At the begin of the Ötztal where you are alone and without masses of tourists this 2 night tour gives you two amazing huts, great diversified paths and even an optional 3000m peak. Although it is way less known than the back of the Ötztal and there are less glacier views and so on I would highly recommend this area, food and solitude outweigh the higher peaks in the peak in my opinion.
Overview: 1st day: arrival and up to the Erlanger Hütte; 2nd day: to Frischmannhütte; 3rd day: down to Umhausen in the valley

Access car
Parking somewhere in Umhausen

Access public transportation
With the fast Railjet to Ötztal Bahnhof, bus 8352 to either Tumpen Siedlung or Umhausen Gh Andreas Hofer (see options in Hike). Return from Umhausen by bus to Ötztal Bahnhof or combine it with other hikes in the Ötztal.

Hike
Day 1: it already starts with two possible paths to choose from:

  1. from the bus stop Tumpen Siedlung (840m) ratherfast ascent to the Gehsteigalm (2000m; not serviced anymore due to administrative burden) and from there a beautifil Höhenwegto the Erlanger Hütte on 2550m (in total 5h). During the last hour you will already see a small square in the back which is the hut and should motivate you to continue after a long day with 1700m vertical metres. There are definitly good reasons why the hut keeper recommended that path!
  2. from Umhausen via Hinteren Leierstalalm the path is half an hour shorter but you mainly a walk through a forest along a forest street till reaching the hut.

 

 

 
The Erlanger Hütte gets visible and this definitly makes the last metres more enjoyable! Awesome location at the edge of a lake.

In the evening you can explore the area around the lake, begin of July 2019 we still had a lot of ice inside.

 

Day 2: You follow the shore of the lake and then turn to the left (everything marked, no worries) and go uphill. After around 3h you reach a saddle where you have the option going to the Fundusfeiler (3079m), one way should take around half an hour so plan for the peak with some break 1h of extra time. From the peak you will already see the Frischmannhuette, your aim for today, just following the same path down and leave the saddle to the other direction. In July 2019 we still had some snowfields to cross on the other side. 


View from Fundusfeiler into the Ötztal, with the approximate location of Frischmannhütte, the next destination on our tour.

Day 3: If you want to extent your stay at the Geigenkamm you can just continue for around 5h to the Hauerseehuette (it is not really surviced, just a member of the Alpenvereinssektion is there for boiling some water and doing a bit of organisation, so dont forget bringing your own food) or you can descend via two different options:

  1. Waalweg: you follow for some time the mountain and then you descend steeper through a forest to the village Koefels. A waal is a channel which was constructed for watering the fields in the valley and this one was recently renovated to be used by local farmers again. To Koefels it is around 2.5h and from there you follow a street to the bus stop Umhausen Abzw. Koefels for another hour (with connections then to Umhausen, Oetztal Bahnhof)
  2. River: just following a forest row back down to Umhausen. Should take little bit less than 4h.

Sleeping
Erlanger Hütte: beautifully located at a lake. Family run and the hut keeper is an amazing chef! The evening board was a ibex ragout, the Pitztal has a ibex overpopulation therefore they need to shoot some. The it tastes great and was delightfully prepared! Every hike to the hut is rather long but just for the food and the location around the lake it's more than worth it. For children and families it should be also nice as there are many walks around although the minimum 5h of ascent might be rather challening.


Frischmannhuette: it's a hut from the Österreichischer Touristenklub but there are the same discounts like on Alpenvereinshuetten. We were going for a bedroom as the price difference to Lager was quite small. Super big portions in the evening, maybe biggest Kaiserscharrn and Kaesespaetzle we have ever seen.

Advantages
Fast accesible from the Ötztalbahnhof and as it is still at the begin of the Ötztal it is not overrun at all. Both huts were great and not sure if there are many nicer options for a two nights hike with great huts in a high alpine but not touristic environment!


Trivia
Umhausen is the home town of the great mountaneer Hansjörg Auer, who died in 2019 due to an avalanche in Canada. Post mortem he was rewarded with the "Academy award" for climbing Piolet d´Or.

Duration: Several Days
Overnight Stay: Night at hut
Others: Public transport, Amazing food hut, Lake, 3000 peak
Roundtrip: Bus will make it a roundtrip
Difficulty: Black (+multi-pitch, glacier, exposed free climbing)
Region: Ötztal
Country: Austria

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