Summary: a fitting final hike for this section of the H3H.
We awoke to drizzle, but it faded away during breakfast. Today's plan was to hike as a group to the Giggleberg Alm gondola, from which Lidia would go down, make her way back to the car, drive it to the lift going up to near the Leiteralm, and come up to meet us there. The plan changed 10 minutes before the Giggleberg, when Russ announced an incipient chafe, so he went down with her. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Shortly after leaving the Pirchhof, we went into a section of the Höhenweg known as the 1000 Stufen Schlucht (1000 step gorge)… which was most spectacular. I took lots of photos, which I'll post, so I'll leave the description to them. After an hour of hiking we turned back to see, apparently just a short distance away, the Pirchhof… which might give you an idea of how much up and down and in and out there was.
After splitting from Russ and Lidia, and with rain forecast once more for the mid-end of the afternoon and an uncertain amount of hiking yet to do (lots of ups and downs in reality that were difficult to recognize on the map), Andreas and I pushed the pace. We stopped for photos and views, water in and water out, and once for a Snickers bar when I was about to go hypoglycaemic… but otherwise we moved! And after many beautiful sections of trail, and many unexpected ups and downs, we arrived at the Leiteralm dry... and 5 minutes before Russ and Lidia.
A shower, a late lunch, once again stunning views over Meran and to the Dolomites, a few games, an early dinner, a couple of bottles of wine between the four of us, congratulations all around, and an early bed. The third section of the H3H was over. One more to go… but that's the subject of another year.
