Tour start 2026

Recom­men­da­ti­ons and tips

Recom­men­da­ti­ons and tips for your cycling and hiking tour with Feu­er und Eis Touristik

Well pre­pared for the hiking tour with a few tips and recommendations.

To ensu­re that you are well infor­med “on tour”, we have sum­ma­ri­zed some recom­men­da­ti­ons and tips for your upco­ming hiking trip in our infor­ma­ti­on book­let “ENDLICH NATUR”.

In our “Eti­quet­te“you will find infor­ma­ti­on and tips for your trip:

Tips for pro­per hiking
  • With the right equip­ment, you can avo­id frus­tra­ti­on and enjoy natu­re safe­ly and unhindered.
  • Do not lea­ve mark­ed paths, car­ry stage descrip­ti­ons, maps, infor­ma­ti­on fol­ders and this eti­quet­te guide.
  • Use a reusable water bot­t­le, zip bags for toi­let and food was­te, buy food with litt­le packaging.
  • If pos­si­ble, plea­se only dis­po­se of pack­a­ging or resi­du­al was­te by type on arri­val at the day’s destination.
  • On some stages, the nea­rest toi­let is far away — plea­se do not use natu­re as a toi­let, but pack toi­let paper and some pla­s­tic bags in your ruck­sack. You will find fur­ther infor­ma­ti­on in your tra­vel documents. 
The right hiking technique
  • Whe­ther you are clim­bing or des­cen­ding, always try to tread with your enti­re sole. We achie­ve the best fric­tion and grip with full soles, espe­ci­al­ly on slip­pery pas­sa­ges and in loo­se scree and rubble. 
  • On slo­ping ground, mobi­li­ty in the ank­le joint is requi­red for a full stance. With the upper body bent slight­ly for­ward (even downhill!), we move cen­tral­ly with the body­’s cen­ter of gra­vi­ty over the leg under load.
    In order to tack­le ascents or stee­per uphill sec­tions as eco­no­mic­al­ly as pos­si­ble, we recom­mend taking smal­ler steps — a deli­be­ra­te reduc­tion in wal­king speed. Steps that are too long cost more ener­gy, as the body­’s cen­ter of gra­vi­ty has to be labo­rious­ly pushed over the lun­ge with every step. 
  • Hiking downhill is often tiring, as fati­gue and strength (often mani­fes­ted, for exam­p­le, by shaky kne­es), con­cen­tra­ti­on, coor­di­na­ti­on and respon­si­ve­ness dimi­nish. With the upper body slight­ly bent for­ward and kne­es slight­ly bent, we roll over the heel, sole and ball of the foot as we step. Avo­id the often instinc­ti­ve supi­ne posi­ti­on, as this increa­ses the risk of slip­ping and falling. 
  • Take fre­quent breaks on stre­nuous downhill stages and allow your joints and mus­cles to rege­ne­ra­te. Don’t let yours­elf be rus­hed by the times given on the sign­posts. Hike at your own pace and regu­lar­ly check on the cur­rent con­di­ti­on of your hiking companion. 
  • Always keep a clo­se eye on the next steps of your rou­te, “plan” the next step pre­cis­e­ly on stee­per sec­tions or nar­row paths and use lar­ge stones/rocks or tree roots as step­ping pla­teaus or “bra­king points”. You should only ever enjoy the beau­tiful view when you are stationary! 
  • The use of hiking poles (recom­men­ded: teles­co­pic ver­si­on with exter­nal clamp) makes hiking uphill and downhill easier, using dif­fe­rent techniques.
  • On slight­ly hil­ly ter­rain and uphill, we grasp the wal­king poles (loop from below) and actively sup­port our­sel­ves on the poles and push our­sel­ves upwards with our arm(s) stret­ched as far as pos­si­ble. The aim is to reli­e­ve the strain on the legs and load the arms. The poles are used next to the body­’s cen­ter of gra­vi­ty or behind it (not in front of it!), eit­her par­al­lel (simul­ta­neous­ly) or alter­na­te­ly (whe­ther in dia­go­nal tech­ni­que left leg + right arm… or left leg + left arm… does­n’t matter). 
  • Downhill or when des­cen­ding, poles reli­e­ve the strain on the knee joints in par­ti­cu­lar. The poles are used far in front of the body­’s cen­ter of gra­vi­ty and our weight is shifted for­ward onto the poles. Tip: Prac­ti­ce using hiking/trekking poles on a few shorter hikes (inclu­ding uphill/downhill sec­tions) beforehand! 

