Link to more route details: www.komoot.de/collection/901089/-via-alpina-4-10

The trail leads north-eastwards from the Tübinger Hut through the Gatschettatäli valley along the partially rather exposed "Gunserweg" trail through the steep slopes of the Valgraggeskamm ridge to the Hochmadererjoch pass standing at 2,505m (approx. 2h 30min). The Hochmaderer at 2,823m in altitude offers some of the best mountain vantage points in the Montafon mountains, offering a view over the entire Silvretta massif, the Verwall and the eastern Rätikon mountains. However, the steep climb requires you to have alpine experience, be sure of foot and free of vertigo and takes a good 2h 30min to get there and back. From the Hochmadererjoch pass, head steeply downward and later over the alpine meadowland above the Vermuntstausee reservoir to the Kromerbach stream, which can be crossed using the little bridge. Parallel to the road to the Bielerhöhe mountain, the trail runs alongside the River Ill, reaching the Bielerhöhe and the Madlenerhaus lodge at the Silvrettastausee reservoir with only a slight change in altitude (approx. 1h 30min from the Hochmadererjoch pass).
(Christina Schwann, OeAV)

The Bielerhöhe pass hollow is the continental watershed of the Rhine (Baltic Sea) and the Donau (Black Sea) and connects the Paznauntal valley with the Montafon. The view over the Silvretta reservoir includes the glacier-covered prominence of the Vorarlberg three-thousand-metre Piz Buin mountain (at 3,312m the highest mountain in the country), the Silvrettahorn (3,244m) and the Schneeglocke (3,223m). To the east of this, the Dreiländerspitze (3,197m) rises up over the Vermunt glacier as the common border point of Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Graubünden. The glaciers have dramatically receded since the middle of the 20th century. In the scour zones, however, the last floods of 1850 and 1920 can still be clearly traced on the side moraines. The development of the vegetation, from the first pioneer plants in the glacial scour zone to the vividly coloured mixed plant populations in the area of the 1850’s moraines, is of great botanical interest. The streams coming from the edges of the Vermunt and Ochsental glaciers form the source of the Ill. The Ill is the main river flowing through the Montafon and the Walgau and opens out near Feldkirch into the Rhine. Ecologically speaking, the mountain range between Partenen and Hochmadererjoch is considered to be an exemplary, largely original and natural alpine extended biotope and a model for the Vorarlberg silicate alps. ... The great value of the area, in addition to its originality and lack of disturbance, is derived from the fact that the complete range of species of the alpine animal world (with the exception of the extinct large predators) occur in substantial numbers (Georg Grabherr, Biotopinventar Montafon, 1984, 804). For several decades, the alpine ibex has also been living here in considerable number. On the spot where the Silvretta reservoir stretches out today, the high valley plateau was used as pastureland for the Großvermuntalpe farm until the 1930s. Since the Middle Ages, Vermunt was farmed by Raeto-Romanic farmers from Ardez and Guarda in the Unterengadin area. During the interglacial period in the Middle Ages, driving the cattle over the glacier-covered Vermunt pass was still not linked to any great risks. Since the 16th century, however, the advance of the glaciers has made driving the cattle increasingly difficult, and in the 18th century, the people of Engadin sold the pastureland to farmers from Montafon. After World War I, the Vermunt area became the main source of the Vorarlberg’s exploitation of hydroelectric power through the Ill power plant, founded in 1922. The Vermunt reservoir was created between 1925 and 1930 with the Vermunt power station in Partenen and the Rhineland line as the first long-distance line in Europe. The Silvretta reservoir and the Obervermunt works were established between 1938 and 1952. The access route created for the power station buildings was opened in 1954 as the Silvretta high alpine road for tourists and further extended in 1961.
(Christina Schwann, OeAV)