Hike To The Schlicker See In The Stubai Valley

In this circular hike starts at the Kreuzjoch top station of the Schlick 2000 gondola and finishes back at the bottom station, meaning that the elevation gain you're hiking is about half of the amount that you'll descend if you follow this particular route.

As you exit the lift station, you'll take the panoramic trail to the Niederen Burgstall and continue upwards to the Schlicker Schartl. 

The first few hundred meters of the trail is relatively flat, then starts to climb upwards with a zig-zagging path. As the path finally levels out, you'll have a fairly long traverse section just beneath the top of a fairly steep ridge line. The path isn't dangerous but early in the season there are sometimes still snow fields to cross which can be a bit tricky. At the end of this section, you'll cross on to the other side of the ridge line, and continue to traverse further on the other side of it.

Once you drop in to this other side you can already see the small lake at the bottom of the bowl below. It is possible to descend to the lake here, but I'd definitely recommend staying on the higher path and first hiking up to the Schlicker Seespitze summit which is only a few more hundred meters up. The views from the top are stunning!

From here you turn back and retrace a part of the trail before breaking off and descending down to the lake. The local sheep are very friendly around the lake and might just come and greet you!

There are a few trails leading in different directions from the lake, but for this route, you'll need to hike back up to the ridge where you crossed over earlier on. 

Once you get back to this crossover point, instead of following the traverse to return to the lift station, follow the trail that leads down in to the bowl on the Schlick 2000 side. It's quite steep and uneven, with lots of loose stones for the first section of this downhill stretch, so poles here are definitely a benefit.

As you drop in to the main bowl (which is a ski area in winter) there's a gravel road that you can follow to give you legs a bit of a rest. This road descends fairly slowly and there's a mountain hut (Schlicker Alm) that you can stop off at for some food and a rest if you need to.

If your legs aren't up for the full hike back down in to the valley, and if you're back in time, you can take the gondola from the middle station down back to the car park.

Not only are the views from this hike absolutely breathtaking, but we also saw lots of marmots which was a real highlight.