LÜNERSEE

June 2017

In the early summer, we went to Lünersee in Austria, which is a beautiful lake surrounded by epic mountains. I had been itching to go here since I had learnt of this place in the winter and the time had finally come to see this place with my own eyes.

After taking the cable car up to the dam of the lake, you continue around the shore for a while, until the trail starts diverting and goes upwards. The steep hike delivers you to the Totalp Hut after an hour or so of ascending. From here, the lake still stays rather hidden and if you want to see the true spectacle, you have to follow another trail horizontally, which ends on a pass called Gamsluggen. The ridge it traverses marks the Swiss-Austrian border and is very jagged and rough. The hike there is beautiful and once you get to the top, you have a breathtaking view over the lake to the one side and a picturesque valley to the other. I could’ve stayed up there forever.

But, the last cable car would leave around 5:00pm and since we still had quite a long drive home from Austria, we didn’t really want to miss it and have to hike down into the valley. The views accompanied us the whole way down and the semi-overcast conditions made for some beautiful photos. I will definitely return here with my tent one day to experience a proper sunset and sunrise from that amazing ridge.