Paznaun-Ischgl
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The Tyrolean Paznaun Valley stretches between the village of **Pians** (856 m.a.s.l.) located 5 km west of Landeck, and **Bielerhöhe** saddle (2040 m.a.s.l.), the highest point of the **Silvretta** mountain road connecting the Tyrolean Paznaun Valley with the Vorarlberg valley **Montafon**. Paznaun is certainly well known to skiers and snowboarders thanks to the giant **Ischgl-Samnaun** resort, which offers approx. 240 km of slopes of all levels of difficulty at an altitude of 1,377 – 2,872 m.a.s.l. Where the valley-road ends in winter, i.e. in the village of **Wirl** (it is 11 km west of Ischgl), three remarkable cross-country roads begin. Two high-altitude with challenging ascent and one in the valley with easy descent. The Wirl itself already has an advantageous altitude of 1,600 m.a.s.l., but the essential for cross-country skiing enthusiasts lies above it: the 11.5 km long trail **R2** leading to the northwest with an elevation gain of 255 m to the **Zeinis** pass and to the dam * *Kops** offers wonderful views right from the start when climbing from Wirl.

It is a partial circuit, so you can also climb via the west trail, but the views there will be spoiled by the ski resort. I would say that it is more convenient to go down the west trail, because the east exit requires carrying over one three hundred meter stretch of asphalt, and another part is quite risky to descent. Anyway, once you gain altitude, you’ll understand why traveler Eckard Speckbacher in this article considers this trail to be one of the most beautiful in Tyrol. You are on it in the middle of a high-lying valley, which alternately evokes the end of the world, alternately very decently reminds of human activity, one by a secluded building, the other by the Kops dam (1,809 m.a.s.l.) above which it is at an altitude of 1,865 m.a.s.l. destination of the trail. The wonderful view in all directions gives a clear answer to every adventurer’s question as to whether it would be possible to continue somewhere („just because a snowmobile doesn’t pass somewhere doesn’t mean an adventurer won’t pass this way“): no way! There is nowhere to go, at the finish line you are trapped by alpine two-thousanders, a ravine and a dam. There is nowhere to continue, but the fact that you have already run out of Tyrol and reached Vorarlberg can make you happy.

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*Destination of trail R2 – view to Kops dam (photo: author)*

Another trail leading from Wirl to the southwest is somewhat subtly divided into two trails **R1a** and **R1b**. But one without the other is meaningless, because on the one hand, they follow each other, the second, the first in the order of R1a leading to **Baggerloch** (in maps named **Kleinvermunt**) ends completely inconspicuously in the middle of a completely inconspicuous section of the road closed in winter, and I really don’t know who would be satisfied with achieving this „non-goal“. However, Baggerloch means *Excavator’s Hole* and is nothing more than a place where excavators wash gravel (really, I checked with the locals). Both trails are conceived as circuits, but circuit here means returning by the same trail, so when planning the journey to the real destination, to the highest point of the **Bielerhöhe (2,040 m.a.s.l.)**, don’t get confused and divide all distances by two.

I personally believe that the division of one trail into two is only there for the reason that the less skilled skiers know in which section there is still medium difficulty (=where they dare without hesitation, i.e. R1a with a length of 9.7 km and an elevation of 120 m) and where there is already a risk of a difficult climb (the 9.2 km long R1b is classified as difficult with an elevation gain of 280 m). The trail R1b really climbs steeper through the Paznaun valley than the R1a, even very steeply in the last two km, but it’s easy to get out and down, so there’s nothing to worry about. The worst is death by fright, right?

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*Paznaun valley, Silvretta road direction to Silvretta dam (photo: archive Tirol Werbung)*

The destination settlement Bielerhöhe at Silvretta dam looks like a place in a middle of nowhere when seen from the trail R1b, but at the top you will find that it is, on the contrary, a relatively frequented place (I also found a bus stop there), well accessible (the road from the another direction, from Montafon valley in Vorarlberg, is also available in winter), and offering other cross-country trails (circuits 1 – 4 km long).

The third and last possibility to go from Wirl is to the southeast along the trail **L5** to **Galtür** and possibly further along the connecting trail **L4** (3.3 km long, section **Galtür – Tschaffein), L3 (5 km long called *Forest*, section Tschaffein – Mathon), L2 (section through the village of Mathon) and L1 (section Mathon – Ischgl** where the trail-system ends). All these trails are again conceived as circuits, where the return is along the same or just a few meters parallel leading trail. So if you’re riding a one-way lauf, again divide the distances by two and don’t decide which trail of the „circuit“ you’re riding, with the honorable exception of trail L3 („Forest“), where I recommend the south part, because it offers an unexpectedly long and therefore famous descent through the forest, which is the entire length of the trail between Wirl and Ischgl, where you ride between villages on a meadow near the road, caressing the soul.

Otherwise, of course, it is a very pleasant trail in both directions, because the descent/ascent between Wirl and Ischgl is a few meters over 200 m, but it is spread over 12 km and smooth, so that it does not seem like a hill, but just an inclined plane.

If you have adventurous urges here as well, unlike Kops, you can realize them here. On the trail L3, there is a marked tourist (summer!) turnoff to the **Larein** valley by the holy picture (there are several ones painted by children in the vicinity), you cannot miss it. If, like me, you have the trail „partially-groomed“ by an unknown good guy (probably a hunter) and you have enough determination to eventually hike the rest, after 3.6 km of gradual and sometimes unpleasant ascent (I fought him for over an hour), you will reach the north beginning of the deserted Larein valley. I’m just pointing out that it’s not an official cross-country or winter walking trail, there’s nobody on the trail, on the contrary, sometimes a memorial to a deceased buried in an avalanche. It’s purely up to you to consider the risk!

And, apart from the trail **L6**, a kilometer-long-circle at the ski slope above Wirl, that’s all in the Paznaun valley, there is no other official cross-country trail, but each of the described ones offers something, so it’s not enough. I would definitely say that „**experience the trail R2 (Wirl – Zeinis – Kops) and die**“, because it is really rorgeous without exaggeration.

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*View from trail R2 to Paznaun valley (photo: author)*

Connection by public transport
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The Paznaun Valley is also excellently accessible by public transport, the **Landeck/Zams** station can be reached by train from Czechia, mainly from Prague / Tábor / České Budějovice with one transfer. The connecting bus line 260 with a terminus in Wirl also runs every half hour on weekends, and the ski bus line 12 between Ischgl and Wirl even in ten minutes or quarter hours. *Thanks to this frequency of connections, I had the luxury of taking a heavier backpack (with all my belongings) on the ski bus from Galtür to Ischgl, returning with another bus, and running all day with a small backpack only.* Ski buses are free, other regional buses as well, if you show a residence-confirmation.

There is a night train with a **direct sleeping car to Prague** from Landeck/Zams. If you can stay awake until midnight in the station hall, which is fortunately open 24/7, you can sleep in the train all the way to Prague, because the sleeping car is the only one of the entire train (departing from Zurich) that gradually connects to other express trains in Salzburg and Linz, and it is the only one that goes to Prague without transfer. It is designed in such a way that, for example, there are 2 hours-reserve in Linz to balance of eventual delays, so if there are none, the entire carriage simply sleeps parked at the Linz station for two hours before the Czech express train takes it to Prague. Just be careful when booking a ticket for it, there is a lot of interest in this connection and it tends to sell out very quickly, I got the last bed two months before the trip.

Train connection is also in Czech railway´s webpage, local buses are available at