| Start | Madseit (1402m) |
| Distance | 10km |
| Height gain | 508m |
| Height loss | 629m |
| Grade | 2 |
| Time | 3hrs |
| Location | In the Tuxertal, southwest of Mayrhofen |
The head of the Tuxertal has been sacrificed to the ski industry, with a variety of lift systems lacing the slopes right up to the glaciers. The valley’s lower region, above Lanersbach and Finkenberg, is also given over to skiing, leaving only its middle reaches unaffected by cableways and bulldozed pistes. The following route makes the most of this green central valley, with an undulating walk among woodland and meadow, visiting on the way Grieralm and the Höllenstein Hut – a mountain inn which houses a small farming museum.
Take the bus to Madseit in the Tuxertal, then walk along a track which crosses the river heading south then southwest towards Hintertux. Keep alert for a footpath which breaks from the track and climbs forested slopes to the small timber building of Tulferalm, then takes a steepening route above the hut, crosses a brief line of scree and follows a levelling section before entering a lovely enclosed meadowland below the Grierer Kar and a craggy ridge. Across the meadow the way continues among alpenroses, then comes onto a dirt road. Walk ahead for a short distance, then cut left following waymarks down the slope and across a grassy basin drained by the Griererbach, and up to Grieralm (1787m, refreshments), about 1–1¼hrs from the start.
A sign for Höllenstein directs you up the continuing dirt road to pass a pond on the right, then twists uphill to a large farm building on a bend. Take the waymarked track climbing to the left to gain a fine grassy bluff with good views at about 1910m. A path then leads easily down the slope ahead overlooking the Tuxertal 600m or so below, and along a line of trees before descending a wooded slope heading roughly northeast to enter the pastures of Loschbodenalm. Here a track takes you past a farm and on to the large Höllenstein Hut (1740m, 2hrs; accommodation and refreshments).
Not a mountain hut in the conventional sense, the Höllenstein Hut is a modern mountain inn, built with 300-year-old timbers that give the interior an impression of great age. It houses a museum mostly of farming implements.
Hintertux at the head of the Tuxertal
Continue down the track into woodland, then take a descending path on the left. This eventually returns you to the track/dirt road lower down. Having rejoined it you then walk ahead to a hairpin where the track forks. Ignore the branch signed to Lanersbach, go round the bend, and a few paces after this, turn right on a footpath. This fine woodland path (signed Klausboden) eventually brings you onto a narrow road where you turn right.
The road becomes a track just beyond some houses. Now take a path on the right, rising gently along the edge of a forested slope. Another pleasant path, this comes onto another track which cuts back to the left to cross the Tuxbach into Lanersbach.