Santa Croce Refuge

Access

From the Bolzano south exit of the Brenner motorway, follow the signs for the Sarntal valley. When you reach Sarnthein village, continue straight on for about 1 km and then turn right to Durnholz. When you arrive near the lake, park your car.

Introduction

Beautiful excursion in an environment dominated by mountain pine and marmots. Ideal for discovering the fascinating world of the Sarneri. Not to be missed is a visit to the Durnholz parish church with frescoes from the 1400s.

Description

From the car park, take the charming path that runs along the right side of the lake. At the end, turn left onto the tarmac road for a very short stretch that leads to the crossroads where you will find the signpost indicating our destination. You thus climb up to the Seeber hut from where you enter the wood for a short but intense stretch of ascent to the Bachmann hut, which you reach by going right along the road at the end of the wood. Enchanting in this section is the view of the lake and the Durnholz church tower. Immediately after the hut, pay attention to the path that branches off to the left. Now continue comfortably on a slight incline along the lovely path that leads into the Val Grande. Ignore the turnoff for the Sankt Jacob summit and continue straight on. The path winds its way gently through larch and stone pine trees. We soon come to the junction with the unsurfaced road from Durnholz, along which we return. We follow it ever so slightly uphill, passing several huts, a characteristic spring with a sign in German, and a small crucifix where we definitely enter a high mountain environment, no longer forests but meadows and moraines. The direction is obvious, slightly southwards, with a semicircular path, towards the obvious saddle between the San Cassiano peak and the Plankehorn. With good visibility, it is possible to catch a glimpse of a signpost on the pass. The route now alternates between somewhat steeper, but still easy, crags and substantially flat sections, which take us to the pass in a long but scenically remarkable way. Here we descend briefly to the opposite slope and with a long but substantially flat route we arrive at the hut, preceded by the "vision" of the bell tower of the adjacent church.