We'll head up the valley and explore the tributary Venter, which runs parallel to the crest of the Oetztaler Alps. This is dairy country, even though tourists bring in a lot more money. Even in 1927, the Hotel Vent had 100 beds.
Haymaking near Langenfeld. It's a last glimpse of flat land.
In Langenfeld, the baroque church of St. Catherine.
Now we're climbing. Living up here means learning to live with landslides.
Near Heiligkreuz. What kinds of accommodation do people here make?
One is to scale churches to the local need.
Another is to put a landslide-deflector behind your house.
The house hunkers behind.
There are still bits of pasture.
There's also a lot of hand labor.
Farms like these aren't conducive to machinery.
Pastures aren't just alfalfa.
Uphill, the grazing gets rough fast, but fences survive for a while.
Cows spread out.
Heading into the true alps, the summer pastures.
The incised Rofen Brook, near Breslauer Hutte.
This may be Heidi country, but it's also scalped. The forest disappeared a long time ago.
Meadow entry forbidden: stay on the path.
Close to the Italian border and looking north along the axis of the Oetztaler.
