Concierge Blog

Tuesday is the perfect day to look for new and exciting excursions and hikes that the concierge can then recommend to his esteemed guests. This time he dives into the mountains of Merano, which we can see simply by looking out the window, but rarely have the time to actually visit.

Starting form St. Walburg in the Ulten valley we are accompanied by mountain guide and expert in botany, “Aunt Resi”.

We hike towards Malghetto di cloz at 1894 meters above sea level. Before us towers Monte Luco. Usually we only get to see this mountain from the other side.

We are on the Proveis nature trail and admire the mountain pastures. Here in South Tyrol most pastures are high mountain pastures, which means they lie high beyond the treeline and therefore most of the soil is very acidic. On such soil the vegetation isn’t very varied. However, mostly young cattle graze on alpine pastures which are less demanding then adults.

We continue our hike through the mountains and enjoy the beautiful views. But from time to time we ask ourselves if there could be a bear nearby, this is after all the area of the Life-ursus project, where the Brenta brown bear population lives and is protected after nearly dying out a few years back. The chances of meeting a bear however are very slim and the mountains are too beautiful to spend all hike unnecessarily worrying.

Once arriving at Malga cloz, the concierge enjoys lunch, huts like this are known for their cheese, alpine cheese as used in our Schlutzkrapfen. One table over, the ladies enjoy the guitar playing of the alpine dairyman.

One wonders what they are admiring more, the mountains, or the dairyman?

The concierge is of course only slightly jealous. Next time a group of ladies ask for advice on where to hike to, he’ll send them to the dairyman and his alpine pasture.