Fur­ther infor­ma­ti­on(www.alpenverein.at) at bit.ly/videos-mountain-hiking

Beha­vi­or in cont­act with animals

CONTACT WITH ANIMALS

The ani­mal world in the Alpi­ne regi­on is diver­se, fasci­na­ting and inspi­ring in equal mea­su­re. During hikes, the­re are always encoun­ters bet­ween humans and wild, farm or dome­stic animals. 

Plea­se remem­ber that our recrea­tio­nal area is the habi­tat of ani­mals. No nati­ve ani­mal regards us humans as prey — flight is the first opti­on for every ani­mal. In gene­ral, keep calm and respect all animals! 

BEHAVIOR WITH GRAZING LIVESTOCK

Hikers with dogs in par­ti­cu­lar should keep their four-leg­ged fri­ends on a lead near gra­zing live­stock or pas­tu­re fen­ces (more infor­ma­ti­on at: www.feuer-eis-touristik.de/wandern-mit-hund)

After crossing pas­tu­re posts and wal­king through open pas­tu­res or alpi­ne pas­tu­res, plea­se ensu­re that you keep a suf­fi­ci­ent distance from ani­mals and do not feed them! Cau­ti­on: Pas­tu­re fen­ces are often live — do not touch them! 

BEHAVIOR WITH WILD ANIMALS

As a rule, red deer, fallow deer and roe deer are shy alpi­ne ani­mals and gene­ral­ly with­draw when they come into cont­act with humans. In the com­pa­ny of young ani­mals, in the event of inju­ries or other threa­tening sce­na­ri­os, more aggres­si­ve beha­vi­or is also pos­si­ble, but rather unli­kely. Dogs should always be kept on a lead when in cont­act with animals. 

Fox, rac­coon, mar­ten, nes­t­ing sites

Rac­coons, foxes and mar­tens are not aggres­si­ve towards humans, in sett­le­ments the­re are iso­la­ted cases of increased trus­ting beha­vi­or. Foxes in par­ti­cu­lar trans­mit dise­a­ses — the­r­e­fo­re, as with all wild ani­mals, do not seek direct cont­act with ani­mals! Nes­t­ing sites of all kinds are also an abso­lu­te taboo — do not approach! 

Wild boar

Wild boars are gene­ral­ly peaceful ani­mals and tend to flee when humans are near­by. Howe­ver, if the ani­mals feel threa­ten­ed, they are extre­me­ly defen­si­ve, espe­ci­al­ly with young boars. Make threa­tening ges­tu­res (snort­ing, chat­te­ring tee­th), make yours­elf as big as pos­si­ble, shout loud­ly and clap your hands. 

Wolf

Con­tra­ry to popu­lar belief, the wolf is a shy ani­mal that tends to avo­id humans.

  • Don’t run away, retre­at slow­ly — it’s best not to turn your back.
  • If the wolf seems too clo­se, draw atten­ti­on to yours­elf. Make yours­elf as tall as pos­si­ble (stretch your arms upwards), speak or shout loud­ly, gesticulate. 
  • Don’t run after the wolf.

Bear

Many peo­p­le think that bears are only found in Cana­da or Sibe­ria, but bears can also be found here in Cen­tral Euro­pe. Due to an incre­asing­ly rest­ric­ted ran­ge of move­ment, the­se beau­tiful ani­mals are moving clo­ser to our habitat. 

