Читать книгу Trekking in the Silvretta and Rätikon Alps. Tour of the Silvretta, the Prattigauer Hohenweg and the Ratikon Hohenweg plus 12 day routes онлайн

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The Totalp Hut enjoys a fine view over the Lünersee to the Kirchlispitzen (Hut-to-Hut, Route 11)

Above the Lünersee the path to the Cavelljoch follows a charming stream into the marshy basin (Hut-to-Hut, Route 10)

INTRODUCTION

A clutter of limestone is turned into a natural rock garden on the way to the Schesaplana Hut (Trek 2, Stage 4)

Defining the borders of Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein south of Lake Constance (the Bodensee), the Rätikon Alps give the appearance of an abrupt wall of limestone erupting from meadows and screes full of flowers. That frontier wall pushes southeastwards to blend into the glacier-daubed range of the Silvretta Alps which extends as far as the Samnaun Group above the River Inn.

What mountains these are!

Although they form an almost continuous line, the two ranges are scenically and geologically very different. One is almost dolomitic in character, the other is reminiscent of the Western Alps. The Rätikon displays big blank faces of rock topped by turrets and towers; the Silvretta boasts snowfields and a number of retreating glaciers. No Rätikon summit reaches 3000 metres (the highest is the Schesaplana at 2964m), while the Silvretta claims at least 40 peaks in excess of that figure. To the south the Rätikon falls away into the lush green meadows of the Prättigau, to the north into Austria’s Montafon valley in Vorarlberg, while the Silvretta is partly contained by the upper reaches of the Prättigau on one side, by the lower Inn valley in Switzerland’s Graubunden on another, and by the Paznauntal east of the Bielerhöhe where the Austrian Tyrol contains its northern limits.