UKC

Winter has finally reappeared, here in the Allgäu Alps, and I have been lucky enough to get out on tour twice. The snow's mush, now, so, while I wait for some fresh stuff to fall (expected later this week) I thought I'd raise something, here: both of these tours were in the vicinity of Gunzesried – on the north- and north-east-facing slopes south of the valley – and both of these tours were absolutely plagued by bloody wire fences.

I rode over the first one on the down-hill and, although it lefts its mark on the bottom of one of my skis (they're five years old, not new) I was luckily going rather slowly and my tips passed over the wire. I could shout a warning back to the rest of the party and nobody else suffered except for having to stop to step over the wire that I had first exposed.

We encountered several more on the up-hill of the second tour. These ones had multiple strands – some thick wire, some barbed, some which looked to be electrified in the summer – probably with portable batteries.

NONE of these were in odd areas. In fact, the up-hill ones were across what was basically a skinning Autobahn and within 100 metres of a piste!

I've asked, around, and word on the street says that farmers "should" take their fences down but that farmers get lazy. Nobody seems to really know if this is a real rule or in legislation or by-law, somewhere, and nobody knows of a centre or number to call to report incidences laziness.

Has anyone, here, any more clue? I'll try to get in touch with the DAV – they should surely know the truth of the matter.

I'm also having sly, wicked thoughts regarding the addition of a pair of wire-cutters to my touring pack. For weight-training, of course. One can always get fitter.

(I am not a vandal but I am an anarchist. Those strands of wire are going to be rubbished by the next time the cows are sent up, there, anyway, but a snip here or there could well save someone's ski, ankle, leg, neck or even life!)

It's their field, their grazing, their fence. It's common protocol for them too, but I don't think there are any hard and fast rules or laws. In places I've just seen them open all gates and folk soon follow the trails through them, or unclip the top strand and hook it onto the lower one. Lower levels of consolidated snow will be a factor too.

For all you know said farmer might have had other problems and not had time to do some free work to benefit others. Cut them some slack, not their fence. 

I haven't cut any fences. Also, I'm not talking about farmer's "fields" but fences through mountainous, exposed terrain – places where there never should have been any fences at all in my opinion.

The locals in this area really profit from the ski-season and tourism – it's existential for a lot of small businesses and guest houses and eateries – and these slopes are the very product they want to offer to draw those customers. Leaving up bits (not whole) of wire fence is simply not safe and they can't both invite skiers and also leave up hazards that everyone expects to have been taken down.

Taking down fences isn't just "some free work to benefit others". The whole alpine area is sold as a massively popular ski destination and priced according to the laws of supply and demand – with very high demand.

If they want to sell it up and charge those prices when the masses do come, they'd better not be negligent, too!

In your opinion? Have you been there in summer?  Without even knowing the resort I give it a 99% chance it's summer grazing. It probably has animals on it for as many months of the year as skiers. 

Some locals in massively commercialised resorts benefit, not all.

but the farmer isn't likely making anything like the money the ski resort is from passes. If anything the lift owners should be the ones helping the farmer lower them. 

You are confusing the farmer who might not care about skiing and skiers at all and the local ski industry. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=Allg%C3%A4u+Alpine+pastures+summer+grazing&...

Some cows.

There's even a breed of cows there called Allgäu/ Allgaeu.

I have actually been living as a local for the better part of a decade – and three years in my current town. I've asked locals, too, but I posted, here, because UKC'ers often know a lot about mountaineering locations on the continent – often more than is common knowledge, locally – and, often, one gets hard facts and numbers, here, where locals will give you folk-lore, myth and "we always just thought it was ...."

I have been up all of these peaks in the summer – many times. They are used for grazing. That is beyond dispute.

This is not Sankt Anton or Les Arcs or Zillertal – this is the west-end of Allgäu and there aren't any "massively commercialised resorts" and, in fact, many of the little two-run sit-lift operators really are struggling. Some have stopped operating and efforts to re-open them keep failing.

They do not operate in isolation. There's little shrink-wrapped tourism, here, where one gets everything through their travel agent. This is a land where the tourists aren't just buying lift passes (which, indeed, us Tourengeher aren't buying at all) but are also paying indipendent B&Bs, independent little breweries, indipendent Wirtshäuser and Curry-würst-dealers, individual blokes at the parking-entrance, and the like. The closest thing to a chain is probably the ski-rental market – that means Intersport – and not even they are really a ubiquitous monopoly.

The way you explain it, it sounds like the farmer, through negligence or disinterest, is betraying the customers of and, thus, the other participants in the rest of this interwoven local economy. That may be – if they only care to graze their cows and sheep and have no stake in the tourism game, that's almost certainly the case – but, then, where is the centre to report the hazards or the incidences of negligence?

If all the rest welcome us skiers to their hills, surely it is in their interest to uphold the promise that we won't be testing the tensile-strength of invisible livestock-fencing?

On your last post you said they weren't needed, now you acknowledge there is grazing!? That's confusing.

Were the fences down previous years? Maybe something has happened on the farm, their family...  it's just a fence, look for the posts, show caution as you run down looking for a wire. If you're local then after your first trip at the start of the season you'll know what's where anyway. 

Feels like a complete mountain out of molehill. If it bothers you that much speak to the farmer in the summer, offer to help with the fences in the autumn. Build a local relationship, it'll be more fruitful than ranting on here. They might even offer you some produce for free in return, win win. 

That the grazing takes places is a fact. That fences should not be strung up all over every mountain face stems from my personal views on the conservation of wild spaces.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213078021000414

https://www.unesco.de/en/culture-and-nature/intangible-cultural-heritage/na...

The farmer you are bad mouthing might well be critical to maintaining the artificial environment you wish to conserve. 

Edit, extract from second link 

"Allgaeu’s high alpine agriculture prevents negative aspects of landscaping and protects the municipality against a “race” for tourists"