  • Show respect and keep your distance.
  • Stay as calm and com­po­sed as possible.
  • Stand still and draw the bear’s atten­ti­on to you by spea­king calm­ly and moving your arms slowly.
  • Do not run away and do not approach the animal.
  • Do not cha­se it under any cir­cum­s­tances, but lea­ve it alo­ne. The ani­mal could feel haras­sed and may defend itself. 
  • Do not try to sca­re the bear away. Do not throw bran­ches or stones at it. 
  • If the bear rears up, this is not yet a direct attack pose > the bear wants to get a bet­ter overview
  • If neces­sa­ry, “sacri­fice” a ruck­sack that has been calm­ly pla­ced on the ground and move away in a back­ward moti­on (do not turn your back or run away).
  • Keep an eye on the bear (face in its direc­tion, but avo­id direct eye cont­act) and retre­at slow­ly and in a con­trol­led man­ner. Always give the bear a way out (if neces­sa­ry, lea­ve the path/path con­stric­tions if you can do so safely) 

Ger­man Hiking Asso­cia­ti­on — Bro­chu­re “Cor­rect beha­vi­or towards (wild) ani­mals”

Wea­ther situa­ti­on | Beha­vi­or during thunderstorms

In sum­mer, thun­der­storms are one of the grea­test dan­gers in the moun­ta­ins. In the Alpi­ne regi­on, wea­ther chan­ges and thun­der­storms can occur very quick­ly in midsummer. 

  • Find out about the wea­ther situa­ti­on at your accom­mo­da­ti­on befo­re set­ting off or use local radio infor­ma­ti­on (e.g. BR3 | Ö3 | Radio Tirol) or the web (e.g. www.bergfex.de) and also obtain up-to-date wea­ther infor­ma­ti­on from hut kee­pers en route.
  • In the event of dan­ger or seve­re dete­rio­ra­ti­on in the wea­ther, abort the tour or seek safe shel­ter in huts/buildings (ide­al­ly with light­ning con­duc­tors) or in a car (Fara­day cage).
  • If you are in a group of seve­ral hikers, you should keep a safe distance from each other.
  • Lea­ve sum­mit are­as, ridge paths and expo­sed (expo­sed, open) ter­rain points/paths immediately
  • Avo­id sin­gle trees, wire ropes/via fer­ra­ta fixings, power lines, (mate­ri­al) rope­ways, lifts, power lines, lift sup­ports and water­cour­ses of all kinds (stream, river, waterfall).
  • On rock faces and in caves, ensu­re suf­fi­ci­ent distance from the walls (> 2 m).
  • If the­re is a risk of light­ning strikes, do not seek shel­ter under sin­gle trees and do not stay out in the open (do not lie flat on the ground/meadow, as the risk of indi­rect light­ning strikes is higher!)
  • Redu­ce the risk of slip­ping on wet paths and hiking trails by wal­king at a slower pace and using wal­king sticks if necessary
  • Have wea­ther pro­tec­tion rea­dy or wear it (tem­pe­ra­tu­re drop, hea­vy rain, hail)
Small phras­e­book | Alpi­ne cuisine

SMALL LANGUAGE GUIDE

When hiking in the Alps, the casu­al “Du” is gene­ral­ly used — locals and other hikers usual­ly greet each other in the “Du” form.

Ser­vus

Hel­lo | gree­ting or fare­well regard­less of the time of day

Griaß Di / Eich / Enk

I greet you / you Pfi­at Di / Eich / Enk Bye, See you again

Good day / Eich / Enk

Bye, good­bye

Berg Heil

Tra­di­tio­nal (sum­mit) gree­ting among hikers and mountaineers

ALPINE CUISINE

Regio­nal deli­ca­ci­es of the Alpi­ne regi­on sim­ply explained…

Brettl­jau­se

Varia­ti­on of bacon, ham, cheese on woo­den board

Frank­furt

Sau­sa­ges that are cal­led Wie­ner in Austria

Fritat­ta soup

Fläd­le or pan­ca­ke soup

Chi­cken

Gril­led chi­cken, broiler

Snack

Brot­zeit (Bava­ri­an) small snack in the mor­ning or after­noon (also cal­led Marend)

Kai­ser­schmar­ren

The clas­sic pastry in the Alpi­ne region

Cheese dum­plings

flat­ten­ed, roas­ted bread dum­pling + cheese

Dum­pling Tris

Three kinds of dum­plings (Tyro­lean dum­plings, spin­ach dum­plings, cheese dumplings)

Hor­se­ra­dish

Hor­se­ra­dish (coar­se and fresh­ly gra­ted = spicy)

Land­jä­ger

Smo­ked raw sau­sa­ge (ide­al for taking with you on a hike)

Leber­kä­se

Meat loaf (but defi­ni­te­ly wit­hout cheese)

