Wonders of nature: Lake Lotten and its cottages

It is a beautiful and wondrous place in the Wildmoos, where you can observe an interesting natural phenomenon. Seemingly out of nowhere, two mountain lakes form in the midst of green meadows, larch and birch forests. The Wildmoos and the Lottensee. Sometimes, however, they do not. Why this is so is not completely clear. Presumably, the aperiodic, i.e. not regularly occurring, natural wonder probably results from spring precipitation and snowmelt water in underground karst systems. When the spring thaw sets in, the underground vessels (kaarsten) thus fill with water, and the overflow floods the meadow depressions, forming lakes there, but these often disappear after a few weeks. In some years, due to underground springs, the water level continues to rise even after the snow melts. Attempts to predict the occurrence of the lakes have so far been unsuccessful. However, when they do occur, they always do so in pairs. And often after a snowy winter. "A lot of snow means a lot of lakes," as the saying goes. But there is no proof of this. So we don't know anything for sure, but some things may simply remain nature's secret ...

There is plenty to do, especially of course when the lakes show themselves: "If the lake is there in summer, so are the people. Above all, it's a different class of guest, many from Innsbruck, who come to swim and cool off at altitude," says Patrizia. "Otherwise, it's a lot of hikers and walkers." Meanwhile, the hut is also well filled in winter. "We have many regulars who come to us, and the cross-country ski trail passes right by the hut. Some people like to stop in there. We are very centrally located, and from here you can get virtually anywhere in the region - to Mösern, Leutasch and as far as Seefeld," says the young hut hostess. People meet at Lottensee - to enjoy the wonderful surroundings, the warm-hearted people and the traditional cuisine: fortifying, hot soups, homemade cakes, dumplings and, above all, schnitzel and Kaiserschmarrn.

The lake became part of Patrizia's life, but she didn't want to go into the hospitality industry at first. Because she was good at accounting in school, the director thought she belonged more in a bank. "That would never have worked out," Patrizia believes. A tax firm it turned out to be: "I worked there for a year and went to the cabin on weekends. However, dancing at two weddings was too much at some point. Besides, I'm a very active person and didn't want to sit in front of the computer for eight hours a day. So I asked mom if I could start here. Otherwise, I would have looked for something else." Of course she was allowed. Today, in addition to Martin, Sonja and Patrizia Kluckner, there are usually three other people working in the kitchen, "but sometimes one of them drops out, and then Mom switches to the kitchen and Dad and I have to go one step faster.

It seems as if she had gathered all her strength as a baby, because in addition to her work at the hut, Patrizia Kluckner is also a mountain rescuer trainee and as such - unfortunately - often in action. "At the moment I don't manage to do many missions in terms of time, because there is a lot to do in the hut and the work is voluntary. But on average we are called out two or three times a week. This year, it was really rough at times."