Silvretta Traverse

A slab of rock towers above the glacier, the stone that lent its name to sunscreen. Piz Buin, 3312 metres — Vorarlberg's highest peak. And you'll be sleeping nearly under its nose.

Große Silvretta Durchquerung is no Sunday walk. It's a five-day high-altitude traverse from Partenen in Montafon to Ischgl in Paznaun — 65 kilometres across a massif that sits on the border between Austria and Switzerland. Five thousand metres uphill in five days. That's close to four ascents of Ben Nevis from sea level in your legs — but with a pack, the elevation scattered across passes, and no cable car to haul you up.

Silvretta goes by the nickname "Blaue Silvretta" — blue because of glaciers that hang between its peaks and give the range its character. You walk the ridge where three nations meet and three Alpenverein sections overlap — and you sleep in huts named after German cities: Tübingen, Saarbrücken, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg. The German Alpenverein built them from the far end of Europe just to own a piece of high mountains. Now you'll pass through them one by one.

Day by day, it unfolds like this. From Partenen up to Tübinger Hütte (2191 m), your first night already high. Day two crosses to Saarbrücker Hütte (2538 m) — the trek's highest camp. Day three is the crown: Wiesbadener Hütte (2443 m) sits at the end of Ochsentalein beneath Piz Buin itself, ringed by Silvrettahorn (3244 m) and Dreiländerspitze (3197 m). If you have the fitness, gear and glacier experience, you can push from here up Ochsentaler Gletscher to Piz Buin's summit — two to three hours from the hut. Day four descends into Jamtal to Jamtalhütte (2165 m), a hut with over 140 years of history, ten kilometres above Galtür. Your last night at Heidelberger Hütte (2264 m) — standing in Fimbertal (Val Fenga) on Swiss soil, in Graubünden, but supplied and managed from Austrian Ischgl. You cross the border here without slowing down. Above the hut rises Fluchthorn, whose south summit collapsed in a massive rockfall in 2023, leaving the mountain without its highest point.

A word about Piz Buin itself, since the whole route circles it. The name comes from Rhaeto-Romance and simply means "ox peak". It was first summited 14 July 1865 — the same day the Matterhorn fell on the other end of the Alps. Seventy years later, a young chemist got badly sunburned on the descent and got an idea. In 1946, a cream hit the market bearing its name — Piz Buin. Few mountains cast such a long shadow.

Who is it for? Experienced high-altitude hikers with solid legs and a head for heights. The route is rated hard: long daily stages, high passes, rocky and sometimes exposed terrain, weather that turns faster than you can finish your tea. Ascending Piz Buin itself is a bonus for those with glacier gear and experience — crampons, ice axe, rope, know-how in crevasse country. Without it, leave the summit to itself and enjoy the traverse regardless.

When to go? The Alpenverein huts here run summer operations roughly end of June through end of September, depending on snow and weather. Book ahead — each hut separately, through the Alpenverein booking system or directly with the keeper. Weekends and peak season fill fast, and bivouacking under Piz Buin isn't a plan, it's a last resort.

Five huts. Five passes. One summit that lent its name to cream. Silvretta will let you through — but it shows its blue glaciers only to those who earn them.