guide can be hired via Peter Habeler’s office on Mayrhofen’s main high street (Haupt Strasse). See Appendix B for more information or contact www.bergfuehrer-zillertal.at.

Trekking with children

      A family from London trekking in the Zillertal with children aged 12 and 8, still smiling!

      How suitable is hut-to-hut touring for children? The Austrian Alpine Club actively encourages children to participate in mountain activities, and most children love visiting the various huts and the sense of freedom it gives them. Children need to be fit, but if they are capable of ascending Ben Nevis, Snowdon or the round of Helvellyn then they will surely enjoy some of these tours. The author’s daughter traversed the entire length of the ZRR and climbed several peaks along the way when she was 14 years old, and children as young as eight have undertaken the majority of the tour. However, the ZSTT is not really suitable for children under 15 years.

      But only parents can decide, since some of the day’s outings are quite long, particularly the Greizer to Berliner Hut and Berliner Hut to Furtschagl Haus stages. Children must be happy to be in the mountains for long periods at a time and easily entertained in the evenings, reading books, playing scrabble or simply chatting. One good tip is to have a friend with them for company and it is important to make sure that they have adequate stops en route and rest days.

Health and fitness

      While you do not have to be super-fit to undertake these tours, it is essential that participants are used to walking for 6hrs continuously while carrying a touring-size rucksack weighing in the region of 12–15kg.

      Altitude

      The average altitude encountered on the tour is around 2500m–3000m (8000ft–10,000ft), so people visiting the Zillertal do not usually suffer badly from altitude sickness. However, you may feel the effects of altitude – such as feeling out of breath, mild headache and slowed pace – particularly on the high peaks such as the Grosser Moseler and Olperer. The best defence against altitude is to be as fit as possible, eat and drink normally, and to get adequate rest and sleep.

Emergencies and mountain safety

      The Siebenschneidenweg (‘seven ridges way’), as seen in profile from below the Lapen Scharte en route to the Greizer Hut (ZRR Stage 2)

      Both the tours in this guide involve sustained activity in a mountain environment. Inevitably, this increases the risk of an accident taking place, such as a severe fall, a broken limb or some other serious mishap, which will all result in the mountain rescue team being called out.

      One of the benefits of membership of the OeAV is mountain rescue insurance in case of accident. This can be supplemented from a specialist insurance company, details of which are available from the Austrian Alpine Club (UK) and the advertisement sections of one of the many climbing magazines. Similarly the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) has an excellent insurance policy, which can be obtained separately to membership.

      The value of insurance should not be underestimated, as the cost of a mountain rescue can be considerable when helicopters, police and professional mountain guides are brought into use. Unlike in the United Kingdom, where mountain rescue services are generally provided free of charge by the local authority and mountain rescue teams run by enthusiastic volunteers, in the alpine regions most countries will charge the hapless victim. Be warned!

      Mountain safety is as much about prevention as it is about cure, so check out all your gear, practise constructing your improvised rudimentary harness and the time-consuming tasks of putting on crampons/harnesses and roping up, and develop your glacier travel skills and crevasse rescue techniques before you go (see ‘Alpine walking skills’, below).

      European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)

      This card (previously form E111) is available free from any post office – just fill in the form to receive a credit-card-size EHIC identity card that entitles you to free medical care in any EU member state, including Austria. Should you be unfortunate enough to need medical attention while on holiday, then this card will help to pay your way. However, the EHIC entitles the holder only to those services provided free in the member state; it does not cover any aspect of medical repatriation. So even with an EHIC, you still need to be insured.

      EMERGENCIES

      Emergency services operate on a different satellite frequency to normal services, so the following numbers can be dialled from a mobile phone even when the phone indicates that there is no reception from your service provider.