PANORAMA WITH LLAMA – Furry and beautiful trekking tours in East Tyrol

In the Andes, llamas have always served as pack animals and suppliers of wool. Increasingly, they also conquer the hearts of Alpine hikers – and not just because they carry their luggage. The fluffy four-legged friends also provide plenty of happiness hormones.

Speed dating before a two-day mountain hike? What a wonderfully unusual scene: ten llama stallions curiously approach ten people who want to trek – and vice versa. At the Moosalm in the Hochstein ski area in East Tyrol, the partners are scanned before the tour. Fuzzy four-legged friends with big, long-lashed eyes compete with slightly nervous two-legged friends. They carefully take a few steps towards each other, hands with hay are held out, nostrils with fine hairs sniff it, the llamas begin to carefully pluck at it – and a few minutes later the first strokes of petting can be given. “It’s so nice to see,” says Martin Lobenwein happily, “how the teams of two almost always find each other by themselves.” The mountain hiking guide from Iselsberg owns the Dolomite llama herd, which currently has ten stallions and seven mares. All year round he sets off with his “team of men” on entertaining alpine trekking experiences including free luggage service. And tomorrow morning we’re supposed to go by caravan from the Hochsteinhütte to Evil Weibele. The 2,521-metre-high peak in the Villgrater Mountains lies directly opposite the mighty Lienz Dolomites.

Warning – flying spit

Before we head to the starting point on Lienz’s local mountain, the Hochstein, Carlos, El Niño, Calimero, Camino, Leo and Gonzales – all so-called “classic llamas”, plus the medium llamas Samy, Chili and Luigi – land in the large trailer. Also, there is Phoenix, the only wooly llama. They were all born in Austria and gradually ended up with Martin and his family. What do wooly, medium and classic mean? Nothing other than their varying degrees of wool: Wooly has a particularly dense, long coat over large parts of the forehead and legs.

Now, as the trailer gets unloaded, the Lama’s internal hierarchy gets mixed up – an event that occasionally leads to spats. That’s why just-eaten grains and greenish stomach contents fly horizontally through the air. Just don’t stand in the way! But Martin says reassuringly: “Llamas almost never spit on people!”

To saddle up, blankets and small frames land on the llama backs to which bags for the backpacks are attached. It’s just a good thing that the weekend luggage stays well below the maximum weight of 50 kilos that the “horse of the poor” in South America still has to carry today.

Before the Dolomites trek sets off towards the tree line, the order is quickly determined: Martin leads the trek with the 8-year-old, experienced gelding Samy. After him, the brown cuddly bear Chili is assigned, followed by Carlos and the shy Gonzales. The younger lamas like Phoenix and Luigi are at the bottom. “The llamero, that’s the name of the llama leader – keeps the leash loose,” is the order, “he walks slightly in front of the llama and the distance to the llama in front is kept at a distance of one to two meters!”

Off to the summit – with gurgling songs

Shortly after we set off, I notice it’s not that easy! Only after a few kilometres does something like smooth, even walking emerge. Until then, the llamas often stop suddenly – find delicious herbal snacks on the trail or simply have to do their business. So the hand is raised and the entire trek is audibly shouted: “Stooop, Carlos has to go!” While the 17-year-old stallion conjures a stream onto the trail, all the following llamas and llameros come to a stop. And because “doing business” takes time and has a contagious effect on other animals, two llamas call out ten meters further back, “Chili has to go too,” one of the other participants shouts. This leaves plenty of time to relax on this llama adventure in the East Tyrolean Dolomites around sunny Lienz – to take in the panorama, to enjoy the snow-covered three-thousanders and to get used to each other.

Barely audible, it then goes quietly uphill step by step in the flow – until strange, enchanting singing sounds emerge: gentle gurgling noises roll up from deep down through the long llama neck. Carlos doesn’t even open his mouth: “Groommmm,” he chuckles, “urgloooommm.” It’s meditative, you’d love to be out and about like that for hours – and scratch your soft singer’s ears every now and then. But the reserved animals don’t like that at all: their heads are taboo, as is their backside. But there is enough space in between for pets. Below the summit cross at just over 2,000 metres, the setting evening sun turns the bright limestone walls of the Lienz Dolomites into glowing red – it has become quiet. Even the llamas seem to like this mountain magic.

You might just fall in love

“Have you ever sniffed the llama fur?” Martin now asks the group. Apart from a subtle earthy scent, there isn’t much else to smell. So, I sniff deeper, and then I notice that Carlos smells quite pleasant, even a little like herbs. “The fur is particularly suitable for allergy sufferers,” explains Martin, “because it does not contain wool grease on the surface of the hair and is odourless.” Shearing is always done at the beginning of May, and the Martin’s family sells quilts and comfortable shoe insoles made from llama wool at home. Demand is high and their llama products always sell out in no time.

After such sensory excursions, the Hochsteinhütte is finally reached at dusk. Backpacks and blankets are quickly unsaddled and less than two minutes later, the Andean animals are happily grazing around the hut. “Look at the llama pasture,” urges Martin the next morning. It shows neither footprints nor scars in the grass in the way that cows usually would leave behind on the mountain pastures. At breakfast we learn that these frugal landscapers do not leave any damage to trees and bushes and, like their “humped” relatives – camels, dromedaries and Bactrian camels – walk on soft callused soles. With this and their two toes, llamas can move almost silently and safely on rocky surfaces and even in the snow.

Sounds reassuring, because this morning they’re going up the 500 metres to the Böse Weibele. On this journey, the pee stops are welcome breaks on the increasingly steep path to the summit, which Carlos and the others sometimes overcome with small jumps from boulder to boulder. Three hours later, Martin stands on the narrow summit with three llamas and his guests. Passing hikers can’t believe their eyes. We even ignore the breathtakingly beautiful panorama with the high Glockner and Venediger Group with their ice-crowned heads, with the magnificent mountain world of the main Alpine ridge, the South Tyrolean Dolomites with the Drei Zinnen and the Isel and Draut valleys at our feet. Instead, there are cuddles, selfies with llamas and curious questions – Martin knows that and is always available to answer questions in a friendly manner. “Don’t look too deeply into the animals’ eyes,” he jokingly repeats a saying from the Quichua, a mountain tribe from the Andes. “I, too, fell in love with these wonderful animals.”

More information:

Llama trekking with Martin Lobenwein (www.dolomitenlama.at, Tel. 0043-664- 4312729, e-mail martin.lobenwein.ml@gmail.com) around/from Lienz/Osttirol includes one-hour introductory tours and eight-day main Alpine ridge crossings. The offer ranges from a simple walk to year-round alpine activities with overnight stays in camps and inns for one to 10 participants. The two-day hike from Böses Weibele costs around 140 euros, including food and overnight accommodation, depending on the number of participants.