Apri­cot dumplings

Pastry with cara­me­li­zed bread­crumbs (bread­crumbs)

Obaz­da

piquant Bava­ri­an cream cheese preparation

Pan­ca­kes

Pan­ca­kes, crê­pes, often with jam/ice cream filling

Radi

Radish, per­fect with beer

Cur­rant

Cur­rants

Sour cream

Sour cream, sour cream

Whip­ped cream

Whip­ped cream

Mush­rooms

Mush­rooms (chan­ter­el­les = chanterelles)

Roll

Bread rolls, crê­pes, rolls (e.g. Kaiser-Semmel)

Nap­kin dumplings

Bread dum­plings in bread form, sliced

St. Johann

savo­ry sau­sa­ges (Hun­ga­ri­an style = Debreziner)

Boi­led beef

Beef coo­ked in water and root vegetables

Tyro­lean dumplings

Sau­sa­ge / bacon dum­plings (bread dum­pling base)

Curd cheese strudel

Curd puff pastry strudel

Curd cheese golache

Quark Danish pastries

Lam­b’s lettuce

Lam­b’s lettuce

White sau­sa­ge

The Bava­ri­an spe­cial­ty with pret­zel and sweet mustard

Zil­ler­tal doughnuts

Deep-fried dum­plings with filling

Plums

Plums (type) e.g. as dumplings

Ticks | Back­pack pharmacy

TICKS

Most hiking trails lead through forests and mea­dows. Ticks pre­fer to stay clo­se to the ground (ankle/knee height) in vege­ta­ti­on — e.g. on gras­ses, mea­dows and bushes/shrubs as well as low tree bran­ches — and can then be brushed off as you walk past. 

Choo­se long items of hiking clot­hing (long pants inclu­ding socks, clo­sed shoes) and spray unco­ver­ed are­as of skin with anti-insect spray (seve­ral times a day) — a hat also pro­tects your hair and head. It is also advi­sa­ble to check your own body tho­rough­ly at the end of the tour. Your first aid kit should also include a pair of tick tweezers to remo­ve ticks as quick­ly as pos­si­ble. A TBE vac­ci­na­ti­on is the best precaution. 

Hikers with dogs should also check their four-leg­ged fri­ends for ticks in the evening and by the way: ticks sur­vi­ve a wash cycle at 40° — so it’s bet­ter to choo­se a hig­her wash temperature.

BACKPACK PHARMACY | FIRST AID KIT

Every hiker’s ruck­sack should also con­tain a small first-aid kit:

  • 2 dres­sing packs
  • 1 lar­ge wound plas­ter | 2 non-adher­ent wound com­pres­ses (approx. 10x10 cm)
  • Plas­ter assort­ment, blis­ter plasters
  • Two ste­ri­le wound dres­sings (approx. 10x 6 cm)
  • One roll of Leu­ko­plast or tape
  • Alcohol/disinfectant (swabs)
  • Ban­da­ge scis­sors, tweezers | Tick forceps
  • A tri­an­gu­lar scarf, whist­le, dis­posable gloves, res­cue blanket
  • Mouth and nose pro­tec­tion mask (FFP2)

Don’t for­get to take regu­lar medi­ca­ti­on and plan an extra dai­ly rati­on.
Tip: Phar­maci­es and drugs­to­res have first aid kits available.

Gene­ral information

Some tours (e.g. Alpi­ne crossings) lead to hig­her alpi­ne regi­ons — some­ti­mes rea­ching an alti­tu­de of over 2,000m.

The sun’s rays are also more inten­se at hig­her alti­tu­des (e.g. also near snow­fields) and the­r­e­fo­re stron­ger. Sun pro­tec­tion for skin, head (also for the lips) and eyes (sun­glas­ses, fil­ter strength cat. 3 in hig­her moun­tain regi­ons) is a must. 

So always choo­se a mode­ra­te pace and “lis­ten” to your body. If you are inju­red or feel ill, it is bet­ter to break off your tour — fal­se ambi­ti­on is out of place here. 

So don’t be afraid to use our bad wea­ther recom­men­da­ti­ons or short­cuts with public trans­port — the next mor­ning it might look com­ple­te­ly dif­fe­rent again!