With the cable car to Sankt Martin im Kofel
The two of us are not the only ones as we go up. Two more hikers have joined. Without any effort we glide up in the cable car from Latsch (639 m) to St. Martin im Kofel (1.740 m), the only altitude meters of the day.
While Latsch below us looks smaller and smaller, the opposite Laaser Spitze (peak) emerges more and more and as we leave the station a most impressive panorama presents itself: below us the Vinschgau with its scattered villages and the majestic scenery of the opposite mountains with Hasenöhrl, Martelltal and the glaciers of the Ortlergruppe.
Our path number is No. 14
The small rucksack for the day prepared, a glance back at Latsch, the camera ready for pictures and in a good mood we get started on a mild day in spring at 9.50 hours along our route No. 14.
It is almost dead calm and we therefore feel warmer than it actually is, because down in the valley we had 12 degrees when the cable car took-off. Up here – more than 1.000 m higher – the temperature can therefore not be more than 3 or 4 degrees.
Exactly 3 hours walking time to Schlanders forecasts our signpost. After we have left the cable car station we follow the asphalted carriage drive slightly downwards to the left and can now see, after a few minutes, the somewhat subjacent Höfe (yards) Oberhaus, Pardatsch and Niederhaus as well as the Höfe Egg (here it is possibleto get a snack) and Forra above us. They are all literally sticking, like in a model landscape, to the precipice in front of us.
- Left: Yards in a picturesque location wake-up from their rest and look towards the Vinschgau, the Laaser Spitz (3.305 m) and the opposite Ortler Alps.
- Centre: The Höfe Egg and Forra, close to 1.700 m
- Right: Mountain farmers start early morning to cultivate their farmyards
Past Egg and Forra
The bituminization ends after a short while and we find the road now more appealing. It goes a bit downhill as we pass the trough of the Tissbach (brook). Although the path is completely free of snow, the notch is still covered with old snow along the slopes and valleys.
The snack station of Egg (1.77 m), the last one on this hiking trip, comes too early for us today, because so far we have only been on our way for 30 minutes.
Shortly before the farmstead of Forra (1.689 m) the path opens to a small place with a wayside crucifix in a natural stone wall. We remain on No. 14 and follow the signposts towards “Zuckbichl” and Schlanders. It is here that the road ends and the path leads on the right-hand side upwards below a sheltering roof.
We cross a large meadow slope along an unsteady fence. Latsch, which we could not see in the meantime, is now again in sight.
