Shepherds' Alpine crossing straddles history, borders

Sheep make their way in front of Hochjochferner glacier in the region of Tyrol, Austria, June 9, 2018. Picture taken June 9, 2018. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

MASO CORTO, Italy (Reuters) - Around dawn, the shepherds gather near the Italian town of Maso Corto and prepare to take their sheep into Austria, along an Alpine track centuries older that the border they are crossing.

Over the next ten hours, they climb 800 metres (2,600 feet) to the Hochjoch pass, corralling their animals over snowfields, along narrow, rocky paths and at one point, across a suspension bridge, single file.