There are seven mountain huts that can be reached even in snow in Val Casies. It’s not a little. Usually there are refuges on the slopes that can be reached on skis or with the lifts, some huts along the paths, but the huts are mostly active in summer.
Here, in this intact corner of the Pusteria Valley, the mountain huts are truly a calling card. Their peculiarity is that they can be reached on foot even when there is snow, throughout the winter, along beaten and signposted paths: there are routes of different lengths and different difficulties, however accessible to all. Some also for families with children and strollers in tow.
Travel times range from 10 minutes to two hours. For example, Malga Moos is easy to reach and close by: you walk along the cross-country track starting from S. Maddalena and immediately after you glimpse the wooden hut. For those who want to walk a little further (about an hour), it is worth reaching and stopping at the Messner Hutte or at the Kradorfer Malga. Always starting from the valley floor and leaving the car at the car park in S.Maddalena, follow the trail sign n.49 continuing inside the valley and enter a forest that leads directly to the first mountain hut where you can also taste excellent dishes or take a drink ‘ sunny on the terrace. Nearby there is also the Malga Kradorfer, reachable by the same route.
Half an hour more of walking and you are at Malga Taistner (which however has recently closed) or if you want at Malga Ascht: just over four kilometers for 550 meters of altitude difference. The starting point is always the same: you then go up to the left crossing the meadows, passing by the Hackler farms and reaching the Ampfertal farmhouse, from where you follow path no. 10 until you reach the mountain hut. However, it takes two hours to reach the furthest huts (5 km away): they are Uwald and Stumpf. We start from S. Maddalena at 1460 meters and follow path no. 12 which crosses the bridge towards the left, pass the Schlosser Hof farm and take an old wide grassy path on the right. Once you arrive near the Bugerhof farm, cross the bridge over the Rio Pfolbach and continue along the forest road through the woods. Further on you come across some beautiful small clearings that offer a beautiful view of the valley and the Braies Dolomites. Cross the stream again and continue along meadows until you reach a crossroads, continuing left again through meadows and woods you reach the Uwald hut. Same difficulty and length for the Stumpf hut but the path to follow is n.47. Cross the bridge over the Rio Pidig Bach, turn left and after the Schlosser Hof farm go right. The path then leads towards the Tscharniet valley, we continue to follow route 47 passing the Köfler hut, we cross a small bridge and after about another 20 minutes of walking we are at 2000 meters at the Stumpf hut.
All the huts are made of wood, with a warm and welcoming environment and in all of them it is possible to drink a hot tea or enjoy traditional South Tyrolean dishes.
