Weningersteig – Breite Ries

After yesterday's >1000m of elevation gain, I wanted to know today if my body could be persuaded to go on another hike ☺️ A quick thought about where to go: off we go. The madness began when we saw the many felled trees. Everything was well secured along the trail. Still, it made us shake our heads, because as laypeople, we couldn't explain why so many trees had to be felled. The pros will know. So we continued up the Weninger Steig to the broad Ries: the next madness, but very positive: this endless silence, this peace. We heard nothing as we stood in front of the Ries and looked up at the last snowfields. Thoughts of the northern Grafensteig trail we walked years ago from the Baumgartner to the Edelweishütte accompanied us. We continued, taking this peace with us. We passed the Bürklehütte and continued up the short (approx. 5 min.) climb to the junction with the Nandlsteig. "We already went up there," we remember. And again: this peace. It's good to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city and breathe in this peace. Off we go to the final section, over to the huts. And this is exactly where the next madness begins: so many broken trees, some from last September (according to the hut warden), but some looking completely fresh because of the green on the branches. Most of them have already been cleared, but you still have to climb over a few; but it's doable. But it scares us why so many trees were hit. What was the trigger? The dry ground? A storm? We know this section well from our last hikes. But we've never seen anything like this here. When we arrive at the Almreserlhaus, my @MaryP is supposed to have boiled Schneeberg beef with potato pancakes and spinach and wild garlic cream. Apparently it was sensational, because she raved about it the whole time she ate 🥳 I had smoked meat dumplings with sauerkraut. Also highly recommended. And before it gets any later, we take the shortest route down. A few drops of rain were expected to accompany us. But the rain stayed away. There was so much wild garlic on the path down that we suspected it was a plantation. And then further down, we saw those little yellow, blue, and pink flags stuck in the meadow again. These flags are supposed to mark the future trails. @MaryP researched online and came to the following shocking conclusion: https://www.wn24.at/regional/neuer-tourismus-turbo-start-fuer-den-alpen-bikepark-schneeberg-58322.html https://www.lines-mag.at/bikepark-schneeberg/ https://wiesonur.de/2025/01/15/startschuss-alpen-bikepark-schneeberg-wird-jetzt-realitaet/