Hintertuxer Gletscher

After breakfast at the AC Hotel, we took a train and bus over to Hintertuxer Gletscher in the Ziller Valley. We took three separate gondolas to reach the top. Once there, we enjoyed the view and walked on the snow a bit. After returning to the valley, we took a quick walk to see a waterfall before returning to Innsbruck.

Morning

As in previous days, we woke up at the AC Hotel Innsbruck right before sunrise.

We watched the Sun ascend above the mountains to the east before heading downstairs for breakfast.

We were happy that they had the Nurnberg sausages again! And they continued to have American style bacon as well as the soft sweet bread.

We walked over to the Hauptbahnhof to catch the next train east to Jenbach where we will change to a different train to head south into the Zillertal (Ziller Valley).

We entered the train station via a door we hadn’t used before. This door led to a waiting room with displays about a new tunnel, the Brenner Basistunnel, being built to the south of Innsbruck that will connect to Italy.

We had a bit of time before the 7:42am departure of CJX1. Austria uses some unique prefixes for some of their trains. The CJ and CJX trains, for CityJet, seem to be more or less standard R and RE services and are ticketed as such.

There are various different options for buying tickets for a day trip like this. We just discovered while looking through the options in the ÖBB app that the VVT, Tyrol’s transit association, has a family day ticket for €40.20. It is named the VVT Tagesticket Tirol 2Plus. This includes the entire Tyrol area and covers up to two adults and three children. The only limitation is that it does not include long distance trains which are generally IC, ICE, RJ, RJX, and EC services. Its quite a good price!

The train we are taking was listed twice on the signboard in the station. This means that the train will split at some point. We determined that any carriage is OK to get to Jenbach as it is before the split.

The train is much faster than taking a bus. The trip that we took yesterday by bus to the Swarovski Kristallwelten would only have taken a few minutes if there was a train! Actually, we could have taken a train to the Fritzens–Wattens station but then we would have had to walk in the hot afternoon sun for 30 minutes or so. Or combined it with a bus ride.

Once we got to Jenbach, we switched over to a Zillertalbahn train. As the name suggests, this line runs south from Jenbach through the Ziller Valley. The map at each group of seats shows various ski areas that are here in this valley. We’re going all the way the last station at Mayrhofen.

After departing Jenbach to the east, the train quickly crossed over the Inn to head south. We sat on the right side of the train to avoid the morning Sun which would be coming from the east.

The station building at Uderns had a depiction of a new Zillertalbahn train. The sign seems to indicate that it will be hydrogen powered. The train we were on is diesel powered. We’re probably a bit spoiled by traveling in Switzerland where it seems everything is electrified, even in the middle of nowhere! After Googling this hydrogen train, it looks like the project was cancelled and the future train will be battery powered.

The trip to Mayrhofen on the Zillertalbahn took a bit less than an hour, passing through various farm and mountain landscapes as well as quite a bit of corn!

At Mayrhofen, the 4104 bus to Hintertuxer Gletscher, at the southern end of the Zillertal, was already at the station. So, we got right on.

We passed by various rural and mountain scenes and could see some of the other cableways from the bus route.

Hintertuxer Gletscher

The trip to the Hintertux Gletscherbahn, the last stop, took 50 minutes. It seemed that there were more local passengers than people arriving by train like we did. Most seemed to have local passes, probably the Zillertal Activcard. We only know this because many would show their passes to the driver.

We walked south to get to the gondola’s talstation (valley station), passing by a few buildings. There isn’t really a town here though, just a cluster of hotels, restaurants, and shops.

We crossed over a small river to get to the talstation.

There was a map showing the various gondolas and ski lifts as well as hiking trails. During the non-ski months, the only cable transport available are the gondolas on the way to the top.

We bought our tickets to the top.

We also picked up a map showing the local region.

This glacier information brochure showed Hintertuxer Gletscher’s mascot, Gletscherfloh Luis (Luis the Glacier Flea). Glacier Fleas are apparently a thing!

We boarded the gondola to start heading up the mountain. We noticed there was a parallel cableway which wasn’t in operation at the time.

The first cableway ends at Sommerberg.

We took a quick look around. There was a nice viewpoint where we could see the next cableway as it ascends up the mountain.

We went to board the next gondola. This cableway was named Gletscherbus 2. It is different from most gondolas in that each direction has two cables which act as both drive and support cables. The only other place we’ve seen this design so far was the Hakone Ropeway in Japan, which we rode multiple times when we visited Japan.

We could see torrents of water flowing down the mountain below us in places.

The terrain got steeper as we ascended.

Up ahead, we could see the large Tuxer Fernerhaus.

We went inside to go to the bathroom before continuing on the 3rd and final gondola to the top. We were amused to find that this building had escalators! Definitely a rarity in these sorts of places!

We walked outside to take a look. We saw the Gletscherbus 3 on the left, which goes up to the top. There was a separate gondola to the right which is not used in the summer.

We went to take a look at the melting glacier water which was flowing into a small pool before continuing further down the mountain.

