Stuibenfälle im Ötztal

We all felt like a hike today, so we drove into the Ötztal, to the town of Umhausen, and got information at the tourist Office about hiking to the biggest waterfall in Tyrol, the Stuibenfälle. We were warned that the hike up to the falls was narrow and icy and it was suggested that we drive up almost to the high town of Niederthai and hike down to the falls from there. So that's what we did. After what seemed like a false start, we found the path and hiked to what turned out to be a series of five platforms built out along the falls so you could look up and down at the falls, which were indeed very high and very long. You could not see all of the falls at once, only various pieces of it here and there. But it was quite spectacular all the same. The valley there is very steep. To see all the falls would be quite a vertical climb. A nice day hike in good weather I am sure. We walked out over a hanging bridge onto a couple of the platforms. Then we hiked back up to our cars.

It was cloudy and misty, even rained and snowed on us a bit. But we stayed pretty dry and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was not cold and the footing was good on the paths.

Hey you climbers out there -- along the sides of the falls was a Via Ferrata. It would be an awesome climb! Lots of metal footholds and a metal cable to hold onto. We took some photos of it, hope you can see. Wow! Also, at the first platform, there was a cable across the falls that you could clip yourself onto and hang on and go across the falls - looking down about a thousand feet!