AUSTRIAN ALPINE CLUB
Austria has much to offer the hiker, extensive mountainous terrain, a very large network of trails and a superb hut system consisting of about 500 huts belonging to the Austrian Alpine Club. The trails are generally very well marked, with red and white stripes on the main trails, red splashes and cairns on less frequented routes. Route finding is generally easy, even in bad weather and poor visibility.  EXCEPT when there is snow on the ground and the trail markers are covered in snow, then it is a different story. In all cases, it is essential to carry a compass and the appropriate maps, rain gear and other essentials as in the equipment list below.

It is advisable to join the Austrian Alpine Club if one plans to stay in more than one or two huts. Membership has many privileges. These  include a) priority on   accommodation ( non-members may have to wait until after 7 p.m, b). if the huts is full you won't be turned away, c) 50% discount on accommodation, a cheap meal every night called Bergstieger Essen (mountain climber food),  d) Mountain Rescue Insurance and e) the right to buy teewasser (hot water in 1 1 litre flask).. We joined the club through its United Kingdom branch.   

BOOKS AND MAPS
The route we followed in the Stubai was as described in "Walking Austria's Alps Hut to Hut", ( Jonathan Hurdle,  Cordee) Tour 5 with some changes. I had planned to follow Tour 6 for the Zillertal.  I have previously done Tours 1 and 2 from this book and find it an excellent reference. The book contains descriptions of 11, approximately 7 day hiking tours covering most of the mountainous areas of Austria. Another useful book for hiking in Austria is "Mountain Walking In Austria", Cecil Davis, Cicerone.

For maps I used the 1:50,000  Kompass Wanderkarte,  Nr. 83 Stubai Alpen,   and for the Zillertal Nr. 37 Zillertal Alpen.  Comparable 1:50,000 hiking maps are also available from Freytag and Berndt. Most maps include a little guidebook, sometimes available in English. I find the 1:50,000 scale quite adequate. 1:25,000 maps are available from the Austrian Alpine Club but these may be of more interest to climbers than to walkers.

In the Neue Regensburger Hut they were selling a nice map/brochure/mountain panoramic showing the whole of the Stubai Tal and a suggested route, a little different to ours, that does a big loop around the Stubai Tal. I think that it is published by the OAV??? The suggested route looked like it would make a nice trip, not that there was anything wrong with our route.

HUT SYSTEM
  The "huts" offer bunkroom accommodation and a la carte food. Blankets and pillows and eating utensils are provided. One must bring ones own sheet or thin sleeping bag and a pillow case (I used my towel as a pillow case).  Most huts offer a choice of the Matratzenlager (mattresses laid own next to each other) or betten (beds). Matratzenlager's  have as many as 20 occupants, the "betten" are usually bunks in rooms with 4,  6 or 8 occupants.  

  Prices vary from ATS(Austrian Shillings) 70 for the Matratzenlager and ATS 140 for the betten. At the time of our trip the exchange rate was about ATS 10 =  CAN $1. These prices include the member discount. Breakfast is about ATS 10 and dinner about ATS 15. Some huts offered dinner bed and breakfast for around ATS350. Huts can be pre-booked by writing to the hut warden whose addresses are listed on the Austrian Alpine Club's website. To maintain flexibility I do not recommend pre-booking if your group has less than say 6 persons.  We booked the first four huts. If you are booking, include a reply paid coupon if you wish to get a confirmation. Booking by email does not yet seem to be possible.

Some of the huts had hot water. Some have showers, which may be free, or else you have to pay usually ATS 50. Most of the huts have been renovated fairly recently and are generally very comfortable. All huts have heat (a wood fire) usually in the Gaststube (eating room/lounge) and this is open until 10 p.m (quiet time) so one can spend the evening in the Gaststube playing cards or games which are usually provided. Drinks and kuchen (cakes) are usually served until just before 10 p.m.

Huts provide food throughout the day,  this minimizes the amount of lunch one has to carry as one sometimes gets to an intermediate hut at lunchtime or to ones destination in the early afternoon.

Breakfast in the huts is usually a bit meager and expensive for what one gets, so when hiking in Austria, I usually carry packets of instant oatmeal (1 per day) and just add teewasser to it to make my breakfast. Bowls and spoons are provided with the teewasser. Tea drinkers can also carry teabags to cut down on expenses. Breakfast is sometimes a la carte with meusli and yogurt  on the menu at times.

All of the huts seemed to have cell phones and I used a few of them to call Canada using the Canada Direct toll-free 800 number for Canada from Austria.  

TRAILS AND EQUIPMENT
The trails we followed included a lot of change in elevation, generally about 1000 metres up and down every day. For this reason it is advisable to minimize ones load. I carried about 10 kg,  including 2 litres of water, snacks for lunch supplementary breakfast (2 packets of oatmeal per day) in my 35 litre large day pack (Tatonka pack with small external metal frame).  My pack was a bit full, 40 or 45 litre capacity would be a bit better.   Drinkable water is always available in the huts and with 2 litres of water bottle capacity there should be no need to bring a water filter. At altitudes below 2000 metres one frequently passes alms (farms) where water and sometimes food and drink are available. Snow cover varies considerably from year to year  but is not  normally extensive below 2500 metres in July and August.

Essential equipment is:  Rain jacket and pants, toque, mitts, shorts,pile jacket, polypro underwear (tops and bottoms), walking stick(s), boots (light weight is ok), sheet or summer weight sleeping bag, flashlight, whistle, small first aid kit, compass, maps, guidebook, water bottles (2 litres), cash to pay with in the huts, food as per above, towel, soap, other personal items. Avoid cotton clothing. 

USEFUL WEBSITES