Historically, Hintertuxer Gletscher has been open for skiing year-round. Not this summer though. We’ve read about efforts to preserve snow in areas where it’s melting faster than before, including with the use of basically huge white tarps to cover the snow. This is our first time seeing it in practice.

We recorded a short video of the flowing glacier water.

There was more snow that was covered off to the west.

We started to walk over to the Gletscherbus 3, which was just a little bit to the east of the Tuxer Fernerhaus. On the way, we looked back to see the Gletscherbus 2.

Looking to our right, we could see the Gletscherbus 3 ascending.

We boarded and continued our journey up the mountain.

The glaciers here didn’t seem to be in very good shape. We don’t know if this is even still considered a glacier? Glaciers require a constant downward flow of ice and snow and are distinct from just a pile of snow that persists year-round.

The upper terminal of the Gletscherbus 3 is near the peak of the Gefrorene Wand (Frozen Wall). After arriving, we walked outside to take a look. A snowcat was parked right outside.

Looking more or less to the north, we could see T-bars and a chairlift.

Looking to the southwest, we could see a taller peak to the left. Another snowcat was coming up the slope.

It parked next to the one that was already there.

There definitely seemed to be more snow here compared to further down.

It was pretty busy in this area just outside of the gondola terminal. There were some activities here and also the entrance to the Nature’s Ice Palace, an ice cave. It requires separate tickets and has specific time slots.

We went upstairs to visit the Panorama Terasse above the gondola terminal building. It seems that normally, there are stairs outside to access this area. However, they were doing maintenance so we had to use the elevator.

We started off by enjoying the view to the west. From this perspective, we could see some of the activities taking place on the left. There was a device that would slowly spin, dragging along a snow tube. And beyond that, there was a gentle slope for snow tubing. There was even a tiny rope tow for getting back up the slope!

We walked over to the north side of the terrace to take a look at the cableway and the Gletscherbusses.

The landscape below to the east was mostly devoid of snow.

The terrace was pretty large and spacious!

There were a few signs set up for the socials… Gletscherfloh Luis even made an appearance!

The exterior stairs, which were closed.

We sat down for a bit on one of the benches. The Sun was pretty bright and provided some warmth but otherwise it was cold and a bit windy.

T-bars seem difficult and quite frightening, particularly when they’re over steep terrain like here. We’ve never used them as they aren’t as common in the US as they are in Europe.

We swapped to the telephoto lens to take a look around. The infrastructure required for these Gletscherbusses is pretty massive.

This chairlift was to the northwest. We could have walked there like these people did. Its interesting that the chairlift has a building constructed above the upper station. Typically they’re mostly out in the open.

We could see fixed ropes on the route up to this cross. No thanks!

Looking down, we could see a glacial pond.

This seems to be the Friesenberghaus, a mountain hut near the pond. It has lodging and a restaurant. We could see a few people outside on the stone patio that surrounds the building.

We also took a look at some of the nearby mountain peaks.

And some of the more distant mountains. Unfortunately, it was pretty hazy, just like it has been the last few days that we’ve been in the Innsbruck area.

We also took a closer look at the T-bar. There are plenty of videos online of people failing at riding this type of lift…

The T-bars on the glaciers probably need to be adjusted every once in awhile?

Just a small section of the glacier here was covered.

A big pile of equipment.

Another pond, smaller than the one we looked at before. Looking on the map, there is a pretty large lake to the southeast of here. But, it seems that we can’t see it because it is behind the actual peak of the Gefrorene Wand.

As we went to go down, we noticed that the elevator doors have a depiction of a Gletscherbus!

We descended back down to the Tuxer Fernerhaus on Gletscherbus 3.

The art seems a bit like its for children?

We started to walk over to the Tuxer Fernerhaus.

The view looking downhill with glacial melt streaming downhill in the foreground.

The Tuxer Fernerhaus, a seen from the south.

We went up to the main floor of the building to take a look around. Looking back, we had a nice view of the mountain to our south.

The Tuxer Fernerhaus has both self service and full service restaurants.

We walked around the huge outdoor patio over to the west side of the building.

Continuing around, we saw a pretty big construction site on the north side of the building.

There were way more tables than people here on the patio! We decided to go inside to get something to eat from the self service restaurant.

We ordered some food as well as apfelstrudel. We’ve never really seen apfelstrudel before it has been sliced to be served. Here, it comes in what is best described as a pretty long loaf!

The pork Wiener schnitzel was much better than expected and huge as well!

The apfelstrudel was also excellent! Definitely better than the apfelstrudel that we had on our first day in Innsbruck!

While we were in the Tuxer Fernerhaus, we were surprised to come up on a stamp station. We didn’t have anything to stamp as these aren’t common in any place that we’ve been to in Europe. We ended up picking up this Zillertal Activecard brochure as it had some empty space inside!

It also had a pretty detailed map showing the Zillertal region, going as far as Jenbach.

We walked over to the east side of the Tuxer Fernerhaus to take a look before heading back down.

We boarded the Gletscherbus 2 for the trip back down.

