To my surprise my better half suggested to go for a hike, he usually never does that but this one time he seemed intrigued by the idea to be able to reach Italy on foot. Passo di Vizze (Pfitscher Joch) lies on 2246m elevation and can be accessed on foot only. Archeological artefacts confirm that this pass has been used since 9000 years give or take a century.
We parked at the end of the Ziller valley on 1782m near the Schlegeis reservoir. Its dam reaches a hight of 131m and stretches 725m wide and is actually quite intimidating when looking up.
An easy mountain trail follows Zamer creek. From here it will be a two hour hike to the mountain inn "Pfitscher Joch Haus". Although the parking lot was quite full we were almost alone on the way up aside from rogue cattle and horses which seemed used to human encounters as they remained non-aggressive.
The views were spectacular, the weather was nice, the trail wasn't too challenging, and did I mention that there was an inn on top of the pass? We had indeed deserved the culinary treat before returning to our van.
Tired but very happy we arrived at the trail head after five hours, with 17km and 500m in elevation gain on the clock. What a spectacular hike, definite our favourite highlight during our little sojourn in Austria.
