Sellesköpfe (1650m)

Why worthwhile? Excellent walk to be used “in between” with spectacular views to the river the Inn far below. Also historical value due to the many ruins of WWI buildings.

Starting point: Parking lot at Gasthof Norbertshöhe (1407m), at the transition between Nauders (Austria) and Martina (Switzerland) [Nauders 1394m. – Landeck, Tirol]

Time: 1¾ hour.

Details: Good mountain paths, with a steep climb to the highest point. Watch out during the descent during wet weather conditions: this is a reasonably steep descent through woody areas; in wet conditions this can be treacherously slippery. Under dry conditions this isn´t such a big problem.

Route description:

From the parking lot on the Norbertshöhe (and similarly named Gasthof) we walk straight past the Gasthof following the road sign “Schöpfwarte”. We follow the broad supply road and after about 10 minutes we can make a small detour to the actual “Aussichtspunkt Schöpfwarte” (1438m). A bit more to the North there’s a second panorama point named “Inntiefblick”, watch out for a sign near the Schöpfwarte. Both panorama points offer a beautiful and spectacular view several hundred meters into the depth!

Once we return to the broad supply road we follow it up the mountain. At the next road sign we follow the route towards “Sellesköpfe”. We keep to this route across tree rooted forest paths, often with effort, but without any difficulties worth mentioning. We reach the old remains of buildings from WWI (which have never been used). Here we can e.g. descend into underground abodes (descent via steel cables). Past the ruins we reach another sign towards “Sellesköpfe, 15min”, it isn’t an actual top. After 10 to 15 minutes a sign points us to our goal: “Selles, 1650m”.

We continue on the path for our descent. First we follow “Selleswiese”. We cross this alm (full of butterflies and grasshoppers in the summer months) and then follow the route “Gemeindeboden – Nauders”. The descent Selles – Selleswiese – Gemeindeboden is quite steep in places, so pay attention during wet circumstances (slippery).

At the sign “Gemeindeboden 1450m” we follow the route to “Norbertshöhe”. We reach the forest border and follow it for a while. Once we reach the alp meadow we cross it diagonally (we can already see the Gasthof) and within a short amount of time we arrive at our starting point.

Done in 2009.