Archaeological trail Maso Corto/Kurzras - Corces/ Kortsch (A4)

From Maso Corto/Kurzras (2,011 m), we walk first of all over to Wieshof farm, where trail no. 4 leads us upwards through a sparse forest. We soon reach Lagauntal valley, where we walk beside an old water irrigation channel for a while until we come to a stela that is proof of a find made from the Stone Age. From here, we drop down to the stream, cross it over a wooden bridge and continue on up to the right across a moraine to a small plain. The trail now becomes very steep leading up to the ruins of what used to be the Heilbronn Mountain Hut (2,772 m), which was burnt down in the thirties. We now have a long descent to Vinschgau. We pass by a number of idyllic mountain lakes near to which a number of discoveries from the Stone Age were made (stela). We pass the Kortsch Alm pastures (1,987 m) to our right. We now walk easily along a forest path that slopes only slightly, passing beneath the Schlanderser Alm Mountain Hut and passing by a former timber mill.

Continuing on downhill, having climbed over the meadow fence we see to our right a wayside cross and a water irrigation channel: it is the Talatsch channel, one of about a dozen water irrigation channels, known as a “waale”. We follow this irrigation channel – Careful! There are some very difficult sections along here – and reach the hamlet Talatsch (1,454 m) after a short while.

We walk down towards this group of houses and follow the signpost pointing to Neuwies (stela), where an absolutely sensational find was made in 1971 by people working the fields: 14 metal objects from the Iron Age were found here.

The trail drops steeply from here, and we are at times on the road and at times on a trail, and continue as far as a forest road that leads us to another irrigation channel. We follow this channel for a while and then take a left into a pine forest and walk as far as a rocky spur with the ruins of the chapel of St. George (1,000 m), which is now being restored. Numerous discoveries were made here during the excavation: graves and the remains of ancient settlements (stela).

The trail now descents steeply again to a pathway that will lead us comfortably above and past the Ägidius Church to a rock known as the “Schatzknott”, in which a number of cup-marks are etched.

After passing through a chestnut grove that provides shade for a number of livestock pens where the sheep are gathered on their way back down from the seasonal mountain pastures, we arrive in Kortsch, which is considered to be one of the most picturesque villages in Vinschgau due to its very protected and sunny location and also the care with which the ancient buildings have been maintained.