We were a bit surprised to find what appeared to be chalk art below us! It kind of seems like an alien with long arms!

It was around 1:50pm when we got back to Sommerberg.

We didn’t spend much time here on our way up. We decided to take a look around this time. There was a map which shows the area around Hintertuxer Gletscher and identifies many of the mountain peaks in the area.

After taking a look at the shop, we walked up a hill to the west. We decided to go up to the top of a small hill that we saw not far to the north.

We walked up a zig-zag path to get to the top of the hill. On the way, we got a good look at the Sommerberg gondola station. This building is seems to sometimes be referred to as the Sommerbergalm (Summer Mountain Pasture), though it might just be the name of the restaurant within.

From top of this small hill, we had a nice view of the surrounding area.

We then headed back down to return to the Sommerberg gondola station. From there, we took the gondola back down info the valley.

The gondola windows were pretty dirty so none of the photos that we took were particularly good. After arriving at the valley station, we noticed this interesting little fountain.

The view looking back up the mountain. None of the peaks above can be seen from this perspective.

The small cluster of buildings between the valley station and parking lot. Rather than go right to the bus stop, we decided to check out a large waterfall that we saw from the gondola on the way down. It seemed to be pretty close by. We figured we could just walk around the valley station building. However, there was no path on the east side.

We ended up circling around to the west where there was a path.

Looking back at the gondola station, it seems that there might be a very narrow path at the top of some stairs.

The view looking back to the west with the gondola that we rode up and down above us.

As we were walking, we noticed a Gletscherbus moving on the cableway parallel to the one that we took. We only saw this one vehicle on the cableway. We think maybe Gletscherbus 1 was down for maintenance and now they were doing a test run.

The waterfall was just beyond the cableways.

We walked up a rough wet path to get a closer look. There was quite a bit of spray here!

The best dry viewing place for the waterfall seems to be here, by the path.

We started to head back to catch the next bus. The 4014 generally runs every 30 minutes.

We saw another Gletscherbus on the cableway as we walked by. We arrived at the Hintertux Gletscherbahn stop just in time to catch the next bus to arrive!

Innsbruck

We enjoyed the scenery as the bus made the trip back to Mayrhofen.

Once at Mayrhofen, we had a bit of time until the next Zillertalbahn train would arrive. We noticed this bus with colorful Mountopolis wrap. Mountopolis is actually right here in Mayrhofen. Or rather, there are two stations in the town. One is a gondola and the other is an aerial tram.

We noticed the Neuhaus Zillertal Resort right by the station. It reminded us a bit of the Belgian Neuhaus chocolatier but is unrelated. The resort seems to have a mix of modern and not quite so modern rooms.

There wasn’t much at the station. It had a small shop and cafe.

The train ride back was pretty terrible. It was extremely hot as the train did not have air conditioning. And it was too hot outside for open windows to be of any use. It is a bit of a little heat wave here with highs in the upper 80s and low 90s during our entire trip and generally clear skies.

The train that we took as seen from the platform at Jenbach.

We considered eating here in at Jenbach. The restaurant here in the background on the right had pretty good reviews on Google Maps. But, we decided to continue heading back to Innsbruck.

The train had a nice mountain pattern on the seats.

We decided to try a restaurant at the edge of the Altstadt. We decided to get there by first walking north from the Hauptbahnhof and then walking to the west. This area of the city was mostly drab and unattractive. And this sculpture above seemed like it was going to hit us with its club!

This seems to be the back of the Hofkirche (Court Church). It is currently a museum and contains the tomb of Emperor Maximilian. It still provides worship services though.

There were a few options that we had considered, however, we decided to have dinner at Dengg Patisserie Bistro.

Like the Wiener schnitzel we had earlier, this one was also excellent!

The potato salad which came with the schnitzel was also surprisingly good, particularly due to its vinegar dressing.

This was our first time getting kaiserschmarrn, which is basically cut up American-style pancakes. It felt a bit like when we were in the Netherlands and accidentally got American pancakes instead of Dutch!

It came with apple sauce and cranberry sauce.

We covered the shredded pancakes with both. It was OK, if you want pancakes, because that’s exactly what it was!

We also had Zillertal Bier, having just returned from the Zillertal.

We walked down the red carpet, which we first saw yesterday.

And we returned to the view of the Goldenes Dachl.

We noticed something special about this building. The plaque at bottom left reads:

On December 14, 1769, Leopold Mozart, the High Prince of Salzburg's Kapellmeister, lived here in this house with his 13-year-old son, Wolfgang Amadaus Mozart, and gave concerts for Count Künigl.

Mozart was here! We visited both his birthplace and residence last year when we visited Salzburg. He is probably one of the more famous Austrians in history.

The Hard Rock Cafe‘s building actually looks pretty nice with its golden features.

As we’ve done every day so far, we visited Tomaselli Gelateria where we had two scoops of peach again and a scoop of pistachio.

We then continued walking back to the AC Hotel as the Sun was setting.

Sunset was much like every other day so far. A tiny bit of color but mostly it just started to get dark.