Both the "Old Flexen" path from Stuben to the Flexen Pass and the "Gafri Route", a connection from Rauz have been used for centuries. There are many indications that the serpentine path from Stuben was preferred, at least since the Middle Ages. In the late 18th century Vorarlberg map by Blasius Hueber the path is marked as a "mule track". Until 1806, maintenance of the path was financed from the income of the customs office in Zürs. After its abolition during the time of Bavarian rule, complaints increased about the poor condition of the path. In 1856 the path was widened to the extent that it was passable with two-wheeled carts. Reports show that at that time the "Gafri Route", when there was enough snow, was mainly used as a winter connection.
Paths to the Flexen Pass
125 YEARS OF FLEXEN ROAD | 1897 - 2022
When in winter there is a lot of snow on the Arlberg, which usually happens, the people of Tannberg have a much more comfortable and safer way to the Wegmacherhaus at Rautz on the Arlberg than over the Flexen to Stuben. The snow then fills all the gorges and depressions to the southeast of the Flexen hill towards and on the Arlberg so completely that one can pass back and forth quite comfortably with sledges as if on a level above it. The time of this favorable snowfall is then also used by the people of Tannberg very eagerly to bring their products of cattle breeding most easily, quickly and comfortably to the Arlberg and to obtain from there their grain, salt and the few merchant goods that a small and poor population is able to acquire.
From a report by the district governor Johann Nepomuk Ebner (1841)
